Cantera, literally meaning "quarry" in Spanish, is a term used in Spain to refer to youth academies and farm teams 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. Notable canteras include those of Athletic Bilbao, Real Sociedad, FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid, RCD Espanyol and Sporting de Gijón.
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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 to Real 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 and Félix Sesúmaga.
Throughout their history Athletic Bilbao have continued to produce many notable Spanish players. Among them were Zarra, the all-time top goalscorer in La Liga, José Ángel Iribar, who made a record 466 La Liga appearances and was a member of the Spain team when they won the European Championship in 1964 and Andoni Zubizarreta the most capped Spanish international to date. Other notable graduates of the Athletic cantera include Bata, Agustín Gaínza, Panizo, Andoni Goikoetxea, Julio Salinas, Julen Guerrero and Rafael Alkorta.
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 and Arenas Club de Getxo also provided players. In 1928 these three clubs and Athletic Bilbao became founding members of La 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 and Athletic Bilbao won four La Liga titles in a row between 1981 and 1984. The Real team included, among others, Roberto López Ufarte, José Mari Bakero, Luis Arconada and Jesús María Zamora. Xabi Alonso of Real Madrid and the Euro 2008-winning Spanish squad is also a product of Real's youth system.
Although FC Barcelona and Real Madrid are well known for regularly recruiting foreign players, both have a very respectable record for producing local players. Along with Athletic Bilbao, both clubs have notable reserve teams, predominantly made up of local players. Numerous senior players have graduated through the ranks of FC Barcelona B. These have included Francisco Carrasco, Ramón Calderé, Guillermo Amor, Albert Ferrer, Josep Guardiola, Sergi Barjuán, Iván de la Peña, Francesc Arnau, Roger García, Gabri García, Gerard López, Luis García Sanz, Oleguer Presas, Pepe Reina, Thiago Motta, Fernando Navarro, Xavi Hernández, Cesc Fàbregas, Carles Puyol, Víctor Valdés, Mikel Arteta, Andrés Iniesta, Bojan Krkić, Jeffrén Suárez, Lionel Messi, Giovani dos Santos, Gerard Piqué, Sergio Busquets and Pedro Rodríguez, though it should be noted some 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 of Real Madrid Castilla, among them La Quinta Del Buitre Emilio Butragueño, Manolo Sanchís, Martín Vazquéz, Míchel and Miguel Pardeza. Graduates of the cantera include Iker Casillas, Álvaro Arbeloa, Esteban Granero, Raúl, Guti, Luis García, Juan Mata, Borja Valero, Álvaro Negredo, Roberto Soldado, Dani Parejo, José María Callejón, Juanfran, and Javi Garcia. The club has also produced some notable managers including Vicente del Bosque and Rafael Benítez.[1]
As well as producing players from their own regions both clubs have also recruited young players from throughout Spain and internationally. Recent examples include Argentines Lionel Messi and Esteban Cambiasso.
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 of FC Barcelona, Atlético Madrid, and Real Madrid early on. FC Barcelona, in particular, has a long history of signing players from the region going back to Félix Sesúmaga. Others have included Jesús Garay, Jesús María Pereda, José Ramón Alexanko, Javier Urruticoechea and in more recent times, Santiago Ezquerro. During the 1980s and 1990s FC Barcelona cherry picked the best Basque players, among them José Mari Bakero, Txiki Begiristain, Andoni Zubizarreta, Julio Salinas and Ion Andoni Goikoetxea, allowing Johan 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 of Miguel Jones and José Eulogio Gárate, both recruited from SD Indautxu, and Javier Irureta, signed from Real Unión. Real Madrid has also regularly looked north for players such as Rafael Alkorta, Mikel Lasa, Aitor Karanka and Iván 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 legendary Athletic Bilbao player of the 1930s, Gorostiza, was actually signed from Arenas Club de Getxo. In 1995 Athletic signed Joseba Etxeberria from Real Sociedad, causing considerable bad feeling between the two clubs.
During the 1990s the poaching of players took on a new dimension. Real Madrid in particular have regularly produced quality players unable to establish themselves with their home club. Some critics have argued that this 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 persuaded Cesc Fàbregas to leave FC Barcelona B with a much higher salary which FC Barcelona could not offer due to the Spanish contractual law; and more recently teenage star Fran Mérida also followed Fàbregas' footsteps and played some time for Arsenal's reserve team, before returning to La Liga in 2010 for Atlético Madrid. Another emerging FC Barcelona B player, Gerard Piqué, subsequently signed for Manchester United, though has since moved back to FC Barcelona. Since then Rafael Benítez, himself a product of the cantera, has recruited Luis García, Pepe Reina, Xabi Alonso and Fernando Torres for Liverpool and Mikel Arteta has established himself at Everton. Luis García, Reina and Arteta all began their career at FC Barcelona B, Alonso started out at Real Sociedad and Torres grew up in the Atlético Madrid system.
Other important canteras are:
Espanyol: Raúl Tamudo, Sergio González, Joan Capdevila, Daniel Jarque, Alberto Lopo, Javi Guerra, Sergio Sánchez, André Bikey, Enrique de Lucas, Tintín Márquez, Ricardo Zamora, Jordi Gómez, Albert Serran, Miquel Soler, Bruno Saltor, Miguel Palanca, Ferran Corominas, Daniel Solsona, Jordi Lardin, Joan Golobart, Victor Ruiz, Raul Baena , Dídac Vilà, Joan Tomas, Miquel Robusté, Javi Márquez, Javier Chica, David García, Jordi Amat, Álvaro Vázquez, Jonathan Soriano, Jordi Xumetra and Ricardo Saprissa.
Sevilla: Sergio Ramos, José Antonio Reyes, Antonio Puerta, Jesús Navas, Diego Capel, Lolo and Carlos Marchena.
Valencia: David Silva, David Albelda, Raúl Albiol, Pablo Hernández, Sisi, Jaime Gavilán, David Navarro, Vicente Guaita, Andrés Palop, José Molina, Miguel Ángel Angulo, Juan Sánchez, Gaizka Mendieta, Francisco Camarasa and Fernando Gómez.
Atlético Madrid : David de Gea, Abel Resino, Joel, Roberto, Antonio López, Juanma Ortiz, Ignacio Camacho, Mario Suárez, Ibrahima Balde, Rubén Pérez, Mario, Arizmendi, Manu del Moral, Rivas, Cuéllar, Gabriel Fernández, Braulio Nóbrega Juanma López, Roberto Solozábal, Tomás Reñones, Toni Muñoz, Raúl, Juanito Gómez and Fernando Torres.