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Real Betis Cantera

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Real Betis (youth system)
GroundCiudad Deportiva Luis del Sol,
Seville, Andalusia, Spain
Capacity4,000
PresidentÁngel Haro
CoachPablo Del Pino
LeagueDivisión de Honor
2019–20División de Honor – Group 4, 3rd
Websitehttp://www.realbetisbalompie.es/en/teams/academy/juvenil-a/

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 competitions. Successful graduates 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 (currently Segunda División B).

The academy is based at the club training complex, Ciudad Deportiva Luis del Sol.

Background and structure

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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 core of young prospects are first introduced into the Benjamín teams at around age 8, 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.

The best achievements of the Betis senior side in the early 21st century, when they won the 2004–05 Copa del Rey,[1] finished 4th in the league, and qualified for the Champions League. This was 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 later 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 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 record for the largest fee received by the club was soon eclipsed in July 2018 with the €30 million purchase of Fabián Ruiz by Napoli,[9] while Junior Firpo went to FC Barcelona a year later for another €18 million fee.[10]

National competitions

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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

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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.

Head coaches

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Squad Age Coach Tier League
Juvenil A 16-18 Pablo Del Pino 1 División de Honor (Gr. IV)
Juvenil B 16-17 Gustavo Sánchez 2 Liga Nacional (Gr. XIV)
Cadete A 15-16 Juan Barco 1 División de Honor Andaluza Cadete[11]
Cadete B 14-15 Miguel Ángel Caro 2 Primera Andaluza Cadete (Gr. 1)

Current squads

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Juvenil A

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As of January 2017 [12]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
GK Spain ESP Daniel Rebollo
GK Spain ESP Alberto López
DF Spain ESP Álex Sánchez
DF Spain ESP Jorge Fernández
DF Spain ESP Simón Lecea
DF Spain ESP Manuel Luque
DF Spain ESP Diego González
MF Spain ESP Jesús Parada
MF Spain ESP Jaime Garijo
MF Spain ESP Roberto Abreu
No. Pos. Nation Player
MF Spain ESP Josemi Valencia
MF Spain ESP Alejandro Meléndez
MF Spain ESP Diego Esteban
FW Spain ESP Adrián Tellado
FW Spain ESP Ángel Baena
FW Spain ESP José Carlos Díaz
FW Spain ESP Sergio García
FW Brazil BRA Matheus Guimaraes
FW Spain ESP Roberto González
Spain ESP José María Arias
Canada CAN Chukwu Adegbenro

Juvenil B

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As of January 2017[13]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
GK Spain ESP Alberto
GK Spain ESP Gonzalo
GK Spain ESP Josema
DF Spain ESP Samuel
DF Spain ESP Luka
DF Spain ESP Guti
DF Spain ESP Gella
DF Spain ESP Selu
DF Spain ESP Nacho Holgado
DF Spain ESP Rafa
DF Spain ESP Iván
No. Pos. Nation Player
MF Spain ESP Parada
MF Spain ESP José Manuel
MF Spain ESP Ricardo Castro
MF Spain ESP Ismael
MF Spain ESP Rodrigo
MF Spain ESP Nene
MF Spain ESP Roberto
MF Spain ESP Julio
MF Spain ESP José Carlos
MF Spain ESP Adrián Tellado
FW Spain ESP Matheus

Famous players

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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 July 2019

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

Season to season (Juvenil A)

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Seasons with two or more trophies shown in bold[14]

: :Season: : Level Group Position Copa del Rey Juvenil Notes
1986–87 1 7th Quarter-final
1987–88 1 4th Semi-final
1988–89 1 4th Semi-final
1989–90 1 2nd Winners
1990–91 1 7th Quarter-final
1991–92 1 13th Runners-up
1992–93 1 N/A N/A Did not enter tournaments
1993–94 1 N/A N/A Did not enter tournaments
1994–95 1 N/A N/A Did not enter tournaments

Seasons with two or more trophies shown in bold[14]

*Season* Level Group Position Copa del Rey Juv. Copa de Campeones Europe/notes
1995–96 1 4 2nd Quarter-final N/A
1996–97 1 4 3rd Quarter-final N/A
1997–98 1 4 2nd Winners N/A
1998–99 1 4 2nd Winners N/A
1999–00 1 4 4th N/A N/A
2000–01 1 4 2nd Quarter-final N/A
2001–02 1 4 1st Round of 16 2nd in group of 3
2002–03 1 4 2nd Round of 16 N/A
2003–04 1 4 3rd Round of 16 N/A
2004–05 1 4 3rd Round of 16 N/A
2005–06 1 4 1st Round of 16 2nd in group of 3
2006–07 1 4 2nd Quarter-final N/A
2007–08 1 4 2nd Round of 16 N/A
2008–09 1 4 11th N/A N/A
2009–10 1 4 1st Quarter-final Semi-final
2010–11 1 4 4th N/A N/A
2011–12 1 4 3rd N/A N/A N/A
2012–13 1 4 4th N/A N/A N/A
2013–14 1 IV 3rd N/A N/A N/A
2014–15 1 IV 4th N/A N/A N/A
2015–16 1 IV 3rd N/A N/A N/A
2016–17 1 IV 3rd Round of 16 N/A N/A
2017–18 1 IV 2nd Round of 16 N/A N/A
2018–19 1 IV 3rd N/A N/A N/A
2019–20[a] 1 IV 3rd N/A N/A N/A
2020–21 1 IV-B/C 2nd/4th N/A[b] N/A N/A[c]
2021–22 1 IV 1st Semi-final Semi-final N/A
2022–23 1 IV 1st Round of 16 Final N/A
2023–24 1 IV 2nd Quarter-final Final N/A
  1. ^ In March 2020, all fixtures were suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain. On 6 May 2020, the Royal Spanish Football Federation announced the premature end of the leagues, revoking all relegations, declaring each divisional leader as champion and cancelling the Copa del Rey Juvenil and the Copa de Campeones for the season.[15]
  2. ^ Copa del Rey Juvenil not held in 2020–21.
  3. ^ UEFA Youth League not held in 2020–21.

Honours

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National competitions

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Notes

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  1. ^ The Betis team in the competition was Triana Balompié which thereafter became the name of the reserve team (now Real Betis B)

References

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  1. ^ "Dani delivers for Betis". UEFA.com. 12 June 2005. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  2. ^ "Capi: El adiós a un grande" [Capi: Farewell to a great] (in Spanish). Al Final de la Palmera. 20 June 2010. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  3. ^ "¿Qué fue de los héroes de la 2004/05? (Episodio I)" [What happened to 2004/05's heroes? (Episode I)] (in Spanish). Vídeos del Betis. 25 October 2012. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  4. ^ "Bético de familia" [Bético by family] (in Spanish). Blanquivioletas. 7 February 2013. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  5. ^ "Joaquín ficha por el Valencia" [Joaquín signs for Valencia] (in Spanish). El Mundo. 24 August 2006. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
  6. ^ "Comunicado oficial: Dani Ceballos" [Official announcement: Dani Ceballos] (in Spanish). Real Madrid CF. 14 July 2017. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  7. ^ "Ceballos rejects Barcelona to agree six-year Real Madrid contract". Marca. 8 July 2017. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  8. ^ "El Madrid 'birla' al Betis otra joya de la cantera" [Madrid 'pinch' another gem of the Betis quarry] (in Spanish). El Desmarque. 5 June 2018. Retrieved 30 June 2018.
  9. ^ "Official: Napoli pay Ruiz clause". Football Italia. 6 July 2019. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  10. ^ "Barça sign Junior Firpo". FC Barcelona. 4 August 2019. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  11. ^ La Preferente - División de Honor Andaluza
  12. ^ "Real Betis website: Juvenil A squad 16/17".
  13. ^ "Real Betis website: Juvenil B squad 16/17".
  14. ^ a b Historical Spanish Juvenile Competition Results
  15. ^ "Comunicado de la RFEF en relación con las competiciones no profesionales del fútbol español" [RFEF announcement in relation to the non-professional competitions in Spanish football] (in Spanish). RFEF. 6 May 2020.