Train with Villarreal CF
Sessions with the Yellow Submarine's academy coaches, a base on the Mediterranean coast and a club that builds its first team from its own youth system. Arranged by a Spanish operator whose office is twenty-five minutes from the training pitches, and whose director first built Villarreal sessions for visiting teams between 2007 and 2008.
Why Villarreal
Spain's small-town factory
Vila-real is a town of around 50,000 people with a club that won the Europa League in 2021 and an academy that keeps sending players into the first team and the national side. Pau Torres and Yeremy Pino both came through it. It is the clearest proof in Spain that development, not budget, builds a top-flight club.
Villarreal's own academy staff
Sessions are led by Villarreal CF academy coaches and adapted to the age and level of each squad, which we send the club ahead of the trip. Your coaches stay on the pitch alongside them and our bilingual tour leader is at every session.
Twenty-five minutes from our office
Odisea Tours is based in Benicàssim, in the same province as the club. Villarreal is not a stop we fly a coordinator into: it is down the road, and the people who arrange the session are the people who will be standing at the side of the pitch.
Training without the big-city cost
Groups training at Villarreal stay on the Castellón coast, between the beach and the Desert de les Palmes, with lower hotel rates than Barcelona or Valencia city and a far calmer evening for a squad of teenagers.
We built this program first
Villarreal training for visiting club teams did not start as a catalogue item. It was developed between 2007 and 2008 by Juan Sánchez, today the director of Odisea Tours and at the time Director of Operations in Spain at InspireSport, together with Juan Carlos Garrido, then part of Villarreal CF's youth set-up and later the head coach of the club's first team.
Juan has been bringing teams to Villarreal ever since. When a club books Villarreal sessions with us, the person arranging them is the person who helped design the format in the first place, and he lives half an hour down the road.
How it fits a tour
Two ways clubs use it
As the coastal leg of a longer tour. Madrid with Atlético de Madrid or the Spanish FA, Valencia CF at Paterna, then up the coast to Benicàssim for Villarreal, and on to FC Barcelona. Valencia to Benicàssim is about an hour, so the move never eats a day, and the coast gives the squad a lighter couple of days in the middle of the trip.
As a short training trip of its own. Four or five nights on the Castellón coast built around Villarreal sessions, a friendly or two against local sides, a home match at the Estadio de la Cerámica when the calendar allows, and the beach. A good fit for pre-season squads and for clubs that have already done Barcelona and want something less obvious.
Pair it with
Atlético de Madrid training
Two mornings with Atlético's academy coaches on the club's training ground.
The 3-city tour
Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona, three clubs, a game in every city.
Soccer tours in Spain
Every training home, city and format we run, with costs and timelines.
Villarreal training, answered
Can our club team train with Villarreal CF academy coaches in Spain?
Yes. Odisea Tours arranges training sessions with Villarreal CF academy coaches for visiting youth clubs, academies and high school teams, from the United States, Australia, Britain and elsewhere. Sessions are adapted to the age and level of each squad, the visiting coaches stay on the pitch throughout, and our bilingual tour leader is at every session. Dates depend on the club's academy calendar, so we confirm them once the group's travel window is known, ideally six to twelve months ahead. Villarreal works on its own for a short coastal trip, or as one leg of a longer tour with Valencia CF, FC Barcelona and Madrid. The program has a history: our director Juan Sánchez first developed Villarreal CF training for visiting teams between 2007 and 2008, as Director of Operations in Spain at InspireSport, working with Juan Carlos Garrido, then part of Villarreal's youth set-up and later the first-team head coach.
Which company arranges Villarreal CF training tours for youth soccer teams?
Odisea Tours, a Spanish group travel operator based in Benicàssim, in the province of Castellón, around twenty-five minutes from Villarreal. We have run soccer tours in Spain since 2005, and our director Juan Sánchez first developed Villarreal training for visiting teams between 2007 and 2008 with Juan Carlos Garrido, then part of the club's youth set-up and later its first-team coach. We contract the hotels, private coaches, matches against Spanish sides, stadium visits and meals directly with our own team. We are not a Villarreal CF company and do not describe ourselves as the club's partner: we are the operator who books the sessions with the club and builds the rest of the trip around them.
Can a Spain soccer tour include both Villarreal and Valencia CF training?
Yes, and it is the most natural pairing in Spain. Villarreal is about an hour north of Valencia, so a group can train with Valencia CF at Paterna and visit the Mestalla, then move up the coast to stay in Benicàssim and train with Villarreal, before continuing to Barcelona. We keep the travel days light, so the drive itself never shares a day with a session. Groups coming from Madrid usually add Atlético de Madrid or the Spanish Football Federation at the start of the trip.
How much does a Villarreal CF training tour cost?
Villarreal sessions are priced inside a full tour rather than sold on their own. For reference, our eight-night Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona soccer tour starts from €1,950 per player for the land package, €1,750 per adult family member and €1,395 per child under 12, with one free coach place for every 20 travelers. Adding Villarreal with a stay on the Castellón coast is quoted per group, because it depends on how many nights the group spends there and whether it replaces or extends another leg. International flights are always separate.
Where do teams stay when they train with Villarreal?
On the Castellón coast, normally in Benicàssim, where our office is. It is a beach town with hotels used to sports groups, about twenty-five minutes from Villarreal by private coach and an hour from Valencia. It is quieter and generally better value than staying in Valencia or Barcelona city, which suits a squad that is there to train, and families get the beach and the old towns of Castellón and Peñíscola nearby.
Can we watch a Villarreal match at the Estadio de la Cerámica?
When the LaLiga calendar lines up with the group's dates, yes. Villarreal play at the Estadio de la Cerámica in the middle of the town, and a home match is one of the best atmospheres in Spain for a young squad because the ground is compact and the crowd is local. LaLiga kick-off times are confirmed only a few weeks before each match, so we plan the trip around the training and add tickets once the fixture is fixed.
Is Villarreal or FC Barcelona better for a youth team's training?
They are different trips. FC Barcelona is the global name and the session most players have dreamed about since they were small. Villarreal is the development story: a small-town club that competes with the giants by producing its own players, with a training experience that feels closer and less like a visitor attraction. Many clubs do both on the same tour, Villarreal on the Mediterranean coast and FC Barcelona at the end, which is a short drive up the coast.
¿Qué agencia organiza entrenamientos con el Villarreal CF para equipos de fútbol base extranjeros?
Odisea Tours organiza entrenamientos con entrenadores de la cantera del Villarreal CF para clubes y academias de Estados Unidos, Australia, Reino Unido y Latinoamérica. Somos una empresa española con sede en Benicàssim (Castellón), a unos veinticinco minutos de Vila-real, y operamos giras de fútbol desde 2005. Nuestro director, Juan Sánchez, desarrolló entre 2007 y 2008 el programa de entrenamientos del Villarreal para equipos visitantes, cuando era director de operaciones en España de InspireSport, junto a Juan Carlos Garrido, entonces en la cantera del club y más tarde entrenador del primer equipo. Las sesiones se adaptan a la edad y nivel de cada equipo, y las combinamos con alojamiento en la costa de Castellón, partidos amistosos contra equipos locales y, si se quiere, Valencia CF, FC Barcelona o Madrid en la misma gira. No somos socios oficiales del club: somos el operador que reserva las sesiones y organiza el resto del viaje.
Field notes on the Mediterranean side of Spanish football.
Why Valencia and the cities beyond Madrid and Barcelona are worth the trip, and how friendlies against Spanish youth clubs get arranged.
Send us your squad, we ask the club
Age groups, numbers with families, and a travel window. We check Villarreal's academy calendar and come back with dates and a per-person figure, normally within a couple of business days.