Epress.am News from Armenia
UEFA president Michel Platini will visit Armenia on September 1 for the official opening of a new sports complex in Yerevan’s Avan district, said Football Federation of Armenia President Ruben Hayrapetyan during a televised broadcast.
The upcoming visit will be Platini’s third visit to the country: his last visit was on October 16, 2007, when Platini, along with FIFA President Sepp Blatter, laid the center’s cornerstone. The center will be comprised of a rehabilitation center and a few fields (one of which will have artificial grass), and six national football teams will be able to live and train there. A Futsal field, which corresponds to international standards, is also planned for the center. The center, following European examples, will host a football academy, where, as noted by Hayrapetyan, 1,000–1,300 children will train.
Athletes will already be living in the center before Platini’s visit: on August 30, Armenia’s national team, who is preparing for the Euro 2012 qualifying matches with Ireland and Macedonia, will begin training in Avan.