The Barcelona youth academy known as La Masia seems to produce an endless supply of exceptional talent.
Through the 2024/25 season, Barcelona were propped up by a generational crop of youth players led by Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsi. Alongside them are fellow La Masia graduates Alejandro Balde, Gavi, Fermin Lopez, and Marc Casado as the list seems to continue in an almost endless nature.
As the 2025/26 season looms, yet another pair of world-class talents appear on the horizon. Toni Fernandez scored the club’s fourth goal in a 5-0 preseason friendly win over Daegu FC in South Korea, bringing yet another young star into the spotlight.
Eagle-eyed fans will have noticed Guille Fernandez on the bench, and many have wondered if the two youngsters with the same last name and the same age are related.
The Sporting News has the answers on where the two 17-year-olds hail from and how they’re connected.
Are Toni Fernandez and Guille Fernandez related?
Toni Fernandez and Guille Fernandez are cousins, born just one month apart, but there is a special family connection between the two beyond just that.
The parents of the two boys are brothers married to sisters: their fathers are siblings, as are their mothers. This is why they have the same paternal and maternal surnames (Fernandez and Casino).
As such, they have essentially grown up together, hailing from the same town and making concurrent moves in their football youth development.
There is a third individual in the mix as well, as Guille’s older brother Juan, nine years the cousins’ senior, is also a product of the Barcelona academy. However, he left the club in 2018 and has bounced around the Spanish lower tiers, last playing for semi-professional club CF Montanesa.
Who is Toni Fernandez?
Antonio Fernandez Casino, often known as “Toni,” is a Barcelona native, born in Rubi in July of 2008. He joined the Barcelona academy in 2018 at 10 years old, switching over from Espanyol.
The young striker became the second-youngest player to debut for Barcelona in January of 2025 when, at 16 years, 173 days old, he came off the bench to log nine minutes in the third round of the Copa del Rey against UD Barbastro.
First goal with the first team for Toni! 👏#MadeInLaMasia pic.twitter.com/U4o2IkoG9V
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) August 4, 2025
Fernandez has been a consistent presence in the Spain youth setup, most recently seeing time for the Under-18 national side in October of 2024 in a trio of international friendlies, scoring against Romania in a 4-0 win.
Toni is primarily a striker, but could profile as a left winger or an attacking midfielder depending on how he develops his skills.
🤩 Toni Fernández
🤯 Golejador més jove de la història del Barça Atlètic
👏🏼 16 anys, 1 mes i 3 dies
💙 𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐋𝐚 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐚 ❤️ pic.twitter.com/3oIXY4qRzU
— Barça Atlètic (@FCBarcelonaB) September 7, 2024
Who is Guille Fernandez?
Guillermo Fernandez Casino, often known as “Guille,” was born in Rubi, Barcelona in June of 2008. Like Toni, Guille also started his youth career at Espanyol but made the move to Barcelona at 10 years old.
Guille has yet to make his Barcelona senior debut, appearing on the bench for several of the club’s La Liga and Champions League matches in 2024 but never entering the field of play.
✅ Toni Fernández (17)
✅ Guille Fernández (17)
✅ Pedro Fernández ‘Dro’ (17)
✅ Jofre Torrents (18) pic.twitter.com/bDWiULdFLT— FC Barcelona (@fcbarcelona_tr) July 25, 2025
Like Toni, Guille has made appearances at multiple levels of the Spain national team, appearing for the U-19 team in October and November of 2024.
At the moment, Guille is playing as a midfielder, but as is always the case with extremely young players, that could change or evolve as their careers progress.
