In 2010, La Masia became the first youth academy to have trained all three finalists for the Ballon d'Or in a single year: Lionel Messi, Andrés Iniesta and Xavi.

With the gradual expansion of the club, the building became too small for headquarters, and on 20 October 1979, La Masia was converted into a dormitory for young players from outside Barcelona.

[3] The idea for the youth academy was proposed to Josep Lluís Núñez by Jaume Amat Murtra[4] and Oriol Tort was put in charge of the facility.

[7] The recent fame and success of La Masia as a talent school was ascribed by Ian Hawkey of The Times to the class of 1987, which featured prominent members such as Cesc Fàbregas, Lionel Messi, Gerard Piqué and Pedro.

[8] In 2000, Louis van Gaal, coach of Barcelona's first team, was widely ridiculed by the city sports media for his dream to win the Champions League with 11 home-grown players.

[11] The club also actively seeks for prospective students; it employs a system in which 15 scouts are deployed in Catalonia, 15 in the rest of Spain and 10 scattered throughout the world.

[13] When Pep Guardiola re-organised the reserve side, he set up a three-staged program to formalise the advancement from Juvenil to Barcelona B and finally to the first team.

[9] The teams at Barcelona play from August to May; mild weather at La Masia allows players to train outdoors throughout the year.

[19] Another aspect of La Masia is its marked Catalan national character—local talent in the service of a club with a strong, defining sense of the cultural make-up of Catalonia.

After Dani Alves was substituted by Martín Montoya due to an injury in the 13th minute,[24] Barça played the next 60 minutes with Víctor Valdés, Montoya, Carles Puyol, Gerard Piqué, Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta, Cesc Fàbregas, Pedro, and Messi.

[26] Nevertheless, the team continued to win trophies and some further canteranos did make a breakthrough into the squad, including Rafinha, Carles Aleñá and Sergi Roberto, the latter having to retrain as a right back due to the abundance of talent in his original midfield position.

[26] The return of Joan Laporta as president and Xavi as head coach marked the return of the preference for La Masia players, such as Gavi, Ansu Fati, Lamine Yamal, Alejandro Balde, Pau Cubarsí, Fermín López, Marc Casado and the signing of previous La Masia graduates, such as Eric García, Oriol Romeu and Dani Olmo.