The team introduces itself
Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona, also known as Espanyol Barcelona, is the first Spanish club to have been founded exclusively by Spaniards. In the Catalan capital, Espanyol has been in direct competition with its great rival FC Barcelona and its famous academy, La Masia, throughout its history.
Despite having fewer resources, Espanyol regularly produces its own talent. Youth development is a key part of the club’s identity – even though many top talents often move to the rival club. In recent decades, Espanyol has nevertheless celebrated numerous successes, such as reaching several national youth finals.
Espanyol’s youth academy (‘Cantera’) is based at the Ciutat Esportiva Dani Jarque. As is customary with many Spanish clubs, the ‘Cantera’ plays a central role in scouting talent at an early stage. The selected players progress through the various age groups before attempting to seize the opportunity to make the leap to the first team whilst playing for the reserve side, Espanyol ‘B’. However, transfers of promising youngsters to other clubs are also intended to generate revenue. Highly rated are Arnau Cases (who made his debut for Espanyol ‘B’ and plays for Spain’s U17s), Joel Rodríguez (Spain U18), Ian Cruz (Spain U17), David Muñoz (Spain U16) and Denys Cruz, who has also made his debut for Espanyol ‘B’. Thomas Dean is already a Chilean senior international and Itzel Colocho a senior international for Panama.