Villarreal CF

Villarreal

Full name	Villarreal Club de Fútbol, S.A.D.
Nickname(s)	El Submarino Amarillo (The Yellow Submarine)
Founded	10 March 1923
Ground	El Madrigal Vila-real Valencian Community Spain (Capacity: 25,000)
Chairman	Fernando Roig Alfonso
Manager	Juan Carlos Garrido
League	La Liga
2009–10	La Liga, 7th
Home colours Away colours
Current season

Villarreal Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF or just Villarreal, is a Spanish Primera División football club based in Vila-real, a small town in the province of Castellón. The team plays at the 25,000-seat Madrigal stadium.

History

Early years

The club was founded in 1923 and played in regional leagues until the Spanish Civil War, during which Spanish football went into a hiatus. After the war, the club played in various regional leagues as well as the Tercera División until the 1970–71 season, when Villarreal first played in the Segunda División for two consecutive seasons, at the end of which the club was relegated to the Tercera División once again. After playing in the Segunda División B for a few seasons in the late 1980s, Villarreal managed to solidify themselves as a Segunda División club starting with the 1992–93 season.

La Liga de las Estrellas

On 24 May 1998 Villarreal sealed promotion to the Primera División for the 1998–99 season, which started with an intimidating match against giants Real Madrid in the Santiago Bernabéu. After a difficult season, Villarreal were again relegated to the Segunda División for the 1999–2000 season, in which they finished third, again earning promotion to La Liga de las Estrellas, the Primera División, where they have remained up to the present day.

European success

After finishing seventh a year later, Villarreal stayed near the bottom of the table for two seasons before defeating Dutch team Heerenveen in the final to win their first European title, the Intertoto Cup in the summer of 2003, thereby qualifying for the UEFA Cup tournament. In the 2003–04 season, Villarreal reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup, losing to neighbours and eventual champions Valencia. That summer, however, they won the Intertoto Cup again, qualifying for that coming season's UEFA Cup tournament, in which they would reach the quarter-finals. They bowed out in the quarter-finals to Dutch side AZ, losing 3–2 on aggregate. During the same 2004–05 season, Villarreal finished in 3rd place in La Liga, earning the club their first direct qualification to a European tournament; the Champions League.

The 2005–06 season brought the club considerable European success and recognition, due to their consistent performances in the Champions League. In the qualifying round stage, Villareal controversially defeated English side Everton with a 4–2 aggregate score with two 2–1 victories. In the group stage, Villarreal were to be in the same group as Portuguese champions Benfica, French club Lille, and English giants Manchester United. Remaining undefeated throughout the group stage, Villarreal were twice victorious (1–0 each against Benfica away and Lille at home) and earned four draws, including two scoreless draws with Manchester United. They topped their group and progressed to the knock-out stages along with Benfica. The club progressed to the quarter-finals in their Champions League debut by defeating the Scottish club Rangers 3–3 on the away goals rule (a 2–2 draw in Glasgow and a 1–1 draw at home gave the Spanish side one more away goal than their opponents).

El Submarino Amarillo drew Italian giants Internazionale in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. The first leg was played at the San Siro on 29 March 2006. Playing at the San Siro, Diego Forlán scored inside the first minute of the match, but Villarreal lost 2–1 as Inter took a lead to the return leg at El Madrigal on 4 April. Villarreal, however, continued their unbeaten home record in the Champions League as they beat the Italian giants 1–0 in the second leg to qualify for the semi-finals on the away goals rule (the tie ended 2–2 on aggregate, but because of Forlán's goal in Milan, Villarreal advanced). During that game, left-back Rodolfo Arruabarrena turned a back header from Juan Román Riquelme free kick past Inter's goalkeeper Francesco Toldo to score the decisive goal of the tie. In the semi-finals, Villarreal narrowly lost out to Arsenal on a 1–0 aggregate scoreline following Arsenal's goalkeeper Jens Lehmann's save of Juan Román Riquelme's last-minute penalty. Villarreal signed Robert Pirès from Arsenal in the summer following their Champions League semi-final defeat. Pires starred for the club until his departure at the end of the 2009-2010 season. The 2006–07 season started very badly but Villarreal were able to qualify for the UEFA Cup after eight consecutive wins. "The Yellow Submarines" were 13th after Round 30 of La Liga, but they climbed to finish fifth at the end of the season.

The club automatically qualified for the 2008-09 UEFA Champions League, due to them finishing second in La Liga the previous season. They drew Manchester United, for the second consecutive campaign, Celtic, and Aalborg BK. They made a good start by holding current European champions Manchester United to a goal-less draw at Old Trafford, a third 0–0 draw in a row against the English giants. A first win was sealed on 30 September by beating Gordon Strachan's Celtic 1–0 at El Madrigal, courtesy of a Marcos Senna free-kick. On 21 October, during a Champions League match against Aalborg, they scored six goals to three. The Spaniards went ahead through the knock-out stage after drawing 2–2 with Aalborg in Denmark and drawing goalless once again against the Lancastrians, on the last group-stage match, they lost to a already eliminated Celtic.

In the knock-out stage, they faced Panathinaikos, which left Villarreal with a 1–1 away advantage, despite this the Greeks were to lose 1–2 in Athens. Villareal reached the quarter-finals for the second time in two tries, and were once again paired with Arsenal. The first leg saw a 1–1 draw by a free-kick by Marcos Senna, neutralized by an Emmanuel Adebayor volley. Theo Walcott Emmanuel Adebayor and Robin van Persie secured the 3–0 win for Arsenal.

For the 2009–10 season, Villareal saw UEFA Europa League position, going ahead NAC Breda with ease by a 2–9 aggregeate victory. The share Group G with Levski Sofia, who they defeated 1–0 on their debut, and with Lazio and Red Bull Salzburg. They came 2nd in that group, behind Red Bull Salzburg. Consequently, Villareal was drawn against VfL Wolfsburg -- who had dropped out of the UEFA Champions League -- in the Round of 32. Playing at home first, Villarreal secured a 2-2 draw. In the return leg at Wolfsburg's Volkswagen Arena, however, Villarreal would succumb to defeat by a 4-1 scoreline. This ended their European ambitions for the 2009-10 season.

Despite finishing outside of a European qualifying spot in the domestic league, Villarreal was given a place in the qualifying round of the 2010-11 Europa League after UEFA determined that RCD Mallorca's financial troubles precluded them from taking part in the tournament. Villarreal was drawn to play Belorussian club FC Dnepr Mogilev. The first leg of the tie took place at El Madrigal on 8/19/2010, with Villarreal winning by a resounding 5-0 scoreline. The return leg, set to take place at Moligev's Spartak Stadion, will be played on 8/26/2010.

Rivalry

Villarreal has supported a long rivalry with Castellón for geographical reasons, since both are from the province of Castellón, and with Valencia, since the two are the most competitive teams of the Valencian Community; this clash is called the "Valencian Local Derby."

Honours

• UEFA Intertoto Cup: 2
  

2003, 2004

Season to season

• 12 seasons in La Liga
• 9 seasons in Segunda División
• 4 seasons in Segunda División B
• 23 seasons in Tercera División
• 23 seasons in Categorías Regionales

Nickname and mascot

The team is nicknamed El Submarino Amarillo (the Yellow Submarine) because of their yellow strip. The mascot (named Groguet, "Little Yellow") is a figure with a submarine head. In 2008, the shirt sponsor was "Aeroport Castello" (airport).

Current squad

As of August 16, 2010 The numbers are established according to the official website:www.villarrealcf.es and www.lfp.es Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Xavi Oliva 2 DF Gonzalo Rodríguez 3 DF Joan Oriol 4 DF Mateo Musacchio 5 DF Carlos Marchena 6 DF Ángel López 7 FW Nilmar 8 MF Santi Cazorla 9 FW Marco Ruben 10 MF Cani (vice-captain) 11 DF Joan Capdevila 12 FW Jozy Altidore

No. Position Player 13 GK Diego López 15 DF José Catalá 17 MF Javier Matilla 18 MF Cristóbal 19 MF Marcos Senna (captain) 20 MF Borja Valero (on loan from West Brom) 21 MF Bruno 22 FW Giuseppe Rossi 23 FW Jefferson Montero 25 GK Juan Carlos 26 DF Kiko 27 DF Mario

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player — DF Iván Marcano (at Getafe)

Foreign players

• Gonzalo Rodríguez
• Jefferson Montero
• Jozy Altidore

Former managers

• Julio Raúl González (1990-91)
• Carlos Simón Server (1991-92)
• David Vidal (1995-96)
• José Antonio Irulegui (1996-99)
• Joaquín Caparrós (1999)
• Paquito García Gómez (1999-00)
• Víctor Muñoz (2000-03)
• Benito Floro Sanz (2003-04)
• Manuel Pellegrini (2004-09)
• Ernesto Valverde (2009-10)
• Juan Carlos Garrido (2010-)

See also

• Villarreal CF B – Second team currently in the Segunda División
• Villarreal CF C – Third team currently in the Tercera División, Group 6
• Category:Villarreal CF footballers
• Category:Villarreal CF managers

External links

• Official website (Spanish) (Catalan) (English)