RCD Espanyol cantera


The cantera of Spanish professional football club RCD Espanyol is the organisation's youth academy, developing players from childhood through to the integration of the best prospects into the adult teams.
The final category within the youth structure is the Juvenil A under-18/19 team which represents the club in national competition. The successful graduates then usually move to the club's reserve team, Espanyol B, which is also considered part of the cantera due to being a stage in progression towards the senior team, albeit competing in the adult league system.
The academy is based at the club training complex, Ciutat Esportiva Dani Jarque.

Background

The top football clubs in the Spanish leagues generally place great importance in developing their cantera to promote the players from within or sell to other clubs as a source of revenue, and Espanyol is no exception. Their youth recruitment network is focused primarily around their home region of Catalonia and there are collaboration agreements in place with small clubs in the region.
A significant challenge for Espanyol in their pursuit of local talent is the presence of city rivals FC Barcelona whose global profile, local support base and financial resources far exceed those of Espanyol. However, the Pericos are easily the second biggest club in Catalonia and they have still been able to produce some players for their first team, even if the very best youngsters in the region tend to end up at Barça.
is a canterano graduate who joined the club at 14 and made his first-team debut five years later
Espanyol made significant upgrades to their facilities with the 2001 opening of their Ciutat Esportiva and since then their results at youth level have improved significantly compared to the 20th century, with eight regional titles, five Copa de Campeones Juvenil finals and five Copa del Rey Juvenil finals between 2001-2016, compared to just one Copa del Rey final appearance in the previous 50 years, one regional title and a best finish of 4th in the nationwide Superliga. This run of success in the 21st century was very similar to the achievements during the same period of the FC Barcelona youths, whose academy La Masia is regarded as one of the best in the world for developing great players.
The training centre is now named after the late club captain Daniel Jarque who was himself a graduate of the academy.

Progression of players

As per analysis from the CIES Football Observatory, in 2014 Espanyol had four 'homegrown players' still at their formative club, with another 17 at other top clubs across Europe - ranked 13th across all "big five" league clubs. According to the 2016 report, the figures were six players still at the club and eight elsewhere This total of 14 was far less than Barcelona and also some way behind clubs of similar stature such as Real Sociedad, whose youth team record at national level is slightly poorer than Espanyol. A separate analysis by the same organisation at the end of that season showed that Espanyol's canteranos participated in 23% of the minutes in the 2016–17 La Liga, where they finished 8th. The club ranked 22nd in the table of the 98 participants in the Big Five leagues.
A further 2016 study demonstrated that although Espanyol had more players selected for the Spanish national squad at various age group levels than Athletic Bilbao in the 21st century, far fewer graduated to the senior Spain side, indicating that the club's youth coaching is effective but the methods are less successful as the players move into adulthood. Although a long list of former Pericos youths have carved out decent careers in the Segunda División and in foreign leagues such as the Cypriot First Division, it would perhaps have been hoped by the club that more players of the generation would have made the transition from promising youngsters to elite professionals, given the strength of the academy teams. The system is still the envy of many clubs, with a 2012 report highlighting Espanyol's results in contrast to those of Real Zaragoza, a club of similar size who compete in the same regional leagues at youth level, working under financial limitations.

National competitions

The Juvenil A team play in Group III of the División de Honor Juvenil as their regular annual competition. Their main rivals in the league group are Barcelona as well as Mallorca and youth-only club CF Damm. The under-17 team, Juvenil B, plays in the Liga Nacional Juvenil which is the lower division of the same structure. The team also regularly participates in the Copa de Campeones Juvenil and the Copa del Rey Juvenil, qualification for which is dependent on final league group position. In these nationwide competitions the opposition includes the academy teams of Atlético Madrid, Sevilla, Athletic Bilbao and Real Madrid.

International tournaments

It is possible for Espanyol Juvenil to participate in the UEFA Youth League, either by winning the previous season's Copa de Campeones or by way of the senior team qualifying for the UEFA Champions League group stages, but so far neither has been achieved - they came close when Villarreal prevailed in the 2015 final of the Copa Campeones after extra time.

Structure

The first intake of boys from the Province of Barcelona are introduced into the Benjamí teams at around 8 years of age and advance by an age group every season through Aleví, Infantil, Cadet and Juvenil levels. Players retained after their Juvenil A spell typically move to reserve team RCD Espanyol B to gain experience in an adult league. They can spend up to five years with the B team, often with some loan spells at other clubs included, although the best players usually move up to the senior team within 2 seasons if considered ready to do so, with the remaining B team members augmented by the next set of youth graduates in their ongoing battle to retain their divisional status.

Head coaches

SquadAgeCoachTierLeague
Juvenil A16-18Luis Blanco1División de Honor
Juvenil B16-18Xavi Morón2Liga Nacional
Cadete A14-15TBU1Divisió d'Honor Cadet
Cadete B14-15TBU2Preferent Cadet

Current squads

Juvenil A

Juvenil B

Famous players

Notable graduates who passed through the youth system on their way to establishing themselves with the Espanyol senior side and/or other clubs include:
players currently at Espanyol in bold, 'graduation' year in parentheses
Sergio Tejera, Gerard Moreno and Marc Cucurella spent several years with Espanyol but made their professional debuts at other clubs.

Season to season (Juvenil A)

''Superliga / Liga de Honor sub-19">División de Honor Juvenil de Fútbol#Champions">Superliga / Liga de Honor sub-19''

Seasons with two or more trophies shown in bold
: :Season: :LevelGroupPositionCopa del Rey JuvenilNotes
1986–8716thRound of 16
1987–88110thRound of 16
1988–8918thRound of 16
1989–9019thRound of 16
1990–91111thQuarter-final
1991–9214thQuarter-final
1992–9319thRound of 16
1993–94112thQuarter-final
1994–95N/AN/AN/ADid not enter tournaments

''División de Honor Juvenil">División de Honor Juvenil de Fútbol">División de Honor Juvenil''

Seasons with two or more trophies shown in bold
*Season*LevelGroupPositionCopa del Rey Juv.Copa de CampeonesEurope/notes
1995–96132ndRound of 16N/Arowspan="16"
1996–97131stRound of 162nd in group of 3-
1997–98134thN/AN/A-
1998–99131stQuarter-final2nd in group of 3-
1999–00133rdQuarter-finalN/A-
2000–01132ndWinnersN/A-
2001–02131stRound of 16Semi-final-
2002–03131stWinnersRunners-up-
2003–04131stWinnersRunners-up-
2004–05132ndRound of 16N/A-
2005–06132ndQuarter-finalN/A-
2006–07131stRound of 162nd in group of 3-
2007–08131stQuarter-finalWinners-
2008–09133rdQuarter-finalN/A-
2009–10132ndSemi-finalN/A-
2010–11132ndRunners-upN/A-
2011–12131stWinnersRunners-upN/A
2012–13133rdN/AN/AN/A
2013–141III2ndQuarter-finalN/AN/A
2014–151III1stRound of 16Runners-upN/A
2015–161III1stQuarter-finalSemi-finalN/A
2016–171III3rdN/AN/AN/A
2017–181III5thN/AN/AN/A
2018–191III3rdQuarter-finalN/AN/A
2019–201III3rdN/AN/AN/A

Honours

National competitions