Barcelona's La Masia academy is widely regarded as one of the most successful youth systems in football.
Its innovative methods and eminent coaches have helped produce some of the world's finest players.
In the latest creative move, Barca opted to enter their under-12 and under-14 girls' teams into boys' leagues, and the results are fascinating.
As reported by Rory Smith and Edu Bayer in The New York Times, the under-12s team won all 30 matches, winning the league by 14 points and scoring 329 goals in the process.
The top scorer, Celia Segura, scored a remarkable 121 goals, averaging over four per game.
Atletico Madrid and Athletic Bilbao have also experienced positive results since entering their girls' teams into divisions populated by boys, and Barca intend to enter their under-10s into the same league next season.
Maria Teixidor, the Barcelona board member responsible for women's soccer, believes the girls are 'pushed harder' by the boys, with the physicality of the matches helping them to 'perform better.'
Teixedor also thinks the experiment has had positive social effects, normalising girls competing at the same level as boys.
'For the girls, it empowers them that there is no reason that they cannot play at the same level.'