Villarreal CF
association football club in Villarreal, Spain
Villarreal Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF, is a Spanish professional football club based in Villarreal, in the Castellón province of eastern Spain, that plays in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football.
Founded in 1923, the club spent much time of its history in the lower divisions of Spanish football and began in La Liga in 1998. In the 21st century, Villarreal gained some league stability, although they sustained relegation in 2012, rebounding the next year and then remaining in the top division to date. The club made its first appearance in the UEFA Champions League in 2005, with its best result being the semi-finals in 2006 and 2022. Villarreal also appeared in the UEFA Europa League during this time, and won the competition in 2021 by defeating Manchester United in the final, clinching their first major trophy.
The club is nicknamed El Submarí Groguet or El Submarino Amarillo (Yellow Submarine) due to its yellow home kit, and due to being 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, and have been touted as an example of a small but successful club.
History
1923–29: early years
Club Deportivo Villarreal was founded 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. On 17 June 1923, Castellón, a modern rival of the club, played the first match against a club named after Miguel de Cervantes.
The public source identifies “Villarreal CF” as association football club in Villarreal, Spain. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Villarreal, association and football.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Villarreal CF”, the useful work is to connect “association football club in Villarreal, Spain” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q12297. VIAF identifies the subject as 158950732. The Library of Congress control number is nb2012022486. 2 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1923, 1998, 2012 and 2005.
Official terminology may obscure informal participation, dissent or communities documented only indirectly. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.
- Event chronology
- Institutional context
- Locating named record creators
Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Villarreal CF”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Villarreal CF primary sources, Villarreal CF archive and Villarreal research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Villarreal CF”?
- What chronology connects this entry to wider political or social change?
- Which voices are present, absent or mediated by the institution?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Villarreal CF” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.