Real Sociedad cantera

Real Sociedad (youth system)

Full name	Real Sociedad de Fútbol, S.A.D.
Nickname(s)	Txuriurdin (White and Blue) Erreala / La Real (The Royals)
Ground	Zubieta Facilities, San Sebastián, Basque Country, Spain
Ground Capacity	2,500
President	Jokin Aperribay
Coach	Jon Mikel Arrieta
League	División de Honor
201617	División de Honor, Gr. 2, 4th
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours

The cantera (quarry) of Spanish professional football club Real Sociedad 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 (Basque: Gazteak A) under-18/19 team team which represents the club in national competition. The successful graduates then usually move to the club's reserve teams, Real Sociedad C or Real Sociedad B, which are 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, Zubieta, which is often the name used informally to refer to the system itself.

Background and structure

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 Real Sociedad is no exception. Until the late 1980s, the club operated a Basque-only player recruitment policy but abandoned this in order to remain competitive;^[1][2] however their youth recruitment network is still focused around their home region of Gipuzkoa and there are collaboration agreements in place with the small clubs in the region, assisted financially by the regional government.^[3] In 2013, it was noted that 22 of the 23 members of the Juvenil A squad that season were from Gipuzkoa.^[4]

Most of the senior team players in recent seasons are youth academy graduates: 15 of the squad in 2014 (as per analysis from the CIES Football Observatory).^[5][6] In 2016, Real Sociedad's total of 16 'homegrown players' (as per UEFA guidelines: three years of training between 15 and 21 years old) still at their formative club was the second-highest across Europe's 'big five' leagues, significantly more than all other elite clubs apart from neighbours Athletic Bilbao.^[7] Moreover, further end-of-year analysis demonstrated that these graduates were not merely backup squad members but integral elements of the team, involved in 50% of the minutes in the 2016–17 La Liga, where they finished 6th.^[8] Including nine former trainees at other eligible clubs, Real's total of 25 homegrown players ranked as the fifth-highest across the continent, although only third in Spain behind Real Madrid and FC Barcelona who retained just a few of the many high-level professionals they produced.

Xabi Prieto is an example of a local player who joined the club at a young age, moved steadily through the youth levels and established himself in the senior team

Real Sociedad's good standing in La Liga in recent years - including qualifying for the 2013–14 UEFA Champions League - has thus been achieved using a large proportion of homegrown players, with the vast majority of those hailing from the local region (which has a population of just 715,000, a small catchment area for an elite football club, and with that potential pool of talent drained further by frequent swoops for the best youngsters by Athletic Bilbao),^[9][2] indicating a very high standard of coaching and development of the young players at their disposal. A notable exception to this local focus was Antoine Griezmann from France who was integrated into the setup at a young age after his potential was identified by Real staff at an event;^[10] he eventually departed from the club in exchange for a transfer fee of €30m.^[11]

The core of boys from the Gipuzkoa region are first introduced into the Zubieta Alevín teams at around 10 years of age and advance by an age group every season through Infantil, Cadete and Juvenil levels. The players who are retained by Real after their Juvenil A spell (aged about 17) would typically join Real Sociedad C - a recent addition to the club structure^[12] - with that squad normally expanded further with some signings from the regions’s youth clubs such as Antiguoko, a small San Sebastián team who regularly challenge the professional youth teams for the title in their División de Honor group.^[13][14]

The players usually spend one or two seasons at Real C before the best are promoted to the reserve team Sanse and then on to the senior team when considered ready to do so.

National competitions

The Juvenil A team play in Group II of the División de Honor Juvenil de Fútbol as their regular annual competition. Their main rivals in the league group are Athletic Bilbao and Osasuna. The under-17 team, Juvenil B or Easo (named after a nickname for San Sebastián which itself derives from the nearby Roman town of Oiasso), plays in the Liga Nacional Juvenil de Fútbol which is the lower division of the same structure.

The team also regularly participates in the Copa de Campeones 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 Barcelona, Atlético Madrid, Sevilla and Real Madrid.

International tournaments

In 2012–13 Real Sociedad's senior team qualified for the UEFA Champions League group stages, meaning that the Juvenil squad could play in the 2013–14 version of the UEFA Youth League. They finished top of their group in the competition but were eliminated from the knockout stage by Schalke 04.

In the subsequent years there has been no further chance to participate due to the senior team failing to qualify. The alternative route into the Youth League would be to win the previous season’s Copa de Campeones but Real Juvenil have so far been unable to achieve this.

Head coaches

The coaches^[15] are often former Real players who themselves graduated from Zubieta, which is also true of Loren Juarros, the club's director of football^[16] who has held the post since 2009.^[17]

Current squads

Juvenil A

As of November 2016 ^[18]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player GK Adrián Casadevante GK Iker Bastida DF Aritz Aranbarri DF Jeremy Blasco DF Daniel Calvillo DF Benoit Cachenaut DF Antxon De la Arada DF Aitor Díez DF Gexan Elosegi DF Haritz Estivariz DF Alex Ujía MF Aritz Aldasoro

No. Position Player MF Aitor Aranzabe MF Xabier Cárdenas MF Jokin Gabilondo MF Ugaitz Kerejeta MF Theo Lucbert MF Julen Mentxaka MF Unai Rementería MF Martin Zubimendi FW Beñat Eizagirre FW Romain Escarpit FW Unai Veiga

Juvenil B (Easo)

As of January 2017^[19]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player GK Iraitz Gelbentzu GK Unai Ruiz-Zeberio DF Paul Alvarez DF Unai Arrieta DF Unai Arruabarrena DF Yago Cantero DF Jon Ander Obeso DF Julen Odriozola DF Ander Zoilo MF Anatz Elizondo MF Daniel Garrido

No. Position Player MF Iker Hernández MF Julen Lobete MF Jorge Martínez-Losa MF Jon Ander Olasagasti MF Iñaki Recio MF Ekain Regil MF Iñigo Sánchez MF Juan Uriarte FW Jorge Aguirre FW Nace Koprivnik FW Roberto López

Season to season (Juvenil A)

Superliga / Liga de Honor sub-19

Seasons with two or more trophies shown in bold^[20]

División de Honor Juvenil

Seasons with two or more trophies shown in bold

Honours

• División de Honor (Group II): (regional league)
  • 2 1982 (Liga Nacional Juvenil 1975 to 1986)
  • 7 1997, 1998, 1999, 2008, 2012, 2014, 2015 (current format since 1995)
• Copa de Campeones Juvenil:
  • Winners: 2 1998, 1999
  • Runners-up: 2014
• Copa del Rey Juvenil:
  • Winners: 1 1955
  • Runners-up: 1952, 1968

Famous players

The club's purpose-built training centre and academy at Zubieta dates from 1982, but special mention should be given to the generation of players who emerged just prior to its opening: Real Sociedad were La Liga winners in 1981 and 1982 with a playing squad filled with homegrown talent (not all players were developed from childhood, but those who did arrive later were acquired from the region's local clubs in their teens or early 20s and developed further). A group comprising Luis Arconada, Genaro Zelaieta, Inaxio Kortabarria, Juan Antonio Larrañaga, Alberto Górriz, Periko Alonso, José Diego, Roberto López Ufarte, Peio Uralde, José Mari Bakero, Jesús María Zamora and Jesús María Satrústegui all became Spanish internationals.

Since that successful era, many more players have emerged from the youth system to star for the Real Sociedad first team or play elsewhere at a high level, including:

As of August 2017 – players currently at Real Sociedad in bold, 'graduation' year in parentheses

See also

• Real Sociedad senior team
• Real Sociedad B, ‘Sanse’ 1st reserve team
• Real Sociedad C 2nd reserve team

References