- Cantera
Cantera, literally meaning "
quarry " in Spanish, is a term used inSpain to refer to youth academies organized by sports clubs. It is also used to refer to the geographical area that clubs recruit players from. The term is widely used in football but is also applied to other sports such as basketball. This article is about the football "canteras". The best canteras belong toAthletic Bilbao ,Real Sociedad ,Real Madrid ,FC Barcelona ,Valencia CF ,RCD Espanyol ,Sporting de Gijón andUD Las Palmas . Fact|date=August 2008The Basque Canteras
Athletic Bilbao
Since 1912
Athletic Bilbao have employed a cantera policy. One of the main beneficiaries of the policy has been the national team. Athletic has provided numerous players for it, second only toReal Madrid .During the early 1920s the Basque Country was a breeding ground of great Spanish players. The influx of immigrants from all over
Spain resulted in the region producing dozens of quality players. In 1920 Spain made their international debut and entered a team in the Olympic Games. Of the 21 players in the squad, 14 were Basques. Among them were Pichichi,José María Belauste ,Txomin Acedo andFélix Sesúmaga .Throughout their history
Athletic Bilbao have continued to produce many notable Spanish players. Among them were Zarra, the all-time top goalscorer inLa Liga ,José Ángel Iribar , who made a record 466La Liga appearances and was a member of the Spain team when they won the European Championship in1964 andAndoni Zubizarreta the most capped Spanish international to date. Other notable graduates of the Athletic cantera include Bata,Agustín Gaínza , Panizo, Goikoetxea I,Julio Salinas ,Julen Guerrero andRafael Alkorta .Real Sociedad
Athletic were not the only club to have a cantera policy. Fellow Basque club,
Real Sociedad operated a similar policy until 1989. Neither were Athletic the only Basque club that provided players for the 1920 squad.Real Sociedad ,Real Unión andArenas Club de Getxo also provided players. In 1928 these three clubs andAthletic Bilbao became founding members ofLa Liga , demonstrating further the strength in depth of the Basque canteras at the time. The saying "Con cantera y afición, no hace falta importación", translated as "With home-grown teams and supporters, there is no need for imports" made sense during these early days.The ability of the Basque Country to produce great players was made clear during the early 1980s when
Real Sociedad andAthletic Bilbao won fourLa Liga titles in a row between 1981 and 1984. The Real team included, among others,Roberto López Ufarte ,José Mari Bakero ,Luis Arconada andJesús María Zamora .FC Barcelona B and Real Madrid Castilla
Although
FC Barcelona andReal Madrid are well known for regularly recruiting foreign players, both have a very respectable record for producing local players. Along withAthletic Bilbao , both clubs have notablereserve team s, predominantly made up of local players. Numerous senior players have graduated through the ranks ofFC Barcelona B . These have includedFrancisco José Carrasco ,Ramón María Calderé ,Guillermo Amor ,Albert Ferrer ,Josep Guardiola , Sergi,Xavi ,Cesc Fabregas ,Carles Puyol ,Víctor Valdés , Andrés Iniesta,Bojan Krkic ,Lionel Messi andGiovani dos Santos , though it should be noted many of these were recruited from overseas before signing professional terms, so are not 'home-grown' in the traditional sense, if in the technical sense.In 1966
Real Madrid won the European Cup with a team of eleven Spanish players and a Spanish coach. It was the first time a home-born team had won the competition. Many great home grown players have since passed through the ranks ofReal Madrid Castilla , among themEmilio Butragueño , Manolo Sanchís, Martín Vazquéz, Míchel and Miguel Pardeza. More recent graduates have included Raúl, Guti andIker Casillas . The club has also produced some notable managers includingVicente Del Bosque andRafael Benítez .As well as producing players from their own regions both clubs have also recruited young players from throughout
Spain and internationally. Recent examples includeLionel Messi andSamuel Eto'o .The Dream Team
Ever since the early days of
football in Spain one issue for "cantera" clubs is the poaching or recruiting of their players by other clubs. After the cantera has trained a player, another club will step in with a tempting offer and take them away. The potential of the Basque Country as a recruiting ground for players was recognised by the likes ofFC Barcelona ,Atlético Madrid , andReal Madrid early on.FC Barcelona , in particular, has a long history of signing players from the region going back toFélix Sesúmaga . Others have includedJesús Garay ,Jesus María Pereda ,José Ramón Alexanko ,Javier Urruticoechea and in more recent times,Santiago Ezquerro . During the 1980s and 1990sFC Barcelona cherry picked the best Basque players, among them Bakero,Txiki Beguiristain , Zubizarreta,Julio Salinas and Goikoetxea II, allowingJohan Cruyff to build the legendary "Dream Team" around them.The successful
Atlético Madrid teams of the 1960s also included a notable Basque presence in the form ofMiguel Jones andJosé Eulogio Gárate , both recruited fromSD Indautxu , andJavier Irureta , signed fromReal Unión .Real Madrid has also regularly looked north for players such asRafael Alkorta ,Mikel Lasa ,Aitor Karanka andIván Campo .Athletic Bilbao , however, have also been regularly accused of poaching. The Athletic policy of recruiting only Basque-players has seen them frequently recruit from the canteras of other Basque clubs. The legendaryAthletic Bilbao player of the 1930s, Gorostiza, was actually signed fromArenas Club de Getxo . In 1995 Athletic signedJoseba Etxeberria fromReal Sociedad , causing considerable bad feeling between the two clubs.Cantera Vs Imports
During the 1990s the poaching of players took on a new dimension.
FC Barcelona andReal Madrid in particular have regularly produced quality players unable to establish themselves with their home club. Some critics have argued that this is has partly arisen because these clubs continue to use "imports" at the expense of "cantera" players. As a result many graduates of the canteras seek their fortune elsewhere and are willing to be poached. Initially "cantera" players only moved to other Spanish clubs. However in more recent times, English Premiership clubs have begun to recognize the potential of the Spanish canteras. In 2003 Arsenal persuadedCesc Fàbregas to leaveFC Barcelona B . Another emergingFC Barcelona B player,Gerard Piqué , subsequently signed for Manchester United, though has since moved back toFC Barcelona . Since thenRafael Benítez , himself a product of the cantera, has recruited Luis García, Pepe Reina,Xabi Alonso andFernando Torres for Liverpool andMikel Arteta has established himself at Everton. García, Reina and Arteta all began their career atFC Barcelona B , Alonso started out atReal Sociedad and Torres grew up in theAtletico Madrid system. However, Rafeal Benitez has signed players that had already established themselves in Spain and had helped improve the fortunes of their respective clubs. Whilst Pique and Fabregas were "poached" from a very young age and had not even been proven in their home country.External links
*es icon [http://canales.elcorreodigital.com/especiales/eleccionesathletic/noticias/not270501a.html Voluntad de tradición] , an article on the Athletic Bilbao "cantera policy"
* [http://www.ezilon.com/information/article_11653.shtml The lost boys of Barcelona] , by Ronald Atkin
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