Real Betis cantera

Real Betis (youth system)

Ground	Ciudad Deportiva Luis del Sol, Seville, Andalusia, Spain
Capacity	4,000
President	Ángel Haro
Coach	Pablo Del Pino
League	División de Honor
2017–18	División de Honor, Gr. 4, 2nd
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours

The cantera (quarry) of Spanish professional football club Real Betis 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 under-18/19 team which represents the club in national competition. The successful graduates then usually move to the club's reserve team, Betis Deportivo, which is 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, Ciudad Deportiva Luis del Sol.

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 Betis is no exception. Their youth recruitment network is focused around their home region of Andalusia, and in particular the Province of Seville, and there are collaboration agreements in place with small clubs in the region.

The club training complex is named in honour of Luis Del Sol, a 1950s youth graduate who went on to greatness with Real Madrid, Juventus and Spain.

Betis face a battle with city rivals Sevilla to sign the best local prospects. As at senior level, over recent years Sevilla have been slightly superior to Betis, both in terms of success in youth competitions and producing quality players for the first team.

The best achievements of the Betis senior side in the early 21st century, when they won the 2004–05 Copa del Rey^[1] and finished 4th in the league in the same season to qualify for the Champions League, were accomplished with a high number of homegrown players in the squad including Capi,^[2] David Rivas,^[3] Arzu, Melli and Juan José Cañas^[4] whose careers were defined by their long spells at Betis, plus Joaquín who transferred to Valencia for €25 million.^[5]

In the subsequent decade the production line of canteranos did not stall entirely, but the Verdiblancos never came close to developing another group of that quality, nor were they able to nurture any exceptional individuals who could be sold on for economic benefit, until summer 2017 when Dani Ceballos signed for Real Madrid for €18 million.^[6][7] The same club have also tempted younger players to join their academy from that of Betis for little or no fee, 15-year-old Fernando Rufo following in the footsteps of several others in summer 2018.^[8]

The core of boys are first introduced into the Benjamín teams at around 8 years of age and advance by an age group every season through Alevín, Infantil, Cadete and Juvenil levels. The players who are retained by Betis after their Juvenil A spell (aged about 18) would typically join reserve team Betis Deportivo to gain experience in an adult league (Segunda División B level in most years). They can spend up to five years with the B team, often with some loan spells at other clubs included, although the best players usually move up to the senior team within 2 seasons if considered ready to do so, with the remaining B team members augmented by the next set of youth graduates in their ongoing battle to retain their divisional status.

National competitions

The Juvenil A team play in Group IV of the División de Honor Juvenil de Fútbol as their regular annual competition. Their main rivals in the league group are Sevilla and Málaga. The under-17 team, Juvenil B 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, Athletic Bilbao, Espanyol and Real Madrid.

International tournaments

It is possible for Betis Juvenil to participate in the UEFA Youth League, either by winning the previous season’s Copa de Campeones or by way of the senior team qualifying for the UEFA Champions League group stages, but so far neither has been achieved.

Current squads

Juvenil A

As of January 2017 ^[10]

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

No. Position Player GK Daniel Rebollo GK Alberto López DF Álex Sánchez DF Jorge Fernández DF Simón Lecea DF Manuel Luque DF Diego González MF Jesús Parada MF Jaime Garijo MF Roberto Abreu

No. Position Player MF Josemi Valencia MF Alejandro Meléndez MF Diego Esteban FW Adrián Tellado FW Ángel Baena FW José Carlos Díaz FW Sergio García FW Matheus Guimaraes FW Roberto González José María Arias

Juvenil B

As of January 2017^[11]

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

No. Position Player GK Alberto GK Gonzalo GK Josema DF Samuel DF Luka DF Guti DF Gella DF Selu DF Nacho Holgado DF Rafa DF Iván

No. Position Player MF Parada MF José Manuel MF Ricardo Castro MF Ismael MF Rodrigo MF Nene MF Roberto MF Julio MF José Carlos MF Adrián Tellado FW Matheus

Famous players

Notable graduates who passed through the youth system on their way to establishing themselves with the Betis senior side and/or other clubs include:

As of September 2017

players currently at Betis in bold, 'graduation' year in parentheses

Season to season (Juvenil A)

Honours

References