The method
How Davidbuilds a team
The method is the way David Osorio coaches: how he forms a squad, what he trains and in what order. The academy week and the Costa Daurada Cup are where it is put to work.
Five stages
How the week is built
Nothing in the week is filler. Each stage exists because the next one needs it, and the last one is a tournament that does not wait for anybody to be ready. The week is where the method is applied; the tournament is the exam.
01
The squads are formed on day one
Arrival day, first sessionPlayers land, collect their kit and train the same afternoon. Friends or clubmates who sign up together are kept in the same squad whenever the category allows it. That first session is where the coaching staff sees positions, level and what each player is comfortable doing, and where the squads for the week are closed.
02
One squad, one coach, all week
From day one to the finalUp to fifteen players with a dedicated coach and kit manager. The coach who runs Monday morning is the coach on the touchline at the final, so nothing has to be explained twice and no session starts from zero.
03
Two sessions a day, with the rest built in
Six days of academyMorning work on the ball and on shape, afternoon work by team on what the tournament will ask for. In between, the group goes back to the resort: pool, lunch and rest are part of the plan, not a gap in it.
04
A friendly match as the test
Before the tournament opensAn invited opponent, a full match and the first time the squad plays as itself. What comes out of that match is what the staff works on in the last sessions before the Cup.
05
The tournament is the exam
Five days of Costa Daurada CupGroup stage, knockout rounds and finals, against youth teams from professional clubs. The squad enters having already trained, eaten and travelled together for six days, which is the whole point of the week before it.
What never changes
The rules
of the week
- Fifteen players per squad, no more, whatever the demand
- The same coach from the first session to the last match
- Training and tournament in the same place, five minutes from the resort
- CDC staff with the group around the clock, including the nights
- Two afternoons away from football, because eleven days is a long time
- One fee for the eleven days, with nothing charged separately on top
The shape of a day
Where the hours go
Two training blocks, three meals, a long middle of the day for recovery and a team talk before lights out. The full timetable, hour by hour, is on the 2027 programme.
The person behind the method
David Osorio
Director of CDC Academy. The method on this page is his, built over years of coaching in youth football, and it is what every CDC week follows.
Clubs he has coached at
Next edition
15 to 25 March 2027
The method is the same every year. The dates, the squads and the tournament draw are not.