SPRUCE GROVE — One of the most famous soccer clubs in the world has come to the Edmonton area to share their expertise.

FC Barcelona officially opened an academy in Spruce Grove in an effort to expand their global brand and spread their soccer philosophy.

The FCBEscola Edmonton is one of over 20 worldwide academies with ties to the famous club and the third based in Canada.

“We started with camps in September, 2013 and we did camps for two years,” said Francisco Cervera, director of BCNSports Canada who partnered with the Spanish club to bring their academies to the country. “We’ve had 40 events in eight major Canadian cities. The camps are short-term programs and the Escolas (schools) are long-term programs. The first one was open in Sept. 2015 in Vancouver. We opened Toronto together with Edmonton.”

The success of the FC Barcelona week-long camps in Edmonton prompted the club to open an academy in the area.

According to Cervera, the objective of the academy is to bring the club closer to their fans. Barcelona is one of the most popular soccer clubs in the world, featuring some of the best players.

“It’s obvious that Canadian soccer is growing in terms of numbers, so we saw the opportunity to bring the brand and the school program to Canada,” Cervera said. “Basically, we’ve been to over 80 counties in the world running camps, and right now, we have 21 schools. More projects are in the works, but obviously, the schools are a big project for the club, because it involves bringing someone from the club to live here on a permanent basis.”

The Edmonton school features 150 players in numerous age groups. It is run by Xavi Perez, who relocated from Barcelona to Spruce Grove to be the academy’s technical director.

Perez will oversee a number of local coaches hired by the academy to instruct the ways of FC Barcelona soccer.

“The thing for me that is the most important is that the local coaches achieve a minimum standard in order to have a quality school,” Perez said. “We’ve been working with them for a few weeks now so they absorb and they understand the way we want them to train the kids.

“We also want to develop coaches here in Canada and offer them what we know so they can pass it on to the local players.”

Despite having a presence throughout the world, the FC Barcelona schools are not set up as a recruiting tool. The club is interested in spreading its philosophy when it comes to the beautiful game and not looking to take a country’s best and brightest.

“FIFA regulations are very strict in terms of recruiting, so the club is not here to recruit local players,” Cervera said. “Everyone dreams of playing for FC

Barcelona and if we find the next (Lionel) Messi here, we’ll take him, but that’s not the objective. The project is for Canadian players to develop here and to play here.”

For that reason, the camps are not restrictive to elite players. Participants did go through an evaluation process, but it was used to gauge the level of instruction.

“The objective is to expose the Barcelona methodology to everyone, not just to a very reduced number of players,” Cervera said. “We’re coaching local coaches according the class methodology.

“Basically, the objective to improve the coaching level here. Soccer is relatively new in Canada, so I think one of the biggest values we can have is working with local coaches. This is a longterm project and we want it to continue through these coaches.”

Oscar Grau, the director of the FCBEscola in Barcelona, was on hand to oversee the opening of the Edmonton academy on Tuesday.

The academy originated in Barcelona and quickly expanded throughout the world as the club’s popularity increased.

“We want to extend the Barcelona brand and help the development of soccer in different countries,” Grau said. “We think we have a unique methodology in the world.

“In the last 10 years Barcelona has won a lot of titles, but the most important thing is our style of play. This is what we’re trying to teach the kids here in Canada.”

FC Barcelona has won 23 Spanish La Liga titles and 27 Spanish Copa del Rey crowns to go with their five UEFA Champions League triumphs.

“A lot of players from our first team started in these academies in Barcelona,” Grau said. “The important thing about these academies, however, is the values we try and instill. It is very difficult to be a professional soccer player, but we want to teach these young players good life values so they can go on to be a good lawyer or doctor or engineer or whatever.

“The important thing is that the kids come out and enjoy themselves and learn about our methodology at Barcelona, which is always about the ball.”

Dvandiest@postmedia.com

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