Giving a brief overview of the path forward, Fitzgerald hopes that after submission of planning permission in January, council approval will come by the end of 2026.
In 2027, the focus will be on “procurement and construction”, and the aim is by the “mid part of 2028” it will be “operational”, but Fitzgerald believes it will be “too much of a building site” to be used as a training base for Euro 2028.
While not disclosing costs of the phased project, Fitzgerald explained that the funding for it is coming from “three main sources” – the IFA, Fifa Foward and Uefa Hat-Trick schemes, and the Northern Ireland Football Fund.
The long-awaited Northern Ireland Football Fund is sub-regional funding primarily for clubs in NI, but Fitzgerald said there is also a strand from the fund set aside for the National Training Centre.
“The first [source] being our own reserves at the Irish FA, a portion of it will come with that,” he said.
“Then, every time there is a World Cup or Euros, Fifa and Uefa give all their members a capital dividend and we have saved those over the last few cycles and have a good proportion of that to put towards the funding.
“Finally, the Northern Ireland Football Fund, there has always been a strand dedicated to the National Training Centre, so we are working closely with the Department for Communities to realise a portion of that fund for this project as well.”
In October, Crusaders and Derry City released statements to confirm they would launch legal proceedings after their bids to progress to the next stage of the Northern Ireland Football Fund’s application process were rejected.
Fitzgerald allayed fears that such legal proceedings could delay the releasing of funds as the clubs will be receiving money from a different pot than the IFA.
He did add that to complete the full three phases of the project, the IFA are reliant on the money from the Northern Ireland Football Fund to be released soon.
“The situation around the clubs, we understand, doesn’t affect the strand of the Northern Ireland Football Fund that relates to the National Football Centre, so from our point of view it’s business as usual,” he said.
“We have phased the project, and we’ll deliver phase one which is primarily the showpiece training building with the facilities and two elite-standard pitches.
“That will only serve part of our needs and our senior teams, but that is more than we have today and that phase will come with our own funding.
“We are confident we will deliver it without the Northern Ireland Football Fund – it will help us in phase two, broadening out into a national facility.”