| Full name | Villarreal Club de Fútbol S.A.D. | ||
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| Nickname(s) | El Submarino Amarillo (The Yellow Submarine) | ||
| Founded | March 10, 1923 | ||
| Ground | El Madrigal Vila-real Valencian Community Spain (Capacity: 24,890[1]) |
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| Chairman | Fernando Roig Alfonso | ||
| Head Coach | José Francisco Molina | ||
| League | La Liga | ||
| 2010–11 | La Liga, 4th | ||
| Website | Club home page | ||
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| Current season | |||
Villarreal Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. (Valencian: Vila-real Club de Futbol, S.A.D.), usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF or just Villarreal, is a Spanish Primera División football club based in Vila-real, a city in the province of Castellón within the Valencian Community. Founded in 1923, the team plays at the 24,890-seat El Madrigal stadium.
The club is nicknamed El Submarino Amarillo (Yellow Submarine) due to its yellow home kit, and due to being a low-profile team compared to Real Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia who they have challenged for trophies over the last decade.
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Villareal CF was founded as Villareal CD on 10 March 1923 "to promote all sports especially football". The stadium was rented for 60 pesetas a month and ticket prices were set at half a peseta for men and a quarter of a peseta for children. Women were granted free admission.[2] On June 17 CD Castellón, a modern rival of the club, played the first match, against a club named after Cervantes. On October 21 that year Villareal played their first game ever, playing against Castellon.[2] Villareal started off with a kit of white shirts and black shorts, reflected in their first badge.[3]
Villarreal entered regional competitions within the Spanish football pyramid from 1929–30 onwards. The 1934–35 season saw the team lose to Cartagena CF when a win would see them promoted to the nationwide Second Division.[2] The following season saw Villarreal win the First Division of the region before the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War.[2]
When the war finished in 1939 the club played again in the Second Division of the region before promotion in 1950–51 to the first.[2] In 1942 the club changed their name to CAF Villarreal, with a new badge in the yellow colour of their new shirts. The 'F' stood for Foghetcaz, an athletics club and supporter of the team.[3]
The name changed again to the current Villarreal CF in 1954, with a badge similar to the present one.[3] They finished 7th and then 4th twice in the First regional league before being promoted to the Tercera Liga (Third Nationwide) as champions in 1956. They were relegated in 1960–1961 after finishing 14th.[2]
The club adopted their present badge in Summer 1966.[3] In 1966–67 Villarreal returned to the Tercera as Champions. In 1970 they reached the national Segunda for the first time.[2] After narrowly avoiding relegation in their first season they were relegated the following. In 1975–76 they were relegated from the Tercera to the Regionals, but were promoted back again the next season.
In 1986–87 Villarreal were promoted to the Segunda Liga B.[2] In 1990 they finished 18th and were relegated back to the Tercera.
There were back-to-back promotions as the club returned to Segunda B and finished second, earning promotion to Segunda A for the first time. From 1992–93, Villarreal were often in low or mid-table positions, but reached the play-offs in 1997–98 by finishing 4th.[4] The two-legged play of was against Compostela. Villarreal hosted the first leg which was a 0–0 draw, but the second leg at the home of the Galician team was a 1–1 draw, thus Villarreal were promoted on the away goals rule.
Villarreal's Primera Liga debut started with a match against then European Champions Real Madrid in the Santiago Bernabéu on August 31, 1998. The first home game was against Celta Vigo[4] the week after. Because of a difficult season, Villarreal were relegated to the Segunda División for the 1999–2000 season. By finishing third they were promoted back to the Primera Liga.
After finishing seventh on their return to the Primera, Villarreal came 15th[4] for two seasons.
Villarreal competed in the Intertoto Cup of Summer 2002, defeating Hafnarfjordur of Iceland, Torino of Italy and Troyes of France . They lost in the final to compatriots Málaga CF, 2–1 on aggregate.[5]
In Summer 2003 they defeated the Dutch team Heerenveen in the final of the Intertoto Cup, thereby qualifying for the UEFA Cup of the upcoming season. In their major European debut, Villarreal reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup, losing to neighbours and eventual champions Valencia CF. In the league, Villarreal finished 8th.
In Summer 2004 Villarreal retained the Intertoto Cup, beating compatriots Atlético Madrid on penalties after the final finished 2–2 on aggregate. This qualified them to the UEFA Cup. They lost in the quarter-finals of the 2004-05 UEFA Cup to Dutch side AZ, losing 3–2 on aggregate. During the same season, Villarreal finished in 3rd place in La Liga, earning the club their first direct qualification to a European tournament; the Champions League. The club's centre-forward Diego Forlán won the Pichichi trophy for top scorer in the league, with 25 goals.
Villarreal defeated the Premier League's Everton in a play-off for the Champions League group stages. The group saw Villarreal go undefeated, drawing both games against Manchester United and achieving a draw and a win each against Lille of France and Benfica of Portugal. The win over Benfica was away and both teams advanced to the last 16.[6]
The club then drew 3–3 against Rangers of Scotland in the Last 16, advancing on away goals due to a 2–2 draw at Ibrox. In the quarter-final Villarreal beat Internazionale on away goals after finishing 2–2 on aggregate. The club bowed out in the semi-finals against Arsenal, losing 1–0 away at Highbury. Juan Román Riquelme had a penalty saved by Jens Lehmann in the home game, which finished 0–0. Arsenal went on to lose in the final in Paris to another Spanish club, FC Barcelona.
Villarreal finished 7th in La Liga, which only earned an Intertoto Cup position.
Villarreal contested the Intertoto Cup in Summer 2006 and was knocked out in its first game, to Maribor of Slovenia. The first leg was lost 2–1 at home and the away game was a 1–1 draw.[7] The team came 5th in La Liga.
Villarreal gained their best league position this season, finishing 2nd to Real Madrid, and also reached the last 32 in that season's UEFA Cup. After defeating BATE Borisov of Belarus in a play-off, the team won Group C unbeaten.[8] Their group opponents were Fiorentina of Italy, Czech club Mladá Boleslav, IF Elfsborg of Sweden and AEK Athens of Greece.
In the last 32, Villarreal were defeated by eventual champions Zenit Saint Petersburg, losing the first leg 1–0 in Russia to a Pavel Pogrebnyak goal. The second leg was won 2–1 by Villarreal at El Madrigal but Zenit advanced on away goals.
Villarreal has supported a long rivalry with CD Castellón for geographical reasons, since both are from the province of Castellón. They also rival Valencia CF, since the two are the most competitive teams of the Valencian Community; this clash is called the "Derby de la Comunitat".
The club's famous yellow kit dates back to 1947. With the new season fast approaching, the son of the then Villarreal president travelled to Valencia to purchase replacements of the club's official kit of white shirts and black shorts. Discovering that the shop had neither in stock, he instead bought the only colour that they did have, which happened to be yellow. The players agreed that the shirts were suitable, although they weren't keen on the black shorts, so the president's son travelled to Castellón and purchased a batch of white shorts. The players voted that they should be dyed blue.[10] After remaining as the club's official kit for some time, the yellow shirts and blue shorts combination was last worn in the 2002/2003 season, and the club has since sported all yellow kits.[11] Away colours have often been navy blue.
From 2005 to June, 30 2011 the shirt sponsor was "Aeroport Castello", an airport. Since that date they have worn unsponsored shirts. The kit is made by the Chinese company Xtep, having previously been produced by Puma of Germany.
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The team is nicknamed El Submarino Amarillo (the Yellow Submarine) because of their yellow strip. The mascot (named Groguet, "Little Yellow") is characterised as a submarine in human form. He made his debut on the 26th October 2001 and was named in December 13 that year by a local 12 year-old, Javier Fuster Almela, following a province-wide competition open to under-15s.[13]
Due to being a lower-league club for most of their history, very few Villarreal players have played at international tournaments. In the 2006 World Cup one Villarreal player was selected in Spain's squad, the Brazilian-born midfielder Marcos Senna. Mexican forward Guillermo Franco was selected for his country, who were elmiminated by Argentina, whose squad included his team-mates Juan Pablo Sorín and Juan Román Riquelme.
For Euro 2008, Villarreal contributed three players to Spain's team, which won the tournament. Marcos Senna was joined by winger Santi Cazorla and full-back Joan Capdevila. The only other Villarreal player in the tournament was Nihat Kahveci, a striker for Turkey, who reached the semi-finals.
In the 2010 World Cup, another triumph for Spain, only Capdevila kept his squad place from two years previous. Central defender Diego Godín played for Uruguay, who finished forth. The striker Nilmar was in the Brazil squad which reached the quarter-finals. The tournament's Best Player and Best Goal award were given to Diego Forlán, another Uruguayan, who played for Villarreal between 2004 and 2007 before joining Atlético Madrid, where he was employed at the time of the tournament.
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.
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Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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