“The value of having values” was one of the slogans used to commemorate Barça’s recent League title. But what does it really mean? The slogan takes life on La Masia’s day-to-day operation. Carlos Folguera, the director of Barça’s youth academy, La Masia, shares his thoughts on what moves the academy to provide young gifted kids with both sports and life education. Here are some excerpts translated from an interview to EFE, published by Sport. The original can be found here.

The goal of the staff at La Masia is to provide young kids with an education that goes far beyond football tactics and technique; it makes them good people, with strong values.

Carles Folguera states that “it is possible to become a worldclass football player and a good person at the same time“. Strong values are part of the education that young boys receive when they join Barça’s La Masia.

“We teach the boys the same principles ​that any wise parent would teach to  their children,” says Folguera. These principles are respect, responsibility, commitment, work, discipline, self-demanding and, above all, humility.

“Why can’t the best football player in the world also be discreet, humble and a good person at the same time?” asks Folguera, who after many years of playing professional hockey, hung up the skates to take over Barça’s youth academy in 2002.

La Masia, says Folguera, holds 58 young boys aged between 11 and 18 years old, who come from all over Spain and other countries such as Cameroon, Brazil, Argentina, Senegal, Nigeria and the Czech Republic. They are kids with special talent for football. They are “chosen” among thousands of applicants. Those special kids are offered the opportunity to get a formal education alongside practising football on a regular basis, all of that in the same facility. Some of them, despite their young age, are far from home and family.

Newly-build dormitories for the Barcelona youth players

At La Masia, the young boys “are the protagonists“, says Folguera. All the attention is on them. The working staff constantly urges them to to enjoy this stage of their lives, but also “to give one hundred percent in everything they do“. The young footballers dream of success at Barça’s first team or another big club. However, not all of them succeed on that front. One of the key issues of their stay at La Masia is to address this issue from an early age to avoid frustration over a possible failure.

“A significant percentage of La Masia’s residents do not achieve what they want, which is a successful career as a footballer. So we also give them examples of people who have been happy and been able to succeed through other career paths, not only football,” says Folguera.

Some first team players visit the young talents at La Masia. Those are players who have grown up in the centre and have become true examples not only for the boys but for the entire world such as Xavi Hernandez and Leo Messi, considered the best player on the planet. One of the most regular visitors is Andres Iniesta, alongside with Pep Guardiola, who, according to Folguera, is always asking “are you boys happy at La Masia?”

Folgera says that Barça, after achieving  its third consecutive League title and being a UEFA Champions League finalist for this season, is experiencing “a good moment“.  It’s a team, he adds, that everyone likes, not only for winning silverware, but also for its philosophy, the way they are doing it.

“We are a reference for many people today,” adds Folguera, who says that Pep Guardiola is responsible for most of the recent success at Barça. A coach, he says, that has managed to make a statement of excellence and has made his players to believe in it. In addition, “he accepts success with humility, and that also has merit,” remarks Folgera.

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