Villarreal Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., often abbreviated as Villarreal CF or simply Villarreal, is a company based in eastern Spain. Castellón Villarreal is a professional football club that plays in La Liga, the top division of Spanish football. Founded in 1923, the club spent most of its time in the lower divisions of Spanish football before making its La Liga debut in 1998. In the 2000s, Villarreal achieved some stability in the league, although they were relegated in 2012, returned the following year and are still in the top flight after that. The club debuted in the Champions League in 2005, and the best results were semi-finals in 2006 and 2022. Villarreal also participated in the Europa League during this period and won the 2021 final against Manchester United to claim their first Grand Slam trophy.
Nicknamed El Submarí Groguet or El Submarino Amarillo (The Yellow Submarine) because of their yellow home shirt, the club is a low-profile team compared to Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atlético Madrid and regional rivals Valencia. They play their home games at the Estadio de la Cerámica which is known as a model for a small but successful club.
Club Villarreal was founded on March 10, 1923, previously as Club de A Coruña Villarreal, “to promote all sports, especially football”. The rent for the stadium is 60 pesetas per month, and tickets cost half a peseta for men and a quarter peseta for children. Women can enter for free. On 17 June 1923, the club’s modern rivals Castellona played their first match against the club named after Miguel de Cervantes. On October 21 of the same year, “Villarreal” played its first match against Castellón. Villarreal started with a white shirt and black shorts, which was reflected in their first badge. From 1929 to 1930, Villarreal played regional games in the Spanish football pyramid. 1934-1935 In the season of 2011, the team lost to Cartagena, a win that would have taken them to the National Bundesliga. The following season, Villarreal won the Serie A of the region before the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. Villarreal’s La Liga debut began on 31 August 1998 against European champions Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu, losing 4-1 despite taking the lead after three minutes. The first home game was a week later against Celta de Vigo Due to a difficult season, Villarreal was relegated to the 2nd division in the 1999-2000 season, but was relegated back to the 1st division after finishing third. After returning to Serie A in seventh place, Villarreal are in 15th position for two consecutive seasons. Villarreal took part in the UEFA Intertoto Cup in mid-2002, beating Iceland’s FH, Italy’s Torino and France’s Troyes. They lost 2-1 to compatriots Malaga in the final.
They qualified for the UEFA Cup in mid-2003 by beating Dutch side Heerenveen in the Intertoto Cup final. On their European debut, Villarreal reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup, losing to neighbors and eventual champions Valencia. Villarreal is in eighth place in the league. In mid-2004, Villarreal retained the Intertoto Cup, beating compatriots Atletico Madrid on penalties after a 2-2 aggregate final in the final. Thus, they qualified for the UEFA Cup. UEFA Cup 2004-2005 in the quarter-finals of 2018, they lost to the Dutch team AZ with a score of 3:2. In the same season, Villarreal finished third in La Liga, securing the club’s first direct qualification for the UEFA Champions League. The club’s centre-forward Diego Forlan won the Pichichi trophy for the league’s top scorer with 25 goals.
Villarreal beat Everton in the playoffs of the Champions League group stage. Villarreal remained unbeaten in the group, drawing against Manchester United, as well as drawing and winning against Lille of France and Benfica of Portugal respectively. By defeating Benfica on the road, both teams entered the round of 16.
The club then drew 3-3 with Rangers in the last 16 and they improved on their away goals with a 2-2 draw at Ibrox. Villarreal beat Inter Milan 2-2 in the quarter-finals. In the semi-final against Arsenal, the club lost 0-1 away to Highbury. In the home match, Juan Roman Riquelme’s penalty kick was saved by Jens Lehmann, making it 0-0. Arsenal lost to another Spanish club Barcelona in the final in Paris. Villarreal are seventh in La Liga, having just secured a place in the Intertoto Cup.
In mid-2006, Villarreal played in the Intertoto Cup and were eliminated by Slovenia’s Maribor in the first match. In the first game, there was a 2:1 home loss and a 1:1 away draw. The team finished 5th in Spanish La Liga and qualified for the UEFA Cup. In 2008, Villarreal secured their best ever league finish, finishing eight points behind Real Madrid, and also reached the last 32 of the UEFA Cup that season. The team remains undefeated in Group C, beating Beita Borisov of Belarus in the playoffs. Their group opponents are Florence in Italy, Mlada Boleslav in the Czech Republic, IF Elfsburg in Sweden and AEK Athens in Greece.
Villarreal have beaten eventual champions Zenit St. Petersburg in their last 32 games, losing the first leg in Russia 1-0 thanks to Pavel Pogrebniak’s goal. Villarreal won the second leg 2-1 at the Madrid Stadium, but Zenit scored away.
The club finished second in Spanish La Liga last season and automatically qualified for the 2008-09 Champions League. for the UEFA Champions League. They have drawn with Manchester United, Celtic and Aalborg BK for the second consecutive season. They started well and were held to a draw by reigning European champions Manchester United at Old Trafford, their third successive 0-0 draw against the English giants. Celtic picked up their first win with a 1-0 win over Gordon Strachan at the Madrid Stadium on 30 September thanks to a Marcos Senna penalty. On 21 October, they scored a 6-3 win against Aalborg in the Champions League. The Spaniard drew 2-2 with Aalborg in Denmark and made it back into the knockout stages with a goalless draw against Manchester United. In the final group tournament, they lost to already eliminated Celtic. On 13 May 2012, Villarreal were relegated from La Liga after losing to Atletico Madrid. After a terrible season, the club suffered a shocking tragedy when Manolo Preciado, who was appointed as Villarreal’s new manager on June 6, 2012, died of a heart attack later that day. After relegation, the club lost a large number of players, with star players such as Borja Valero, Diego López, Giuseppe Rossi and Nirma leaving the team.
After a year in La Liga, Villarreal finished second in La Liga behind champions Elche on the final day of the season. The team started their new tenure in the top flight by winning their first three matches; the winning streak ended in a draw against Real Madrid at the Madrigal Stadium, although the team remained unbeaten until matchday seven of the season, losing 1-0. to Real Betis. Yellow Submarines 2013-2014 finished the season in sixth place to qualify for next season’s Europa League. 2014-2015 In the season of 2015, Villarreal again finished sixth, enough to qualify directly for the Europa League group stage. 2015-2016 Villarreal led La Liga for the first time in weeks 6 and 7 of the 2016 season, before falling to fifth place the following week. The club finished the season in 4th place to qualify for the 2016-17. for the play-offs of the UEFA Champions League. The club entered the 2015-2016 in the semi-finals of the Europa League, but were eliminated by Liverpool. Villarreal won the first leg 1-0, but lost 3-0 and 3-1 on aggregate in Liverpool.
2019-2020 Villarreal finished fifth in the 2020-2021 season, securing a place in the 2020-21 season. in the European League. The team achieved an unforgettable result and reached the final, beating Arsenal 2-1. Against favorites Manchester United, Villarreal drew 1-1 after extra time before winning 11-10 on penalties to claim the club’s first major trophy. Thanks to their victory, “Villarreal” transformed the first 2021-22. 2021-22 European League, which it plays next year. of the Champions League.
2021-2022 Villarreal reached the semi-finals of the Champions League in the 2016 season after knocking out Juventus in the round of 16 and Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals, eventually losing to Liverpool 5-2 on aggregate.