On the last La Liga matchday, Villarreal capped off their phenomenal campaign with a 4-2 dismantling of Sevilla. Champions League qualification was already in the bag, meaning the stakes were nil, but there was still plenty to celebrate. The atmosphere was electric, with 20,000 flags fluttering like a yellow sea, the Villarreal anthem roaring, and every soul in the stadium ready for the end-of-season party. It was a perfect send-off for the iconic Raul Albiol, who soaked in a heartfelt tribute from fans, teammates, and the club he’d served so faithfully.
The emotion spilled onto the pitch almost immediately. Just three minutes in, the crowd erupted, and as if on cue, Yeremy Pino bagged a superb opener, lifting his shirt to reveal a personal dedication to Albiol. Villarreal smelled blood and pressed home their advantage, Pape Gueye doubling the lead a mere four minutes later with a thunderous left-footed strike from the edge of the box. While the game eventually settled down, the 4-2 conclusion is a good reflection of what Villarreal’s season has been: a goal-fest. Villarreal smashed their all-time top-flight scoring record with 71 goals, and their points tally stands as their second-best ever in La Liga, eclipsed only by the iconic 77-point haul in 2007-08 of Manuel Pellegrini’s Villarreal.
Vila-real, a town in the Valencian Community of roughly 50,000 people, could fit its entire population in half of Barcelona’s Camp Nou. Yet this town consistently rubs shoulders with the continental elite. Their fifth-place finish this season, which secured their Champions League spot through Spain’s additional European Performance Spot, isn’t exactly a bolt from the blue if we look at their finances.
Villarreal have budgeted a revenue of €143m for this season, which would be the seventh-highest in La Liga and the fifth-highest wage bill. The real head-scratcher, however, is how this club from a rather modest town has amassed such significant financial power and consistently achieved success on the pitch. Let’s explain how this happened.
The pivotal moment in Villarreal’s history was when Fernando Roig Alfonso, a seasoned businessman with an estimated net worth of US$1.7b, acquired the club in 1997. The Spanish billionaire, whose fortune is rooted in his ownership of Pamesa Ceramica and a 9% stake in the supermarket giant Mercadona, embodies a form of club stewardship that prioritises stability and community.
As he explains in an interview with Relevo, Roig’s journey with Villarreal began not as a long-held dream but more as a pragmatic business opportunity. He describes it as a chance encounter: the previous owner, Pascual Font de Mora, sought to sell, and Roig, whose ceramic business operated in the nearby town of Almassora, saw potential. He was also drawn to the fact that at Villarreal, he could be the sole owner making decisions, in stark contrast to a club like Valencia, where multiple individuals sought power and control. Roig had witnessed such power struggles first-hand as his own brother, Juan Roig, served as president. This clear chain of command, combined with the “excitement of being able to do something important,” sealed the deal for the businessman.
Roig asserts that Villarreal is “managed the same way as Mercadona or Pamesa”, but at the same time, he understands the emotional fabric of football. Roig states that while in his core businesses the objective is profit, for Villarreal, “the goal is not to make money… but rather to avoid losing money and to maintain the feeling [from the local fans and community].” He candidly explains that in football, “even if he owns the stock, the true owner is the one who thinks in yellow: the fan”. And every matchday is like a board meeting, where these owners let Roig know their thoughts.
The keys to Villarreal’s enduring success under Roig are, in his own words, built on a foundation of hard work, a relentless focus on the youth academy, and mixing that homegrown talent with shrewd external signings. The club’s cantera is not merely a production line but a place where “first, personal education and then sports” are prioritised. Alex Baena, for example, shared that he chose Villarreal over Real Madrid because the club’s more familial environment allowed him to go see his parents whenever he wanted.
It’s hard to paint Villarreal as a fairytale story because, in the end, its rise is still down to having a billionaire investor. However, when you see what kind of football ownership followed Roig’s Villarreal acquisition (multi-club ownership, sportswashing, sovereign wealth funds, American private equity), it’s hard not to feel that Roig’s Villarreal venture is one of the best examples of how to mix football with capital in an healthy and sustainable way. Roig is a native of the Valencian community. He understands that the real owners of the club are its fans, and he prioritises continuity and long-term stability in his management of the club. Roig is someone who, in his own words, believes that “football is giving back to society a part of what you’ve earned.”
In the last 25 years, Villarreal has been a near-constant fixture in European competition. In their 25 seasons in La Liga, they have qualified for Europe a total of 17 times. This season’s qualification for the Champions League would mark their fifth participation in Europe’s most prestigious club competition, where they have already reached the semi-finals twice in 2006 and 2022. They’ve also been Europa League regulars, and gloriously, outright winners in 2021, defeating Manchester United in a penalty shootout that still gives Red Devils fans nightmares.
Even the hiccups in their journey, like the occasional relegation (a sobering reminder that no project is truly immune to gravity) or the odd coaching merry-go-round, can do little to derail the overarching narrative. The club famously fired Javi Calleja, only to rehire him less than two months later. More recently, the post-Unai Emery era in 2022 saw some struggles with the appointments of Quique Setien and Pacheta, leading to a period of tactical drift and a concerning slide down the table.
In this moment of crisis, Villarreal opted for a familiar, albeit complicated, name: Marcelino Garcia Toral. The same Marcelino who had guided them to European qualification back in 2016, only to be unceremoniously sacked a week before the season started due to, let’s just say, differences in opinion with the players and Roig’s board.
Marcelino, for much of his career, has been seen as a staunch 4-4-2 evangelist and a coach whose tactical playbook was based on defensive solidity and direct transitions. At Villarreal this season, Marcelino opted to mold his philosophy to the talent at hand rather than rigidly forcing square pegs into round holes. He hasn’t entirely abandoned his principles, but he has certainly embraced a more open and attacking style.
Villarreal ended the season with 71 goals, the third-best scoring record in La Liga, behind only the usual suspects, Barcelona and Real Madrid. This offensive verve, despite a defence that was only the twelfth best in the division, was the engine of their Champions League push.
This standout attack has a few core protagonists. Ayoze Perez, acquired from Real Betis last summer, delivered the best season of his career. Not only did he manage to get shots off and finish them, but Ayoze was also very involved in Villarreal’s possession sequences. Ayoze was well complemented by his striker partner Thierno Barry, with 11 goals to his name and a terrifying aerial presence.
Then there’s Alex Baena, the creative heart of this team, chipping in 7 goals and 9 assists. Baena also synergised quite well with his left back Sergi Cardona, another shrewd signing. Cardona was acquired from Las Palmas last summer and finished the season with 7 assists from his left back role.
The rumour mill, as always, is churning. Key players, such as Baena and Barry, are already being linked with bigger clubs. And the cold, hard fact of modern football is that success at a club of Villarreal’s relative size often leads to lucrative offers for their brightest talents. Keeping hold of their core, or at least reinvesting intelligently, will remain as important as it has always been for them.
This season, the lack of European commitments allowed Marcelino and his squad to focus all their attention on La Liga. That luxury will be gone next year. Champions League football brings with it a relentless schedule, demanding deeper squads, robust rotation, and a level of physical and mental resilience that can make or break a campaign. The squad, while talented, will need to be bolstered and diversified to truly compete on both fronts.
However, the reality is that Villarreal are used to this. Competing in Europe isn’t a novelty; it’s the norm for them. And if their history is any guide, the Yellow Submarine should be able to navigate European waters once again.