On 10 March 1923, in a small Valencian town known for its ceramics, a club was born that no one imagined would one day play Champions League semi-finals. On 10 March 2027 Villarreal turns 104. And its most famous detail, the yellow, arrived almost by chance.

In the back room of a pharmacy

The founder was José Calduch, who had discovered football while studying Medicine in Barcelona. According to the club's official website, it was founded in the back room of the family pharmacy in Vila-real. The new club was called Club Deportivo Villarreal and set out to promote all sports, especially football.

A ground opened by… other teams

The same year Calduch bought a plot of land and turned it into a pitch. The Campo del Villarreal opened on 17 June 1923 with a match that, oddly, Villarreal did not play in: the opponents were Castellón and Cervantes.

In 1925 the ground took the name El Madrigal, after the area where it stands. Since 2017 it has been called the Estadio de la Cerámica, a tribute to the town's ceramics industry.

From white to yellow

The first kit was a white shirt and black shorts, colours that also featured on the first crest. In 1947 the club registered with the federation as Club Atlético Foghetecaz. The strange name was formed from the surnames of the founding members: Font, Gil, Herrero, Teulet, Catalá and Zaragozá.

New shirts were needed at that point. According to UEFA, the shop in Valencia had only one colour in sufficient quantity: yellow. Other sources say the president's son could not find white shirts and bought yellow fabric instead, while the shorts later became blue.

The Yellow Submarine

Vila-real has no sea, yet the team is called "El Submarino Amarillo". In 1967, in the push for promotion to the Tercera, fans behind one goal played the Beatles' "Yellow Submarine" on a record player. According to Spanish Wikipedia it was the Spanish version of the song by Los Mustang, and the song stuck forever.

The trigger was of course the yellow shirt, and the name suited a team that looked small next to the giants. The same nickname, by the way, is also used by Cádiz.

From the lower leagues to Europe

In 1997 Fernando Roig became president, and in 1998 the team reached La Liga for the first time. Two Intertoto Cups followed, in 2003 with a final against Heerenveen and in 2004 with a penalty win over Atlético Madrid. In 2005 Diego Forlán won the Pichichi with 25 goals.

In 2006 the club reached the Champions League semi-finals. Arsenal's Lehmann saved Riquelme's late penalty, and the dream ended there.

The big moment came in 2021 in Gdańsk. Villarreal won the Europa League against Manchester United, 11-10 on penalties after a 1-1 draw. A year later it played another Champions League semi-final, against Liverpool, while Gerard Moreno became the top scorer in its history.

Captain Bruno Soriano, Marcos Senna, Santi Cazorla and Giuseppe Rossi also made history in the yellow shirt. Together they made the name of a small ceramics town known all over Europe.

Celebrate with us

From a pharmacy and a piece of yellow fabric to a European trophy, Villarreal proves that the size of a town does not set the size of its dreams. Happy 104th birthday to the Yellow Submarine!

See our Villarreal jerseys at sportarena.gr.

Photo: Villarreal's stadium during a match against Rapid Wien, 2015 – Millars, Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.