FCBARCELONA.CAT

08.10.2009 12:26

La Masia, 30 years of residence

Aleix Santacana

La Masia de Can Planes, located next to the Camp Nou, is the birthplace of the club youth system began. It was opened on October 20, 1979 as a players’ residence and 30 years later it is still developing sportspeople, and more importantly, human bein

From Thursday, FC Barcelona’s website will be publishing the memories and experiences of people who lived there over these 30 years. Josep Boada, Guillermo Amor, Francesc "Tito" Vilanova, Aureli Altimira, Sergi Barjuan, Víctor Valdés and Pedro Rodríguez will all be telling us about their days in this important part of the FC Barcelona heritage.

Dreams and frustrations

La Masia, catalogued as a historic-artistic building by the Barcelona Council, has witnessed three decades of dreams coming true, but also years of frustrated hopes and desires. Its management has successfully promoted a blend of sports and personal training for all of its residents.

Workshop, offices and residence

La Masia is an old country residence built in 1702. Barça first used it as a workshop for building the original scale models of the Camp Nou. After the stadium opened, La Masia was closed, it serving no direct purpose.

Under Enric Llaudet’s presidency, the building was remodelled and extended and became the club headquarters, inaugurated on September 26, 1966. But the club was expanding and new secretaries were created, meaning the La Masia was too small a site, and once again fell into disuse. It was Josep Lluís Núñez and his board who came up with a new use for it. From October 20, 1979, La Masia became a home for the youth players that were from outside of Barcelona.

From 15 to 60 residents

At first, La Masia housed 15 residents, all living on the top floor. But times were changing, and FC Barcelona now has two residences for youth players. There is La Masia, with dormitories, bathrooms, study rooms, a dining room and kitchen, and a new residence in the Camp Nou, known as La Masia 2.

This season, La Masia has a total of 56 residents. 10 reside in the actual Masia and the others sleep in the stadium, on two floors with three-bed rooms.