At Barça, we are proud of what we do, values are part of our DNA and we always strive to improve and aim to be the best in everything with humility, effort, ambition, respect and teamwork.
We are a great team and we want to keep up showing it. Let’s continue being the great FAMILY that we are.
More than a club because when we play we want to win, but without neglecting our OWN STYLE
More than a club because we are more than just football: we invest in 5 PROFESSIONAL SPORTS and promote WOMEN’S SPORT.
More than a club because we are a SCHOOL FOR LIFE that educates people through sport. We don’t just want to attract the greatest players but also use La Masia to nurture great people that are recognised and recognisable both on and off the field.
More than a club because we feel that such VALUES as humility, ambition, effort, teamwork and respect are just as important a part of the way we play as winning.
More than a club because without forgetting our roots in BARCELONA and our Catalan identity and culture, we have always been open to the world, and have become a meeting point for different people, cultures and nations.
More than a club because we are firmly committed to SOCIAL CHANGE. We believe in the power of sport to change.
More than a club because we work with the finest professionals and experts in the world of sport, generating knowledge that we share in order to set new standards in SPORTING KNOWLEDGE AND INNOVATION.
"That’s why we are more than a club, because we spend every day working hard to be the best and to make the world into a better place, by not only imagining a more prosperous future, but by really making it happen."
HERE THE HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR
TECHNICAL PROGRAM FOR THE 2021-22 SEASON.
Technical Team Season 2020-21
Rodrigo Betrián Moreno will continue leading the Barça Academy Dubai Team as the Technical Director who has been certified in La Masia (FC Barcelona). Additionally, Rodrigo is a UEFA Pro Football Coach with 22 years of experience having coached in the 3rd National Division in Spain and Barça Academy in Barcelona. He has been collaborating with La Masia in important areas such as sports technology, team sports, and sports performance.
Rodrigo has been working with Stryx Sports since 2018 as Technical Director of Barça Academy Kuwait and then Dubai. Heading into his third season in Dubai, we have no doubt that Rodrigo will continue to lead us in this journey full of sporting achievements and successes. For the third consecutive season, the Barça Academy Dubai will have the stability and continuity of Rodrigo’s leadership in the winning project from various angles.
Feel free to meet Rodrigo on the field to say hi or ask any questions!
UEFA Coaches certified in La Masia (FC Barcelona)
Along with Rodrigo, the existing team of coaches who are the pillars of our project, each bringing a unique set of skills and wealth of experience, are excited for the new times to come and are fully set to undertake the new action-packed season 2021/22! Like every summer, after receiving the updated methodology and work procedures of FC Barcelona, our coaching team will continue to promote a philosophy that strives for excellence in everything we do both on and off the pitch and follow the highest quality standards. Our entire coaching team are looking forward to returning to normality and can’t wait to welcome our players back on the pitch very soon!
TRAINING PROGRAMS
Following on from the success of the new team development structure that was introduced at the start of last season, we will be continuing with the development of players through the same pathway in the season to come too to ensure the individual progression as well as progression on team level and to make sure that each player is challenged and developed to reach his/her maximum abilities.
ADVANCE TEAMS
The “Advanced Teams” introduced last season will keep serving as a tier between our Selection and Development teams. Advanced teams will go through a specific advanced training programme in which players will be introduced to the demands of the Selection programme. In the first season, we can proudly say that we have achieved our goal – more than 20 players from the Advanced programme have been promoted to the Selections programme. Some of the key points of this programme are:
- Opportunity to participate in a league: These teams will be participating in a year-round league to compete with other academies in Dubai on a weekly basis.
- External analysis: In-depth study of the rivals, including their collective and individual characteristics, coaching style and game models.
DEVELOPMENT TEAMS
As part of Barça Academy Dubai Development programme, we will keep providing players with the key concepts of football in order for them to be able to deal successfully with sporting challenges in the future, while also teaching them the values that are so representative of FC Barcelona. The Development programme is the base programme, which gives players the main start for the transition to the Advanced programmes of Barça Academy Dubai. Our coaches regularly monitor players’ progress in the Development programme and give the opportunity to selected players in various age groups to be upgraded if they deem them fit and ready to take it to the next level. Players also follow different techniques and training methodologies of La Masia teams in Barcelona, which consist of a series of progressive and interrelated exercises, appropriate to each stage or level of training:
- Greater focus on the coordinative and technical aspects of the game, such as passing, controlling, finishing, dribbling, etc. with the objective of optimizing the coordinative structure in the context of real game situations and based on the tactical targets that we set in Barça Academy.
- Theoretical sessions introducing the rules of the game and the main strategic actions in the game, such as corners, throw-ins, goal kicking, direct and indirect free kicks, etc.
- Greater opportunities for development throughout the season.
- Participation in the next edition of Barça Academy League, which includes external teams to compete against on a regular basis in two different leagues: Regular League and King Cup.
SELECTION TEAMS
Next season we will be continuing on with our updated “La Masia Programme” implemented 2 seasons ago, a very advanced high-level and high-competitive programme that reproduces FC Barcelona’s youth system of integral development through training and competition to continue being the Football Academy that produces more players for professional football year after year than any other academy worldwide. Here are the program highlights:
- Updated approach to preparation and evaluation of matches. Further deepening in the operational strategy and preparation of games, analyses of the characteristics of opposing teams involved in the leagues. New strategies of mental preparation for the competitions.
- Weekly follow-up on team performances in terms of results shown in competitions as well as game style, represented values, coaching effectiveness, specific and adapted methods of management.
- External analysis: In-depth study of opponents, including their collective and individual characteristics, coaching style and game models.
- Internal analysis: Regular recording of training and matches, from which specific training content will be defined per player and team.
- GPS and data Positioning integrated with tactical analytics, which will assist in training analysis. Monthly monitoring of advanced conditional and tactical data. In this sense, we are pleased to announce our new partnership with the Sports Technology company called Playermaker, which utilizes several smart motion sensors attached directly onto the players boots and uses artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms presenting unparalleled insights on teams and players performance.
UNPRECEDENTED COLLABORATION AGREEMENT WITH A PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL CLUB IN THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES TO PLAY THE UAE FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION LEAGUES TOGETHER WITH THE FOOTBALL ACADEMIES LEAGUES
Barça Academy Dubai is reaching an agreement with one of a second division local Clubs to cooperate on the youth level and from the technical perspective.
As Barça Academy Dubai we will provide more than 120 of our selection players with an opportunity to participate in the UAE Football Association Leagues representing local Club’s youth teams on a weekly basis. These players will be registered as FIFA players, and will be part of the scouting records of professional teams around the world.
In return, Barça Academy Dubai will assist a local Club in providing technical support and experienced coaching to their technical team under the supervision of our Technical Director, Rodrigo Betrian. With this agreement we will position ourselves in the competitive field both in the UAE Football Association and in the Football Academies league as being the first and only academy in Dubai to take this unparalleled step.
The teams that compete in the UAE Football Association will have 4 training sessions in the week. The final number of participating teams will be confirmed in the summer months as soon as the Federation announces the configuration of the leagues, from U6 to U19.
HERE THE HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR TECHNICAL PROGRAM FOR THE 2021-22 SEASON.
One of last two season’s key highlights for our Development players was the Barça Academy League, which was a major success, considering the number of both Barça teams and external academies’ teams participating and showing a big deal of integrity, respect, growth, team spirit, competitiveness and fair play.
The original project of the Barça Academy League now gives way to an even larger project, the Dubai Football Academies Leagues, led by us, we integrate the main football academies of Dubai cooperating for the best of our players, and offering a league for all ages and levels, where to enjoy, learn and compete go together for the good of each of the boys and girls participating in these leagues.
Barça Academy was the first academy in Dubai to organize such a big-scale football league for Development teams in the history of this city. All the boys and girls of UAE deserve an opportunity to experience regular real match situations in a competitive and safe environment by participating in a league, which provides sports and human development for all the participants. Nature of the rules and objectives of the league, presence of referees, professional league setting, award ceremonies, weekly updates of team results and standings on our website are a combination of all the details that makes our young players feel like Pros!
This season we made this possible for more than 900 boys and girls from more than 120 participating teams of 21 football academies, forming 3 U8 leagues, 5 U10 leagues, 5 U12 leagues, 3 U14 leagues and 2 U16 leagues. We absolutely cannot wait for the new edition!
More to look forward to… Strength and Conditioning training for Selection Teams
The most recent addition to our programme directly from La Masia for Selection Players only! Since 2020. To keep adding more value to our Selection Programme in the season 2021/22 and to provide an opportunity for players to benefit from this advanced training programme in order to improve physical and technical capabilities and get the desired results more effectively, the coadjuvant training will be integrated into the training sessions of each team.