2008/09: Villarreal B Team Promoted to the Second Division
The 2008/09 season would be a historic one for Villarreal CF as the Reserve team would finally get their reward after many years of work. The Villarreal B team won promotion to the Second Division (Segunda División) of Spanish football in a campaign to remember. They were leaders for the majority of the season and just gave up the top spot in the last two games. Their numbers were record breaking: with only 10 losses (7 of those away from home) and 73 goals for, which made them the highest goal scoring team in the league. And they achieved all of this while playing a surprisingly high quality of football for such a young squad. The Yellows finally secured promotion after playing in the promotion playoffs, which consisted of three ties.
Promotion Playoffs
Quarter-finals
- 17/5/2009: Zamora CF 0-2 Villarreal B (own goals by Matilla and Berodia).
- 24/5/2009: Villarreal B 2–0 Zamora CF (goals by Chando and Joan Tomás (penalty)).
Semi-finals
- 31/5/2009: Villarreal B 1-0 Lorca Deportiva CF (goal by Gerard Bordas)
- 7/6/2009: Lorca Deportiva CF 2-3 Villarreal B (goals by Cristóbal (2) and Joan Tomás).
Final
- 14/6/2009: Villarreal 0-0 Real Jaén CF
- 21/6/2009: Real Jaén CF 1-2 Villarreal B (goals by Gerard Bordas and Chando).
Squad
Gerard Bordas, Eduard Caballer, Javier Costa, Vicente Flor, Marcos Gullón, Víctor Herrero, Constantino Ibarra ‘Nino’, David Lázaro, Javier Magro Matilla, Cristóbal Márquez, Francisco Montañés, Francisco José ‘Kiko’ Olivas, Joan Oriol, Jordi Pablo, Feliciano Prudencio de Assunçao, Juan Carlos Sánchez, Joan Tomás and Alejandro Torres ‘Chando’.
Great performance in the silver flight
The Reserve team played three magnificent seasons in the Second Division, playing with talented youths, many of whom would subsequently go on to play in the First Team. The first season was the best (2010/11), as they were on the doorstep of making the playoffs, which they narrowly missed out on, finishing in seventh position with 61 points (18 wins, 9 draws and 15 losses). In the second campaign they managed to guarantee they would stay up in the final stretch of the season and, in the third, even after finishing mid-table (12th) with 52 points (14 wins, 10 draws and 18 losses) they had to go down to the Second Division B once again due to the fact that the First team were being relegated to the Second Division.
