Villarreal's connection to Liverpool runs deeper than football, rooted in a Beatles classic and a post-war kit shortage. The Spanish club, based in a city of just over 50,000 people, carries the nickname 'Yellow Submarine', a moniker that makes every meeting with Liverpool FC feel significant.
Tonight's Champions League clash is no exception. Speaking to the Guardian, Villarreal's long-serving president, Fernando Roig, said: "It's emotional to play Liverpool. This will be the fifth time we have faced them, the third at Anfield."
A Decade of Meetings
The first visit to Anfield came 10 years ago in a Europa League semi-final. The cultural bond was celebrated when Villarreal officials presented Liverpool with a ceramic yellow submarine, now displayed in the LFC museum.
Roig described his routine for the trip: "I'll watch the morning training session, travel with the team. We'll go and eat, everywhere we go we get treated very well and we treat them well back. The next day I'll watch the under-19s in the morning, that I do like. And then the game, which I don't. Then we'll fly back here very, very late. It's very stressful."
From White Shirts to Yellow
The story of the nickname dates back to 1947. Founded in 1923, Villarreal originally wore white shirts and black shorts. However, a stock shortage in the post-war period forced a change when Manuel Vilanova, a young man from Villarreal, was sent to Valencia to buy white shirts.
Unable to find white, he returned with the only option available: yellow. The colour, untraditional for football kits, became a key part of the club's identity. Blue shorts were dropped for an all-yellow look in 2004, and the colour features in the club hymn: "Els nostres colours són el blau i el groc" ("Our colours are blue and yellow").
The Beatles Connection
The 'Yellow Submarine' link began in 1966 when the Beatles released the song. A Spanish version by Los Mustang spread the tune, and fans adopted it during an important game, singing "Amarillo es el Villarreal."
The nickname has stuck for six decades, soundtracking the club's rise. Villarreal won their first Europa League title in 2021 and have regularly appeared in the latter stages of European competition. As the Submarino Amarillo returns to the city where it all started, fans are expected to give the familiar Fab Four riff a rendition tonight.
