The neighborhood team from Esplugues that inspired PSG

Esplugues de LlobregatIn a cadet match against Barça with Messi, Cesc, and Piqué, Fran Rubio realized he would never become a professional player and that if he wanted to dedicate himself to football, it would have to be off the field. That's why he trained as a coach, and at 15 years old, he began working in the youth academy of Can Vidalet, a modest neighborhood club in Esplugues de Llobregat. “At university I met Carles Romagosa and David Hernández, who together with Joan Vilà –one of the great defenders of the Barça DNA and discoverer of Xavi Hernández–, founded the Ekkono method,” says Fran Rubio, who convinced Pedro Rubio, the club's president and his father, to start using this revolutionary training methodology at Can Vidalet.

“The objective is to generate intelligent players, who are capable of perceiving what is happening and making the best decisions,” summarizes Rubio Jr. According to Rubio Sr., “the Ekkono method has been key to Can Vidalet's growth,” which last year reached the pinnacle with a historic promotion of the first team to Tercera RFEF. “It wasn't the goal, but a consequence of the work done in recent years throughout the club,” comments the alma mater of an entity that, thanks to the implemented methodology, has become a coaching school: “More than 20 football professionals have come out of here. For example, César del Pozo, who is an analyst for Espanyol's first team. Or Agustín Lleida, general director of Oviedo.” Also Fran Rubio himself, who after working for the Japanese federation, moved to Paris in 2017 with Romagosa and Hernández to implement the Ekkono method at PSG, one of Europe's giants.

The revolution of Can Vidalet

“Evidently, the objectives and resources were very different –PSG wanted to be the best academy in the world and all its technicians were professionals–, but the work was the same in Paris as in Can Vidalet”, says Fran Rubio, who was assistant coach in the reserve team and responsible for the analysis area in youth football. “Do we want to create stars or footballers who can play as a team?”, asked the Catalan, who immediately saw that PSG could learn a lot from Can Vidalet. “The success of a team depends on a good footballing method and building a collective. And this, we understand from Ekkono, is done by working on values and identity”, adds Rubio, who has witnessed how his father has applied this formula in Esplugues for more than 25 years, when he took the reins of a disorganized club burdened with debt.

“He always had a revolutionary spirit and wants to help people through football. It’s like his social struggle. Saving distances, he reminds me of Julio Anguita”, says Fran Rubio, about his father, who understands that the ball is a very powerful tool to change things. That is why Can Vidalet, a club with clear ideas but with a very limited budget, has a commission of values and, among other actions, has created a football school in Sanbangaye to train and educate Senegalese children.

At the iconic Camp del Molí, nestled between Can Vidalet Park and the narrow streets of Esplugues, Mari Alés’s home cooking –her tripe is famous throughout Baix Llobregat– is paired with good football. “We are building the club we want, and Can Vidalet is a team that associates and is brave, like the people of the neighborhood, who are hardworking and brave”, adds Fran Rubio, who was the first team coach until the end of this season. “We always say we want to be the best neighborhood club in the world. And, above all, that the people of the neighborhood feel identified with us and proud of what we do”, synthesizes Pedro Rubio, who has been helped by the Canvi to survive after many years of suffering due to cancer and several heart attacks and operations that forced him to undergo a heart transplant.

From Baix Llobregat to Paris

“In Paris and everywhere we go, we always use Can Vidalet as an example, because it is the demonstration that with a small budget, a lot of enthusiasm, and a good method, a club can be transformed”, proclaims Rubio, who spent two years at PSG. “In Paris, we set a record for players debuting in the first team, a record for sales – more than 100 million in profit – and we turned the club's academy into the best in France. When we arrived, it was fifth. It has great merit, because in this country you have a limit on professional contracts. You can neither sign all the youngsters who stand out nor can you get rid of those who do not interest you. What you have to do is develop them”, adds Rubio, who worked with Timothy Weah and Diaby, among other world-famous footballers.

“We also had Warren, who is now in the first team”, says the Catalan coach. He is referring to midfielder Zaïre-Emery, who currently has a market value of 60 million euros and who this Saturday against Arsenal (6 p.m., La1 and Movistar Plus) could lift his second consecutive Champions League with PSG, the European giant that was inspired by the method of a neighborhood team from Esplugues de Llobregat.