Legia Warszawa is the record champion in Poland, having won 16 championships, making them the most successful club in the country. In the past eleven years alone, the 108-year-old club have won seven league titles, underlining the sustained positive sporting development in recent years.

Legia Training Center (LTC) plays a key role in this development. Opened in 2020, it is located on 15 hectares of land in a green, quiet part of Warsaw metropolitan area. Covering over 9,000 square meters, the LTC features multifunctional buildings, nine football pitches, an indoor sports hall, fitness, wellness and medical facilities as well as its own research and development center. The Training Center is also home to Legia Sports High School, as well as a sports hotel for the first team and staff.

Ideal addition to a state-of-the-art training infrastructure

Since its opening, the LTC is one of the most modern training centers in Central Europe. It is the only facility in Poland admitted to the Association of Sports Performance Centers (ASPC) and has received numerous industry awards over the last few years. Furthermore, the LTC is not only home to the first team and the academy of Legia Warszawa, but it has also hosted many other football clubs. Notably, UEFA Champions League participant and Ukrainian giants Shakthar Donetsk temporarily moved their headquarters to Warsaw for the 2022/2023 season. The LTC also regularly hosts training sessions for the Polish national team, as well as various other events, including conferences and seminars.

As the only system worldwide, that offers holistic testing and training for footballers, the skills.lab Arena is an ideal extension to Legia’s modern training facilities. Installed within a hall, this setup features a 320 square metre artificial turf, four fully automatic ball machines, and laser projectors that simulate an interactive stadium environment. High-resolution cameras, along with laser and position sensors, utilize complex algorithms to deliver extensive data on player performance, including ball speed, processing time, and precision of hits. This technology enables the skills.lab Arena to assess and train a player’s technical and cognitive skills under standardized conditions with unparalleled efficiency.

“We are committed to strategically enhancing our infrastructure to uphold our high standards. In this regard, the investment in a skills.lab Arena represents a significant milestone for us,” says Tomasz Zahorski, CEO and Chairman of the board of the Legia Training Center, who initiated the discussions with Anton Paar SportsTec a couple of years ago. He is convinced that the skills.lab Arena will give the club a decisive advantage in its further sporting development: “The skills.lab Arena should allow our players, coaches and directors to make better sporting decisions based on precise data, which will also provide long-term economic benefits. This not only strengthens training processes, but also enables us to maximize each player’s potential and focus on their targeted development.”

Enormous potential in Polish football

“Whilst the use of the skills.lab Arena for internal club purposes will always be a priority, we are confident that by opening our doors to external customers and stakeholders, we will help to raise overall level of football development in Poland, as the opportunities for Polish players and football business remain enormous”, Zahorski emphasizes. His fellow board member Wojciech Rokicki, responsible for the project at a construction and operational level, highlights the positive exchange in the development of the project: “Right from the start, the discussions and collaboration with the representatives from Anton Paar SportsTec have been marked by deep trust and the utmost professionalism.” Once construction has started, the skills.lab Arena at the Legia Training Center is scheduled to open in 2025.

For Johannes Tändl, General Manager of Anton Paar SportsTec, the partnership affirms the skills.lab Arena as a state-of-the-art system integral to modern football club infrastructure. “With Legia Warszawa, we are now collaborating with another major club in Central Europe that is fully devoted to progressive player development. The club is internationally recognized for organizational professionalism and the ability to provide high-end infrastructure to their players and staff. We are excited to work alongside Legia to elevate talent development to a new level.”