A recent article in the local EPM newspaper gave the details on the 19,000+ season ticket holders (‘socios’) of Villarreal CF. I know some refer to Villarreal as the “village team” in derisory fashion, but for Villarreal the ‘village’ moniker is something of a badge of honor. And it’s certainly true that when it comes to fan support, Villarreal’s fan base is intensely local/regional.
Total number of season ticket holders: 19, 072, of which:
Castellón Province 18,337
Rest of Spain 728
(this number includes 421 from the Valencia region and 134 from Tarragona, the two regions closest to Castellón).
Outside Spain 7
Of the Castellon province number, 10,515 are from Vila-real itself (so roughly 20% of the population holds a season ticket), 2,414 from Castellon city, with Almassora (739), Burriana (697) and Onda (599) next. These are all towns of 25-30,000 population close to Vila-real.
Of course, in addition to the season ticket holders, there are those of us who live far away and can only make occasional trips, which brings me to the photo. The cat in the suitcase is Luther, who evidently wanted to come with me to Liverpool when we played last May (he had to stay at home and watch the match with my wife, though!) Luther passed away yesterday at age 20; we’ll miss him!