Behind every fairy tale there is an author. At Villarreal, that is the Spanish billionaire Fernando Roig (74). Made rich by selling ceramic tiles, he gained fame with his football club. This is the story of the great revelation in the Champions League.
Success is in the DNA of the Roig family.
Juan expanded 8 butchers into the Mercadona department store chain with 1,400 branches, the largest in Spain. His estimated net worth: almost 4 billion euros.
And then there’s his younger brother Fernando, who made his 1.4 billion fortune in the ceramics sector and reinvested in the local football club Villarreal. He guided them from the Spanish second division to the last four in the Champions League.
You can judge for yourself which of the two brothers is the best stormer of heaven.
250.000 euro
For football fans, the answer after Tuesday evening will be unequivocally Fernando. After Juventus, the provincial club now also eliminated Bayern Munich.
To frame that feat, if the town’s entire population had been in the Allianz Arena, there would still have been 25,000 free seats. With barely 50,000 inhabitants, Villarreal last year crowned itself as the smallest city to ever win a European cup.
Until 1997, however, the club played in its weight class. It fluctuates as a lightweight between the Spanish fourth and second division, plays home matches in a dilapidated stadium and barely has one youth team.
Everything changes when Roig takes the helm.
At that time, his brother Juan is chairman of the great Valencia, but Fernando himself wants to set the sights at a club. In a small restaurant he announces the purchase of second division Villarreal for 250,000 euros during a press conference.
Roig would then pump a multiple into the club’s expansion. Not like many other club owners by immediately buying a handful of big and well-known names, but by smartly investing in scouting, youth work and accommodation.
modern fairytale
Success would follow almost immediately after the takeover. A year later, Villarreal was promoted to the Primera División for the first time in club history. Despite a small setback – the club is immediately relegated again – the ascent cannot be stopped.
After the big return, Villarreal settles into a handsome seventh place. In 2004, after Spain, Europe would also become acquainted with the ambitious club. Stars such as Martin Palermo and Juliano Belletti lead Villarreal to the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup.
Two years later under coach Manuel Pellegrini, things would be even tougher by pushing through to the last four in the Champions League, with Juan Román Riquelme, Santi Cazorla and Diego Forlan as big stars.
A modern fairytale.
Only, football would change at a rapid pace in the following years, with exotic investors not looking at a hundred million more or less.
Villarreal, however, remains faithful to its vision and aims for cast-offs from top clubs, supplemented with its own youth. The “Yellow Submarine” almost always manages to park in European places – only the unexpected relegation in 2012 is a blow.
Missed highlight
But the ambitious Fernando Roig dreams of more.
There should finally be a shiny trophy in the club’s empty trophy cabinet. With that goal in mind, he will bring success trainer Unai Emery to Villarreal in 2020.
The master tactician meets all expectations by guiding the provincial club to the final against superpower Manchester United. A popular celebration erupts after the penalty shootout has been won.
Who isn’t there at the pinnacle of club history?
Especially the architect.
Fernando Roig is forced to stay at home after a corona infection. And despite a negative test on match day, UEFA will not let him in.
Youth product Pau Torres dedicates the prize to his chairman afterwards – it says everything about his standing within the club.
It gnaws at Roig, who is determined to experience such a climax from the front row. So when the wealthy Saudis of Newcastle knock on the door for trainer Emery, the chairman keeps his leg up. He doesn’t sell his dreams for petrodollars.
Will it be fulfilled soon?
