RCD Espanyol Cantera

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.[2] However, the Pericos are easily the second biggest club in Catalonia (population 7.5 million) 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.

Álvaro Vázquez (pictured playing for Catalonia) 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 ('sports city') 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 (1976-85 era) and a best finish of 4th in the nationwide Superliga (1986–94). 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.[3]

The training centre is now named after the late club captain Daniel Jarque (died 2009) who was himself a graduate of the academy.[4]

As per analysis from the CIES Football Observatory, in 2014 Espanyol had four 'homegrown players' (as per UEFA guidelines, three years of training between 15 and 21 years old) still at their formative club, with another 17 at other top clubs across Europe - ranked 13th across all "big five"[5] league clubs.[6][7] According to the 2016 report, the figures were six players still at the club and eight elsewhere[8] This total of 14 was far less than Barcelona (37 players produced) and also some way behind clubs of similar stature such as Real Sociedad (25 players), 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[9] participated in 23% of the minutes in the 2016–17 La Liga, where they finished 8th.[10] 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 (another club with a renowned academy) 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.[11] 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[12] (this was prior to the takeover by China's Rastar Group in 2016).[13]

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[2] 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.

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.[14]

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.[15] Players retained after their Juvenil A spell (aged about 18) typically move to reserve team RCD Espanyol B to gain experience in an adult league (Segunda División B level in most years). 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.

Notable graduates who passed through the youth system on their way to establishing themselves with the Espanyol senior side and/or other clubs include:

As of July 2017

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.