The
Sporting de Gijón youth teams are integrated in the club'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
the top national competition. The successful graduates then usually move to the club's
reserve team
In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...
,
Sporting de Gijón B 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.
The academy is based at the club training complex,
Escuela de Fútbol de Mareo, which is often the name used informally to refer to the system itself.
Background
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 Sporting de Gijón is no exception. Their youth recruitment network is focused around their home region of
Asturias
Asturias (; ; ) officially the Principality of Asturias, is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwest Spain.
It is coextensive with the provinces of Spain, province of Asturias and contains some of the territory t ...
, and there are collaboration agreements in place with small clubs in the region.
Sporting de Gijón had many
farm teams, like
RD Oriamendi, until his official
reserve team
In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...
,
Sporting de Gijón B, was established in 1960.
Sporting's academy, the
Escuela de Fútbol de Mareo, built in 1974, is considered one of the most important football academies in Spain. International players such as
Luis Enrique,
Abelardo,
Javier Manjarín and
David Villa learned their skills at Mareo.
In 2010, Sporting youth graduate
Míchel was sold to
Birmingham City
Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...
for
£3 million, becoming the highest transfers in the history of the Asturian club, until the transfers of
José Ángel to
Roma, in 2011, by €4.5 million, and
Jorge Meré to
Köln, in 2017, for a fee between €8.5 million and €9 million.
Structure
Head coaches
The coaches are often former Sporting Gijón players who themselves graduated from
Mareo
Mareo ( ; ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in South Tyrol in northern Italy, located about northeast of Bolzano.
Geography
As of 30 November 2010, it had a population of 2,911 and an area of .All demographics and other statistics: Italian stat ...
.
Current squads
Juvenil A
Season to season (Juvenil A)
Honours
National competitions
*
División de Honor (Group I):
(first-tier inter-regional league)
**4 2003–04, 2004–05, 2011–12, 2017–18
*
Copa de Campeones:
**1 2004
*
Copa del Rey
The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...
:
** 0
(runners-up: 2005)[
]
References
External links
Official website
{{Sporting de Gijón
Sporting de Gijón
Football academies in Spain
División de Honor Juvenil de Fútbol