(By Cristian Paladino) – The year 2026 of Youth Football officially began with new hopes, a strengthened structure and the intact dream of continuing to train footballers with a Barça identity.
The ball rolled again in Ciudad Deportiva. It is not a minor detail. Each start of the season in San Lorenzo Youth Football represents much more than a calendar that restarts: it is the starting point of a new chapter full of silent effort, commitment to the shirt, sporting challenges and dreams that begin to take shape in each training session.
A new year opens for the six youth divisions of the club – 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th – where hundreds of boys will once again put on the blue jersey with the pride of belonging to an institution that has historically been synonymous with training, identity and projection.
This 2026 will have a special value for the 2012 category, which begins its first year within Youth Football, making the leap from childhood to a stage where the level of demand, competition and responsibility grow significantly. For them it will be the beginning of a path as complex as it is exciting.
A STRUCTURE THAT CONSOLIDATES AND GROWS
The general coordination will continue under the leadership of Prof. Marcelo Romano, accompanied by Federico Valiño as sub-coordinator and Sebastián Gamaleri in the coordination of physical trainers.
Added to this structure are names that strengthen the comprehensive work of the area:
Juan Ignacio “Pichi” Mercier, American champion with San Lorenzo, will collaborate in sports and administrative tasks, contributing his experience and sense of belonging.
Former Barça player Javier Netto will be dedicated exclusively to monitoring and monitoring youth players trained at the club, regardless of whether or not they currently work in San Lorenzo, a key function to not lose track of talents emerging from the quarry.
Before the start of field work, Guillermo Pérez – director of the current transitional commission and designated as president of Youth Football – led a private meeting with the coordination and technical bodies. There, guidelines and work standards were established and the institutional framework that will accompany all divisions during the year was formally given.
Order, planning and belonging as fundamental pillars for a new season.
NEW AREA: EVALUATION, DATA AND APPLIED TECHNOLOGY
Within the structural evolution of Youth Football, San Lorenzo will incorporate a new strategic area called the Department of Evaluation, Statistics and GPS, which will be headed by Prof. Fernando Ventura.
This sector will aim to monitor the physical and performance of players using technological tools, statistical analysis, load control and GPS monitoring, providing key information to optimize the individual and collective development of each category.
A clear sign of professionalization and modernization in the Barça team.
TECHNICAL BODIES 2026
4th Division (Cat. 2006/07)
DT: Javier Alonso
AT: Javier Galeano
PF: Diego Yañez
5th Division (Cat. 2008)
DT: Leandro Arvilly
AT: Franco Speroni
PF: Marcelo Herrera
6th Division (Cat. 2009)
Coach: Gastón Antinucci
AT: Pablo Nagusanni
PF: Iñaki Bilbao
7th Division (Cat. 2010)
DT: Mauricio Luquez
AT: Ezequiel Gerez
PF: Juan Cruz Fiola
8th Division (Cat. 2011)
DT: Diego Molares
PF: Santiago Giretti
(An assistant will be added in the coming days).
9th Division (Cat. 2012)
DT: Pablo Osan
AT: Hernán Liotta
PF: Emilio Rodríguez
RECRUITMENT: THE BASIS OF THE FUTURE
The catchment area will be headed by Prof. Gabriel Bustamante, accompanied by Juan Carlos Dehollain, Gustavo Cerdan, Marcelo Manzo and Rubén “Yaya” Rossi.
ARCHER TRAINING
José Fabián Ramírez together with Ariel Quiñones and Ezequiel Ramírez will be in charge of the specific work of the position.
San Lorenzo is once again betting heavily on its quarry. A new year begins with more structure, more control, more monitoring and the same objective as always: to train footballers with a Barça identity.
Because in Boedo the future is never improvised — it is built from youth.
Worth a look
