Club Facilities

La Masia

The home of Barcelona's upcoming stars

'La Masia' is home to the FC Barcelona youth academy and has been the starting point for a number of young players' careers. Set in grounds next to the Camp Nou, this emblematic old building was built as a farmhouse in 1702. In 1966, the club took over the site as a home for its social club and 13 years later in 1979, it became a residence for the members of Barça's youth teams. The two story house covers 610 square metres and boasts a large kitchen, dining room, common room, library, administrative quarters and bathrooms, changing rooms and bedrooms for 60 boys.

At the beginning of the 1999-2000 season the facilities were enlarged with the construction of an annex to accommodate a further 18 rooms. Since 'La Masia' is a listed building it has been necessary to build apart from the original construction.

The objective of 'La Masia' is to train and educate young sportsmen, who have left their homes and families in order to join the club. Although the majority of boys come from Catalunya and the rest of Spain, there are also budding young players from abroad at 'La Masia'.

Since its inauguration, over 30 youngsters have come through into Barça's first team, including such top stars as Guillermo Amor, Pep Guardiola, Albert Ferrer, Sergi, Iavn De la Peña, Carles Puyol, Xavi, José Reina, Víctor Valdés, Andrés Iniesta and Lionel Messi, as well as many who have made careers with other leading Spanish and European clubs. Players like Giovanni dos Santos and Bojan Krkic are current emerging stars from La Masia

Since the 1987-88 season, 'La Masia' has also had a number of places available for young basketball players and by the beginning of the 2002-2003 season, there were 10 such youngsters at the center.

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