La Masia - this is a youth academy which can boast to have European Champions and World Champions in football. The academy was inaugurated in 1966 as the La Masia de Can Planes, it is located near the Camp Nou and it holds more than 300 young players and has really boomed since 2002 garnering praise as one of the best in the world from many and has been a significant factor in Barcelona's European success as well as the Spanish national teams ' success at both the European Championship and The 2010 Fifa World Cup.
The building now used as the club's headquarters is an ancient country residence that was built in 1702, before Barcelona bought it in 1954. It was used as a workshop by architects and builders of the new stadium the Camp Nou. When the Camp Nou was inaugurated in 1957 La Masia was remodelled for use as headquarters it was opened on 26 September 1966, but by 1979 La Masia had been made a dormitory for young players who would arrive from outside the city. The idea of an established youth Academy came from Johan Cruyff who was a youth product of the highly acclaimed Ajax Academy. He proposed it to the president of the club at the time Josep Núñez who accepted it and appointed Oriol Tort as a director to over see it.
One of the first graduates of La Masia is Josep Guardiola, who started in the first team in 1990 He had graduated during Cruyffs management which instilled Cruyff's total football philosophy which is what many see as a vital part of Barcelona's success over the years, and would later inspire other midfielders in the same mould as he, such as Xavi Hernández, Andrés Iniesta and Cesc Fàbregas. In fact Xavi has been quoted in saying that he considered leaving the club because of the amount of pressure and high expectations to become the next Guardiola. After he had left the club and went abroad for a while he came back as a coach for the Barcelona B team in 2007 where he made many changes as the team as the team had been relegated to the fourth tier of Spanish football and in the two years he was there they were promoted to the highest league they can play in the second tier (this is due to Barcelona being in the top league).
He reorganised the youth structure and convinced the president of the club that they needed to improve training facilities and move the youth teams so that they can work closer with the coaches. Also the teams philosophy is to integrate at least one youth player into the main Barcelona team each year. In recent years the La Masia has gained more media attention many have stated it has replace Ajax's Academy as footballs premier youth Production facility. It is stated that more than 440 youngsters have left their homes and families in Spanish villas to live at La Masia since it was inaugurated.
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