Cantera, literally meaning "quarry" in Spanish, is a term use in Spain to refer to youth academies organized by sports clubs. It is also used to refer to the geographical area that clubs recruit players from. The term is widely used in football but is also applied to other sports such as basketball. This article is about the football canteras. The best canteras belong to Athletic Bilbao, Real Sociedad, Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Valencia CF, RCD Espanyol, Sporting de Gijón and UD Las Palmas.