WHERE IS VILLARREAL?

On the journey home we decided to drive through Sheffield, having been on the motorway for a few hours. Passing Hillsborough "we" noticed a pre-season friendly coming up against Villareal Club de Futbol SAD. We then had a very short guessing game, where is Villarreal? I suggested that the "real" might be a Spanish word (you know Real (Royal) Madrid), so we eventually got to Spain.

Well, I was nearly right. I said south-west Spain but of course there isn't really a south-west because Portugal gets in the way! It is in fact in Castellon Province, the south-east, in the Valencian Community and is known as the "Royal Village" after its foundation by King James I of Aragon. It has a population of nearly 52,000, half of whom could be sat in the Estadio de le Ceramica.

Founded in  March 1923 the club made the National Division in 1956 and the Top Division (La Liga) in 1998, meeting Real Madrid, the European champions, at the Bernabeu in the first match. The first home game was against Celta Vigo;
Their nickname is El Submari Groguet" or El Submarino Amarillo....yes the Yellow Submarine due to the team colours and their "low" profile.

Local rivals are CD Castellon and Valencia.
They won the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 2003 and 2004, La Liga runners-up 2007-8.

Here's a previous mention of the submariners!
http://baileyfootballblog.blogspot.com/2016/12/never-mind-cowboys-where-arethe-indians.html