La Masia

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La Masia in Barcelona
La (nova) Masia in Sant Joan Despí

La Masia ( Catalan for "The Farmhouse") is the unofficial but widespread name for the FC Barcelona 's youth football academy . The name refers to an old building in the Les Corts district where the academy was housed from 1979 to 2011. The academy is now located in a modern new building in the suburb of Sant Joan Despí on the grounds of the "Sports City Joan Gamper" ( Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper ). Although the academy officially bears the name “Oriol Tort Training Center ” ( Center de Formació Oriol Tort ), it continues to be known colloquially as la masia or la nova masia . Numerous talents emerged from her, including the top three winners in the 2010 World Player of the Year election: Lionel Messi , Andrés Iniesta and Xavi .

history

The initiator of the system of intensive youth development is Johan Cruyff , who in his eight years (1988–1996) as “Barça coach” (coach of the first men's team of FC Barcelona) brought 29 young players into the first team. Until his arrival, only a few exceptions had made it into the first team. In his home country, the Netherlands , promoting young talent has played a major role since the 1960s. A pioneer was in particular the Ajax Amsterdam club , which had produced several talents, including Cruyff himself, and won international titles with its youth work. Since Cruyff's time there has also been the requirement to practice the same game system in all age groups of the club.

In 2007, FC Barcelona exported its youth training system and since then has been operating a "Masia" abroad: Barcelona has a partnership with FC Barcelona Juniors Luján near the Argentine capital Buenos Aires , which provides around 100 South American talents with training analogous to that at the club's own training facility enables.

In the 2009/10 season, Barça won the Spanish championship with ten players from their own cantera ('quarry'), as the youth division in Spain is called.

education

Football training is based on precise and fast short passing, the so-called Tiki-Taka , and less, as is usual in other clubs, on physical training. Up to the age of 16, the players do not complete any strength training or endurance runs. Strength, endurance and speed are improved through excessive training with the ball. The focus is on playing fast in a minimal space, combined with the acquisition of technical skills. As soon as the young footballers are mature enough for the professional division, they first join the B team. There, the so-called "pearls" are gradually introduced to the first team according to a three-stage plan.

The offspring not only learn how to use the ball, but are also taught values ​​for everyday life. They should identify with the club and receive the "Barça stamp". Because of the many homegrown players, it is easier for the fans to identify with the club. The advantage for the Barça students: the club pays a scholarship for the players, which means they do not incur any costs.

“It doesn't matter how strong a boy is, how long he can run. The only thing that matters is: what can he do with the ball. This is what the entire training program is geared towards: producing technically unique players .... Barça teaches not to be strong, but to be intelligent. "

- Jordi Cruyff

In contrast to the youth systems of other football clubs, the players from their own offspring make up a large part of the first team. At least 50% of the players in the first team, so the goal of FC Barcelona, ​​should have been trained in their own youth department.

FC Barcelona employs around 50 scouts worldwide who are specifically on the lookout for fast, agile and technically skilled offensive players who can later be converted into defensive players.

building

La Masia (' country house ') was built in 1702 and is only a few meters away from Camp Nou . It has served as a home for the club's Cantera ('youth academy') since 1979. A large kitchen, dining room, lounge, library and four large dormitories with changing rooms and bathrooms are located on an area of ​​600 m². La Masia is home to 60 young talents, 12 of whom sleep in La Masia itself, the others in nearby rooms.

Near the sports center of FC Barcelona, Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper , is La Masia-Center de Formació Oriol Tort . The 6,000 m² facility replaced the old La Masia in September 2011 and can accommodate up to 82 adolescents. The costs for the building alone amounted to 8.8 million euros, with the total costs of the project (including licenses, fees for the architects and installations) being around 11 million euros.

Well-known graduates

Photo of La Masia alumni Guillermo Amor, Albert Ferrer and Pep Guardiola

Web links

Commons : La Masia  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b The Barcelona Academy. In: FIFA.com. FIFA , April 6, 2011, accessed May 27, 2011 .
  2. ↑ Dietrich Schulze-Marmeling : Barça or: The art of beautiful play . Verlag Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2010, ISBN 3-89533-720-X , p. 145 .
  3. ↑ Una Masía en Buenos Aires. In: elpais.com. El País , April 26, 2010, accessed January 11, 2011 (Spanish).
  4. ↑ a b FC Barcelona - jewels from the quarry. In: sueddeutsche.de. Süddeutsche Zeitung , December 12, 2007, accessed on November 14, 2010 .
  5. ↑ La Masia, como un laboratorio. In: SPORT.es. Sport , August 18, 2010, accessed November 14, 2010 (Spanish).
  6. ^ The Barça kids from La Masia. In: uefa.com. UEFA , December 29, 2008, accessed November 14, 2010 .
  7. ↑ Lionel Messi, Cesc Fabregas, Gerard Pique ... all forged in Barcelona's hothouse of champions. In: dailymail.co.uk. March 27, 2010, accessed November 14, 2010 .
  8. ↑ A league of their own: inside FC Barcelona's football academy, churning out future Messis ... for free. In: dailymail.co.uk. Daily Mail , April 17, 2010, accessed November 17, 2010 .
  9. ↑ Barcelona's tradition sets it apart from the rest. In: latimes.com. LA Times , August 2, 2009, accessed November 14, 2010 .
  10. ↑ Dietrich Schulze-Marmeling : Barça or: The art of beautiful play . Verlag Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2010, ISBN 3-89533-720-X , p. 142-143 .
  11. ↑ La Masia. (No longer available online.) In: FCBarcelona.cat. Archived from the original on November 21, 2010 ; accessed on November 14, 2010 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.fcbarcelona.cat
  12. ↑ La Masia. In: fcbarcelona.com. Retrieved March 15, 2019 .
  1. ↑ Since the tenure of Pep Guardiola (2007-2008), the B-Team has been in "Perlen" (players who come from their own youth and who will probably make the leap to the first team in a maximum of two years) and in "Backbone" - Players (players who have been active in the B-Team for at least two years and should support the young talents with their experience).

Coordinates: 41 ° 22 ′ 59 "  N , 2 ° 7 ′ 23"  E