Inside the Villarreal academy that produced Rodri, Nicolas Jackson and Alex Baena
Villarreal bosses want to make that very clear. no one The ‘magical’ reason behind the academy that produced Ballon d’Or winner Rodri.
Villarreal comes from a small industrial city of the same name in eastern Spain, with a population of only 50,000.
However, despite being in an area the size of Yeovil, the academy has produced world-renowned stars such as Rodri, Nicholas Jackson, Paulo Torres and current Spanish winger Alex Baena.
Over the past 25 years, graduates of Villarreal’s academy have helped the club become a perennial performer.
Their first season in Spain’s top flight was 1998-99.
Since then, they have qualified for Europe 19 times and reached the semi-finals of the Champions League three times in 2006, 2016 and 2022. Beat Manchester United in the 2021 Europa League final.
This season is a rare season without European football and they have overachieved again.
The club is nicknamed “Yellow Submarine” is fifth – Battle with Athletic Bilbao for the remaining spots in La Liga, behind Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid and Barcelona.
But Villarreal chief executive Fernando Roig stressed to BBC Sport that no one at the club “is a magician”.
“We didn’t hire Ted Russo to make big changes,” he said.
So how did Villarreal do it?
