Childhood dreams come true — My experience at Villarreal CF
April 2016: I am on my way to the Estadio de la Cerámica. In two hours, my first Villarreal home game is going to kick off and I am already filled with excitement from my toes to my chin. Upon arriving at the Vila-real train station I immediately spot the first yellow jerseys worn by some guys who get off the train with me. A 20 minute walk to the stadium ahead, I start wandering through the streets of the small Spanish town.
Not long after leaving the train station I see more. This time two children in yellow shirts, each holding their father’s hands who is also wearing a Villarreal jersey, of course. Just one minute later I pass a playground with lots of children playing on it. Most of them are wearing yellow jerseys and pretending to be one of their heroes — Bakambu, Trigueros, Soldado, whoever — scoring the decisive goal in the last minute of today’s match. Their restless behaviour expresses my inner feelings in this moment very well as I cannot wait for the game to start. The closer I get to the Estadio de la Ceramica the more “yellow people” join me on my final stretch to the stadium, passing houses in which Villarreal scarfs and flags are hung proudly in the windows, marking the club’s territory.
Finally, I stand in the Placa del Labrador. Before my eyes, the stadium’s vast façade rises on the other side of the square while its yellow ceramic tiles merge with the same-coloured shirts of hundreds of fans in the blazing sun. “Wow.”, is the only thing I can think.
A few weeks later, I can only confirm what I experienced back on this day before the game against CD Leganés. This club, the city, the people — they really are all yellow. In the last weeks, I had the incredible chance to work for this unique club and gain exclusive insights of its daily business. During my stay, I not only learned a lot about football marketing and communications, I also got to know the “spirit of Villarreal” meaning the special atmosphere in and around the club.
For example, on my first day at the club, Juan, my boss, who is responsible for marketing and international relations at the club, drove me to the Ciudad Deportiva, Villarreal’s training complex with all the offices. After I watched the training session of the first team which was just taking place, Juan showed me the office and introduced me to my future colleagues. In the thick of this warm welcome, one of my colleagues, Lucy, asked Juan and me to join the weekly Villarreal podcast. Not having a clue what I should expect I just answered: “Well, why not?”. This basically shows how easy it was for me to integrate into the club’s work.
After this very immediate introduction into Villarreal’s operations, I got to know my surroundings better step by step and familiarized myself with the daily business. Of course, my work was not only sitting in front of my computer in the office, no, actually my favourite “task” was watching LaLiga football live and from close range. To cut a long story short, I really enjoyed working at the Ciudad Deportiva among warm-hearted and friendly people.
A family atmosphere on one hand, international football on the other: Things in this club from a town of only 50,000 people are different. Villarreal manages the balancing act between its local roots and world-class football perfectly. While the club does important work in terms of social engagement, youth education, it also gives the locals something to cheer about, by competing with the best teams in Europe and Spain year after year.
For example, one of the absolute highlights of my time at Villarreal was our game at the Camp Nou in Barcelona. Joining the team and the Yellow’s fans on their trip to this football temple was an incredible experience. Despite losing 4–1, we showed that we can be on a par with one of the world’s greatest teams. It also says a lot about the mentality of Villarreal that we did not lose our minds due to this disappointing result in such a decisive phase of the season (we were still fighting for our European spot). It was tense right until the end as it all came down to our last match: The derby against Valencia CF at the Mestalla stadium.
Because I had been to the Mestalla during my stay in Valencia before, I knew it was not going to be an easy game for us due to the frenetic support of the ‘Valencianos’. But there also were hundreds of yellow’s fans who cheered loudly throughout the whole match. We had a fantastic game and took both the derby win and our Europa League spot with a convincing 3–1 victory. The team celebrated with the fans long after all the Valencia supporters had already left the stadium and it was a great feeling to see the strong bond between the team and the fans.
After this very successful finish to the season, the next highlight of my experience in Spain immediately followed. The Monday after the Valencia match, there was a game taking place at the Estadio de la Cerámica. It doesn’t sound very special, but it was not the first team that was going to play, but me and some employees from the club!
Putting on the jersey in the changing rooms, walking out onto the pitch through the tunnel and playing a game of football on the perfect grass surrounded by the imposing stands — it was a childhood dream come true for me, as I will probably never have this opportunity again due to my rather limited football skills. And I have not even mentioned the best thing yet! Playing on my team was Marcos Senna, a Villarreal legend and European Cup winner with Spain. Marcos works for the club now and is a very nice and down to earth guy — and it was nothing but an honour for me to stand on the pitch alongside this outstanding player. All in all, this day was absolutely amazing!
All these moments are only a glimpse of the unforgettable experience I had at Villarreal. A big thank you goes to Juan and Lucy, my boss and co-worker, who made my time at the club really enjoyable.
As I was born near Frankfurt in Germany my heart belongs to my home town club, Eintracht Frankfurt. However, Villarreal showed me that there is still place for another club and took the spot right next to my “first love”. This alone shows the strength of the “Villarreal spirit” I mentioned previously. Although there still might not be a clear definition, if I would have to describe it with one word, “Wow.”, would still be the only thing I could think of.
