Jump to content
Melbourne Football

Melbourne City College of Football


MUTD/MLBHRT/ESSNDON
 Share

Recommended Posts

The youth academy of Barcelona holds more than 300 young players, and has been praised since 2002 as one of the best in the world, being a significant factor in FC Barcelona's European success as well as the Spanish national team's success at the 2010 FIFA World Cup. In 2010, la Masia achieved a record breaking honour becoming the first youth academy to have trained all three finalists for the Ballon d'Or in one same year, with Andrés Iniesta, Lionel Messi and Xavi Hernández.[2]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

La Masia de Can Planes was an old Catalan farmhouse, built in 1702. In 1979 it was first used by the club to house its young footballers who originated from outside of Barcelona.[3] The idea for the youth academy was proposed to Núñez by Johan Cruyff, a former player who was a youth-product from the Ajax Academy. Núñez installed Oriol Tort as director.[4]

One of the first graduates of the academy was the midfielder Guillermo Amor, who débuted in 1988. Amor went on to play 311 La Liga matches for the first team. Two years later, he was followed by goalkeeper Carles Busquets and midfielder Pep Guardiola.[5] All three made their first team début under Cruyff, who was made manager of the first team in 1988. The team played to Cruyff's tiki-taka philosophy, derived from total football, which has often been attributed as a key component in Barcelona's later success and international appeal.[6][7][8] Guardiola matured into a total-football midfielder, and became a source of inspiration for later midfielders from La Masia, such as Xavi Hernández, Andrés Iniesta and Cesc Fàbregas.[9] Xavi, who was Guardiola's understudy for three years, said in 2010 that he once considered transferring abroad because of the pressure and high expectations placed on him to fill Guardiola's role in the midfield.[10]

Guardiola was appointed the new coach of FC Barcelona B in May 2007. At that time, the team was in organisational disarray as it entered the fourth tier of Spanish football. The relegation of the B team was a cause in the disbanding of FC Barcelona C, which played in that league. In Guardiola's re-organisation of the reserve side, he made places available in Barcelona B to players above the age of 21; his aim was to increase competition within the team and help it advance into a more competitive league. He divided the players into two categories: "pearls", which was composed of the young players, and the "backbone", which was mostly composed of those who were more mature. The "backbone players" were between 21 and 26 years old and they stayed in the B team for a maximum of two years before being sold. Guardiola said the two-year duration was to allow for room to constantly develop youth players.[4]

In 2011 it was announced that Barcelona would be moving all it's football training activities to La Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper.[11]

La Masia received more publicity after Barcelona B's success with homegrown players; Rory Smith reported in The Daily Telegraph that La Masia "has replaced the fabled Ajax Academy as football's foremost production line."[12] The recent fame and success of La Masia as a talent school was ascribed by Ian Hawkey of The Times to the class of 1987, which featured prominent members as Cesc Fàbregas, Lionel Messi, Gerard Piqué and Pedro Rodríguez.[13] In 2000, Louis van Gaal, coach of FC Barcelona's first team, was widely ridiculed by the city sports media for his dream to win the Champions League with 11 home-grown players. The first team won the trophy in 2009 with eight home-grown players.[4]

In the 30 years since La Masia's inauguration, more than 500 youngsters have left their homes and families to stay at the academy. About half of them were from Catalonia, and the rest came from other regions of the Kingdom of Spain and beyond, including 15 from Cameroon, 7 from Brazil, 5 from Senegal and 3 from Argentina. Of those 500, about 10 percent made it into the first team.[14]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

La Masia houses about 60 players: 10 in the farmhouse, and the rest in rooms of the adjacent stadium; the rest of the youth players must provide for their own accommodation.[3][15] The academy is one of the most expensive in Europe, operating at a cost of £5 million a year. The main cost is the dormitory, La Masia itself.[15] The minimum age for the youth program is six years; each year, more than 1,000 boys from the ages of six to eight try out for admittance. The best 200 are selected.[16] The club also actively seeks for prospective students; it employs a system in which 15 scouts are deployed in Catalonia, 15 in the rest of Spain and 10 scattered throughout the world. To alleviate the expenses of this scouting, the club has an agreement with 15 local clubs for them to train players who are not ready for entry into the youth academy. In return, FC Barcelona gives money, coaching and technical advice to these clubs for their services.[17] While expanding its operations abroad, the club established five schools in Mexico and one in Egypt; successful applicants to these schools become full-time students, receiving academic education and football training.[18]

When Guardiola re-organised the reserve side, he set up a three-staged program to formalise the advancement from Juvenil to Barcelona B and finally to the first team. The first stage of a youth player's career involves a rotation scheme with Barcelona B. The second stage involves making the player aware of his importance to the team, and expects the player to improve cohesion and performance within the reserve side. In the last stage, he is designated a "key" player of the B team and might be called to the first team. One of the players in the third phase is made captain, regardless of the experience of older players.[4]

The teams at Barcelona play from August to May; mild weather at La Masia allows players to train outdoors throughout the year. The youth teams train after school; Barcelona B and C, as professional teams, train in the morning and evening.[19] All of the trainers at FC Barcelona are former professional footballers.[20]

FC Barcelona B, the club's main youth team, and the 12 other youth teams contained 24 coaches and more than 300 players. There are 56 other employees, including doctors, psychologists, nutritionists, cooks and physiologists.[15] In the 2009–10 season, the B team qualified for the Segunda División again. Barcelona B play in a 4-3-3 formation, which is the same formation employed by the first team.[21]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"The player who has passed through La Masia has something different to the rest, it's a plus that only comes from having competed in a Barcelona shirt from the time you were a child."

— Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola[24]

Former technical director, Pep Segura, attributes the club's success to its "philosophy of play": "It is about creating one philosophy, one mentality, from the bottom of the club to the top". The philosophy consists of the application of total football mixed with traditional Spanish one-touch play (tiqui-taka). The total football approach was derived from the Netherlands football team through Cruyff.[12] The total football approach requires the players to move in a fluid formation, where players can interchange positions quickly. In the youth academy, there is a large focus on technical ability, which is seen as a pre-requisite for inter-changes.[12][25][26] An often-quoted reason for Barcelona's success is the continuity and commitment with which Barcelona follow the current philosophy of pass and move. Guardiola was the prototype of the pivotal midfielder; current midfielders Xavi and Iniesta are its custodians.[27]

Another aspect of La Masia is its marked Catalan national character—local talent in the service of a club with a strong, defining sense of the cultural make-up of Catalonia.[28] The supporters often prefer locally-developed players to foreign players if the players are equally talented. In this way, the emphasis on homegrown talent concurs with UEFA's attempts to curb the influx of foreign players in clubs.[28] The head of UEFA, Michel Platini said: "Barcelona represent my philosophy, not only for the game, but also for the training of athletes".[29]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In 2009, Messi became the first player from La Masia to be awarded with the Ballon d'Or prize for the best footballer in Europe, and the FIFA World Player award, for the best footballer in the world.[30] Other La Masia alumni who finished in the top five in that year's balloting include Xavi and Iniesta.[31]

On 11 July 2010, Spain won the World Cup final with eight players from Barcelona; seven were from La Masia, and six of them were in the starting line-up: Gerard Piqué, Carles Puyol, Andrés Iniesta, Xavi Hernández, Sergio Busquets, and Pedro Rodríguez. This set a record for the most players to be provided by a club side for a team in a World Cup final.[32] Joachim Löw, coach of Germany, said after his side's defeat by Spain that the opposition had a distinct Barcelona style: "You can see it in every pass, how Spain plays is how Barcelona plays. They can hardly be beaten. They are extremely confident and very calm in the way they circulate the ball."[33]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If your a parent who has a kid playing Jnr football in Australia and knows his good and keen to go further, would you honestly look at any other ones apart from cruyff acedamy? Every parent in Australia that thinks there son is a god (because 90% of them do) they will send them for trial to Heart before any club gets to see them, they will be lining up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't care that he made this topic and I do find the whole subject very interesting.

What is fucking annoying is copying and pasting a Wikipedia page across six posts when he could of had a small summary/his opinion and the link to the page in the original post, or at the very least kept it all in one post and cleaned up the article a little. It's retarded.

Anyway it's a great initiative from the club and will work great if it's done properly.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

So, what is the 'Australian style' that we can produce from a local Cruyff Academy?

Its going to be interesting seeing what happens next with this.  There has been a lot of fluff about it, but precious little detail. 

 

Certainly I think a quality academy would be a BIG step in the right direction.  I wonder if this academy isn't also planned to be (part of) a NPL club?  it would seem logical if it was. 

 

As to a certain style well I'm sure we will go Dutch, but for mine a successful homegrown style will always have an element of the Aussie "Never Say Die" spirit, best profiled on 12 June 2006 in Kaisterlautern.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think pretty much all the NT's have a "Never Say Die" spirit.  Sweden drew 4-4 playing away to Germany after being 4-0 down in a world cup qualifier recently.  That's a bit of a step up from 1-0 down to Japan.

 

TBH I think our "style" is just physically combative- we play hard but fair, and we have a good work ethic.  Possibly because we can't match it technically, yet.

 

Holger Osieck likes to refer to the "Aussie Spirit" when Verbeek never did, but I think that's because Holger is just a bit smarter at blowing smoke up are arses.  He knows what we want to hear.

 

To progress in world football when we need better technicians ALL over the pitch.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Kiro I agree but do we want just the same technical proficiency as everyone else? What is it that we can identify that says 'that guy is Australian?' I think that technically our goalkeepers are better than most and as good as the best, probably as a legacy of our high exposure to ball games that involve catching and marking the ball, this is one position where we are already world class. What are the attributes that we can already expand upone that we learn from our large number of other sports (perhaps we are unique with the US in this) and what do we need to develop?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

http://www.nutmegradio.com/one-style-does-not-fit-all-deconstructing-a-universal-football-style/

 

 

I like the bit at the end:  "Style is a funny thing. It always looks good from afar, but often what looks good on the outside, feels very uncomfortable on the inside. African football may not need discipline. It might just need a tailor to create a custom design for its frame."

 

I'm more interested in developing footballers with skill first and let the style develop from there - naturally, organically reflecting our culture.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Kiro I agree but do we want just the same technical proficiency as everyone else? What is it that we can identify that says 'that guy is Australian?' I think that technically our goalkeepers are better than most and as good as the best, probably as a legacy of our high exposure to ball games that involve catching and marking the ball, this is one position where we are already world class. What are the attributes that we can already expand upone that we learn from our large number of other sports (perhaps we are unique with the US in this) and what do we need to develop?

We used to be pretty well respected around the world for performing a long way above the level that might have been expected from our population.

 

I'd be happy if along with the technical proficiency we played with that old never-say-die mentality, hard but fair, and when things don't go our way shrug our shoulders and get on with it. I think we do that in football - and many of the other sports we play.

 

Unfortunately in certain sports, such as swimming and now cricket, we've become the biggest whingers in the business.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Kiro I agree but do we want just the same technical proficiency as everyone else? What is it that we can identify that says 'that guy is Australian?' I think that technically our goalkeepers are better than most and as good as the best, probably as a legacy of our high exposure to ball games that involve catching and marking the ball, this is one position where we are already world class. What are the attributes that we can already expand upone that we learn from our large number of other sports (perhaps we are unique with the US in this) and what do we need to develop?

 

 

I actually think the template for an Australian philosophy is already here: the Mariners under Arnold are it!  Here's why:

 

I don't think we can develop a squad of players with flair like Spain or Brazil have.  I don't think its in our nature to have the patience of Italy.

 

But here's what we can do: 

 

- we can organise our teams much better.  Arnold's Mariners are the best organised Australian club team I've ever watched.  Without the ball, they leave very little space between their back four, middle three and front three.  They also defend from the front. 

 

-   When they attack, they attack as a unit.  All his players are well drilled in knowing where to be, and when.

 

-  Arnold does not like players taking too much time on the ball- except for his number 10-

 

-  In relation to technical skills that he demands of his players, he keeps it simple: accurate passing, decent first touch.  Its well and good to want a Xavi, Iniesta, Fabregas and Messi but these players took the best aprt of twenty years for them to develop with all their resources.

 

-  they play a hard, physically-competitive attacking style and they select players with strength and speed.

 

The reason why I reject Postecoglou's "possession is everything" philosophy at the NT level is that it requires a lot of time to get everyone on the same page, time  which NT coaches do not have, and it requires careful selection of player types that simply may not be available at the NT level.

 

As far as Popovic goes- and this may change as he gains experience- they play a more defensive style that I can't see a Joe average Supporter appreciating.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Kiro I agree but do we want just the same technical proficiency as everyone else? What is it that we can identify that says 'that guy is Australian?' I think that technically our goalkeepers are better than most and as good as the best, probably as a legacy of our high exposure to ball games that involve catching and marking the ball, this is one position where we are already world class. What are the attributes that we can already expand upone that we learn from our large number of other sports (perhaps we are unique with the US in this) and what do we need to develop?

 

 

I actually think the template for an Australian philosophy is already here: the Mariners under Arnold are it!  Here's why:

 

I don't think we can develop a squad of players with flair like Spain or Brazil have.  I don't think its in our nature to have the patience of Italy.

 

But here's what we can do: 

 

- we can organise our teams much better.  Arnold's Mariners are the best organised Australian club team I've ever watched.  Without the ball, they leave very little space between their back four, middle three and front three.  They also defend from the front. 

 

-   When they attack, they attack as a unit.  All his players are well drilled in knowing where to be, and when.

 

-  Arnold does not like players taking too much time on the ball- except for his number 10-

 

-  In relation to technical skills that he demands of his players, he keeps it simple: accurate passing, decent first touch.  Its well and good to want a Xavi, Iniesta, Fabregas and Messi but these players took the best aprt of twenty years for them to develop with all their resources.

 

-  they play a hard, physically-competitive attacking style and they select players with strength and speed.

 

The reason why I reject Postecoglou's "possession is everything" philosophy at the NT level is that it requires a lot of time to get everyone on the same page, time  which NT coaches do not have, and it requires careful selection of player types that simply may not be available at the NT level.

 

As far as Popovic goes- and this may change as he gains experience- they play a more defensive style that I can't see a Joe average Supporter appreciating.

 

I pretty much agree with everything you've just said here.

 

Regardless of his seemingly never-ending complaints, Arnie to me is easily the most capable manager, tactician and motivator the A-League has seen. 

 

For me the most important thing for technically inferior nations such as ourselves on the international landscape, is to play to our strengths and not try to be a Spain or an Italy. We possess the right mold of players who could easily slot in to and adapt a Graham Arnold style of play which isn't always the prettiest, but is the most effective.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Heart Embark on exciting Partnership

 

Thursday, 26 September 2013 5:52 PM

 

Melbourne Heart FC, in partnership with John Fawkner College, will be embarking on a groundbreaking initiative in football development and academic education in 2014.

 

In conjunction with John Fawker, the Club will develop the Heart College of Football at John Fawkner College, which is an innovative school curriculum program designed to meet the needs of Australian secondary school children who would like to forge a path in professional football and the sports industry.

 

The program’s holistic focus to personal development and learning uniquely prepares students for life as a professional athlete, tertiary student and member of Australia 21st century workforce.

 

The football component of the Heart College of Football at John Fawkner College will be based on the world renowned Cryuff Football Academy at Barcelona FC in Spain and Ajax FC in the Netherlands and delivered in a newly-constructed multimillion dollar, state of the art John Fawkner College Global Learning Centre and Football Facility.

 

The academic component of the program is taught across key learning areas such as English, Mathematics, Science, Humanities, Media, Health and Physical Education and the Arts. It is a program that engages students with a serious interest in sport whilst developing 21st century numeracy, literacy, employability and further education skills crucial to their future work and study life.

 

For those Year 7-12 male and female students who aspire to play professional football, the Heart College of Football at John Fawkner College program will be a globally recognised football training initiative that allows students enrolled at John Fawkner College to train as professional footballers at school on a daily basis.

The elite component of this program is delivered by qualified Melbourne Heart coaching staff and gives students exclusive access to Melbourne Heart’s pathway to professional football.

 

For more information on the Heart College of Football, Melbourne Heart and John Fawkner College invite you to attend the Heart College of Football Information night to learn more

 

Male and female students from across Victoria who will be in Years 7-12 in 2014 and their parents/guardians are invited to an information night:

 

Event Details

Wednesday 16 October 2013

6.30pm

John Fawkner College Campus

51 Jukes Road, Fawkner

Melbourne Heart FC football department representatives and John Fawkner College staff will be available on the night to answer your questions.

 

The only additional item I would include is that to register their attendance for the information evening they will need to contact John Fawkner College on

9359 1166 or via email on john.fawkner.sc@edumail.vic.gov.au

 

Click HERE to download or read about the Heart College of Football program.

 

 

http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/melbourneheart/news-display/Heart-embark-on-exciting-partnership/75820

Edited by Murfy1
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Style develops from the types of player. Spaniards are smaller and weaker but pass brilliantly so their game is based of short controlled passing without having to muscle other players. Swedes and English are tall strong on average thus their play is long balls and headers. Brazil are small and skilful at dribbling thus they play well when they are roaming out of position and beating players.

 

Australians aren't particularly tall, quick, skilful, technical but we do have ridiculous summers and heats, making our players far fitter than what we really should be. Anyone who's played soccer here knows that in melbourne play 30+ degrees is almost unbearable after a half so I feel that Australia should really focus on fitness and a constant press on the other team to force errors out of them, similar to Bayern's style against Barcelona. If we sit back and defend we'll just cop it for 90 minutes as we don't have to quality to keep out strikers so if we constantly push the other team onto the back-foot with superior fitness i feel Australia could go a long way.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Style develops from the types of player. Spaniards are smaller and weaker but pass brilliantly so their game is based of short controlled passing without having to muscle other players. Swedes and English are tall strong on average thus their play is long balls and headers. Brazil are small and skilful at dribbling thus they play well when they are roaming out of position and beating players.

 

Australians aren't particularly tall, quick, skilful, technical but we do have ridiculous summers and heats, making our players far fitter than what we really should be. Anyone who's played soccer here knows that in melbourne play 30+ degrees is almost unbearable after a half so I feel that Australia should really focus on fitness and a constant press on the other team to force errors out of them, similar to Bayern's style against Barcelona. If we sit back and defend we'll just cop it for 90 minutes as we don't have to quality to keep out strikers so if we constantly push the other team onto the back-foot with superior fitness i feel Australia could go a long way.

I can see what you're saying, but I still think we possess players with dribbling ability and flair.

 

e.g.

- Kruse

- Oar

- Bresciano

- Rogic

- Kewell (more in his heyday)

 

The thing Australian players truly lack in my opinion is passing ability, if we could work on that then we'd me a million times better off.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Supposedly Daniel Kerr was a really talented soccer player as well as footballer. Can not ever see the day where soccer becomes popular within the indigenous regions though.

I went to school with Kerr (And knew him reasonably well) and I can def vouch for him having some scary talent, he also dominated at Basketball and in Middle and Long Distance running.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Style develops from the types of player. Spaniards are smaller and weaker but pass brilliantly so their game is based of short controlled passing without having to muscle other players. Swedes and English are tall strong on average thus their play is long balls and headers. Brazil are small and skilful at dribbling thus they play well when they are roaming out of position and beating players.

 

Australians aren't particularly tall, quick, skilful, technical but we do have ridiculous summers and heats, making our players far fitter than what we really should be. Anyone who's played soccer here knows that in melbourne play 30+ degrees is almost unbearable after a half so I feel that Australia should really focus on fitness and a constant press on the other team to force errors out of them, similar to Bayern's style against Barcelona. If we sit back and defend we'll just cop it for 90 minutes as we don't have to quality to keep out strikers so if we constantly push the other team onto the back-foot with superior fitness i feel Australia could go a long way.

I think that style is also cultural. It's between the ears. It's what the society values. In Oz we've grown accustomed to body contact sports and therefore the emphasis is on tackling hard and running. I reckon you can find big blokes in Spain but the passing game and intricate play is well suited to medium size players. Messi is 5'7" in the old money but he can evade and ride tackles while keeping his balance and scoring all in the same movement - just like Maradona did who is 5'5".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You look at blokes like Cyril, the Davey brothers, Betts, Gartlett, Yarran, Krakouer, Motlop, the Hill brothers, Lindsay Thomas, Jetta... and Richard Tambling ;)

 

But imagine if football was their preferred code.

There have been also a number of very good taller athletic aboriginal AFL players like Polly Farmer, Stephen Michael (The best Western Australian to never play VFL) Adam Goodes, and of course Buddy Franklin...

 

Imagine these guys as Number Nines or Attacking Center Halves.

Edited by cadete
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...