Villarreal CF
Also written as Villarreal.
The club
Villarreal Club de Fútbol were founded on 10 March 1923 as Club Deportivo Villarreal, established "to promote all sports especially Football", in the town of Villarreal in the Castellón province of eastern Spain. The nickname is El Submarino Amarillo, or in Valencian El Submarí Groguet, the Yellow Submarine, from the yellow home kit and from the club's low profile next to Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atlético Madrid and regional rivals Valencia. The yellow itself was an accident of 1947: the son of the then president travelled to Valencia to buy replacements for the club's white shirts and black shorts, found the shop had neither in stock, and bought the only colour available. The yellow shirt and blue shorts combination was last worn in 2002-03, and the club have sported all-yellow kits since.
The ground is the Estadio de la Cerámica, formerly known as El Madrigal, with a capacity of 23,008. Fernando Roig is both owner and president. The club spent most of its history in the lower divisions, first reaching La Liga in 1998 through a two-legged play-off against Compostela, and apart from a single relegation in 2012, reversed at the first attempt, have been in the top flight ever since.
The head coach is Iñigo Pérez, appointed on 1 June 2026 on a three-year contract running to June 2029. He arrived from Rayo Vallecano, where he spent two and a half years and took the club to a Conference League final, lost to Crystal Palace, and an eighth-place La Liga finish. He succeeded Marcelino García Toral, who left after failing to reach agreement on a contract renewal despite delivering third place and Champions League qualification.
Recent seasons
Villarreal finished seventh in La Liga in 2021-22, fifth in 2022-23, eighth in 2023-24 and fifth again in 2024-25; the points totals for those seasons were not established from the sources read here. In 2025-26, under Marcelino, they finished third with 72 points from 38 matches, 22 wins, 6 draws and 10 defeats, 72 goals scored and 46 conceded, their best league placing since they were runners-up in 2007-08. Georges Mikautadze, signed from Lyon that summer alongside Tajon Buchanan from Internazionale, Thomas Partey on a free from Arsenal and Renato Veiga from Chelsea, was top scorer with 13 league goals and 15 in all competitions. The season also included 5-0 and 4-0 home wins over Girona and Rayo Vallecano, though the parallel Champions League campaign was a disaster, one point from eight league-phase matches.
Honours and landmarks
The 2020-21 UEFA Europa League is the club's first and only major trophy, won on 26 May 2021 in Gdańsk by beating Manchester United 11-10 on penalties after a 1-1 draw, in what was Villarreal's first appearance in a major European final; they were the first side to win one at the first attempt since Shakhtar Donetsk in the 2008-09 UEFA Cup. The win made Unai Emery the first manager to win the UEFA Cup or Europa League four times, surpassing Giovanni Trapattoni. Villarreal also won the UEFA Intertoto Cup twice, beating Heerenveen in the 2003 final and Atlético Madrid on penalties in 2004, having lost the 2002 final to Málaga. They lost the 2021 UEFA Super Cup to Chelsea 6-5 on penalties after a 1-1 draw.
Domestically the honours list is thin for a club of their standing: the Tercera División title of 1969-70 is the only domestic honour listed, with the La Liga runners-up finish of 2007-08 the high-water mark in the league. They reached the Champions League semi-finals in 2005-06 and 2021-22, a landmark for a town club held up as an example of a small but successful side.
Notable scorelines
Villarreal's biggest home league wins are by a five-goal margin, 5-0, achieved six times: against Salamanca in 1998-99, Celta Vigo in 2002-03 and again in 2016-17, Tenerife in 2009-10, Levante in 2021-22 and Girona in 2025-26. The most goals they have scored in a league game is six, in a 6-3 home win over Racing Santander in 2003-04. The largest away league wins are 5-1 at Las Palmas in 2000-01, 4-0 at Real Sociedad in 2004-05, and 4-0 at Celta Vigo and 5-1 at Levante, both in 2020-21. The club's record league defeat was not established from the sources read here.
In Europe the biggest aggregate wins are 9-2 over NAC Breda in the 2009-10 Europa League play-off round, including a 6-1 home leg, 8-2 over Twente in the 2010-11 Europa League quarter-finals, and 7-0 over Astana in the 2014-15 play-off round. The heaviest European defeats in single matches are 5-1 at Porto in the 2010-11 Europa League semi-final first leg and 4-0 at Borussia Dortmund in the 2025-26 Champions League league phase.
European record
Villarreal's European debut came in the 2002 Intertoto Cup, beating FH of Iceland 4-2 on aggregate before losing the final to Málaga. The 2003-04 Intertoto win earned a UEFA Cup place and Villarreal went all the way to the semi-finals, beating Roma and Celtic before losing 1-0 on aggregate to Valencia, who went on to win the competition. In 2005-06 came the famous Champions League run: past Everton in qualifying, top of a group containing Manchester United, Benfica and Lille, past Rangers and Internazionale on away goals, and out 1-0 on aggregate to Arsenal in the semi-final, Jens Lehmann saving a last-minute Juan Román Riquelme penalty in the goalless second leg at El Madrigal. In 2007-08 they went out of the UEFA Cup round of 32 on away goals to the eventual champions Zenit Saint Petersburg, and in 2008-09 reached the Champions League quarter-finals, drawing 0-0 with Manchester United twice more in the group, before losing 4-1 on aggregate to Arsenal.
The 2010-11 Europa League brought another semi-final, Giuseppe Rossi finishing the competition's second top scorer with eleven goals behind Radamel Falcao, but Porto won the tie 7-4 on aggregate after a 5-1 first leg in Portugal. The 2011-12 Champions League group with Bayern Munich, Napoli and Manchester City produced six defeats from six. In 2015-16 Villarreal reached a third Europa League semi-final, winning the home leg against Liverpool 1-0 and losing 3-0 at Anfield.
Then the trophy. In 2020-21 they won their Europa League group ahead of Qarabağ, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Sivasspor, knocked out Red Bull Salzburg 4-1, Dynamo Kyiv 4-0, Dinamo Zagreb 3-1 and Arsenal 2-1, and beat Manchester United in the final. Gerard Moreno turned in Daniel Parejo's free-kick on 29 minutes, his 30th goal of the season, drawing him level with Giuseppe Rossi as the club's all-time top scorer on 82; Edinson Cavani equalised on 55. In the longest shootout ever seen in the final of a UEFA competition all 21 takers scored until goalkeeper Gerónimo Rulli, having converted his own kick, saved from David de Gea.
In 2021-22 they returned to the Champions League semi-finals, finishing second in their group behind Manchester United, then beating Juventus 4-1 on aggregate with a 3-0 win in Turin and Bayern Munich 2-1, before losing both legs to Liverpool, 2-0 at Anfield and 3-2 at home, 5-2 on aggregate. The 2022-23 Conference League ended in the round of sixteen against Anderlecht, and the 2023-24 Europa League at the same stage against Marseille, 3-5 on aggregate after a 4-0 defeat in the away leg. There was no European football in 2024-25. The 2025-26 Champions League league phase went badly: 35th of 36, a single point from a 2-2 home draw with Juventus, and defeats to Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City, Pafos, Borussia Dortmund, Copenhagen, Ajax and Bayer Leverkusen, five goals scored and eighteen conceded.
Quotes
Before the 2021 Europa League final, Unai Emery acknowledged Manchester United were favourites but urged his side to "keep breaking down barriers" after four semi-final exits, as reported by Al Jazeera. Announcing the new coach in June 2026, the club said: "Villarreal CF have reached an agreement with Inigo Perez, who will be the first-team manager for the next three seasons, until June 2029." Fuller directly quoted material was not established from the sources read here.
Right now (2026-27)
Iñigo Pérez is in his first season as head coach. The summer saw Dani Parejo leave at the end of his contract, Thomas Partey move to Al-Shabab and Alfonso Pedraza join Lazio, with goalkeepers Diego Conde and Arnau Tenas loaned to Real Betis and Mallorca; arrivals include the goalkeeper Péter Gulácsi and the forward Nicolas Pépé.
The league start has been poor. Villarreal drew 2-2 at Racing Santander on 16 August 2026, Gueye and Nicolas Pépé scoring either side of half-time (Gueye's full name was not established from the sources read here), drew 2-2 at Atlético Madrid on 23 August with penalties from Gerard Moreno and Georges Mikautadze, lost 1-0 at Alavés on 28 August, and lost 3-2 at home to Deportivo de La Coruña on 5 September despite Pépé's opener and an own goal by Traoré. After four matches they sit 16th with two points, without a win.
Third place in 2025-26 put them back in the Champions League, and the league phase draw on 27 August 2026 gave them Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester United, Napoli and Sabah at the Estadio de la Cerámica, with trips to Liverpool, Borussia Dortmund, Fenerbahçe and Slavia Prague. The opening round of league-phase matches begins on 8 September 2026. Copa del Rey participation begins in October.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villarreal_CF https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villarreal_CF_in_European_football https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025%E2%80%9326_Villarreal_CF_season https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_Villarreal_CF_season https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_UEFA_Champions_League_league_phase https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20260601-villarreal-appoint-inigo-perez-after-rayo-success https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/57224112 https://www.aljazeera.com/sports/2021/5/26/villarreal-beat-man-utd-in-dramatic-shootout-to-win-europa-league https://onefootball.com/en/news/villarreal-discover-eight-opponents-for-202627-champions-league-43350774
Researched and written for not4quarters. Where a fact could not be established from the sources read, this page says so rather than guessing.