Villa visit Villarreal in final pre-season outing

Aston Villa conclude their 2025/26 pre-season campaign on Sunday evening, travelling to the south of Spain to take on Villarreal.

Action at Estadio de la Cerámica is set to get underway at 8pm BST (9pm local time) against the La Liga outfit, with Unai Emery pitting his players up against his former side.

It’s the second fixture in the final weekend before the Premier league campaign begins for the Villans, after a hotly-contested 3-1 defeat in France against Marseille on Saturday night.

For Emery, it’s a return to the club where he served just over two years in charge between 2020 and 2022, guiding El Submarino Amarillo (The Yellow Submarine) to a first European title in 2021, winning the Europa League, and the semi-finals of the Champions League the following campaign.

The game provides the Villa boss with the opportunity to get match minutes into the legs of his players for the final time this pre-season, before Newcastle United visit Villa Park next Saturday in their first outing of the Premier League campaign (ko 12.30pm).

The opposition

Currently coached by Marcelino, who is in his second spell in charge of the club, Villarreal will compete in the 2025/26 Champions League, after a fifth-placed finish in La Liga last season.

They recently celebrated their centenary year, having formed in 1923, and were crowned Europa League champions almost 100 years later in 2021, under Unai Emery.

Like Villa, this will be their final pre-season outing before opening their La Liga campaign up at home to Real Oviedo next Friday.

They have already faced two English sides since 2024/25 ceased, drawing 1-1 at Leeds United on August 2, before a thrilling 3-2 victory over Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium in midweek.

The venue

Home to Villarreal since opening in 1923, Estadio de la Cerámica is a UEFA top-flight stadium with four-star ranking.

Holding 23,500 spectators, it was renovated in 2005 following Villarreal’s qualification for the Champions League, then again more recently in 2022.

It sits less than 40 miles north of Valencia’s Mestalla, and has hosted international football with the Spanish national team in the past.

How to follow

The match will be streamed live on VillaTV via Memberships and Match Passes.

Adult and Video members have had access to every pre-season match as part of their membership – bringing you closer to the action as we build up to the 2025/26 campaign. For more information, click here.

Supporters will also be able to follow all the usual match updates for all friendlies across the club’s official digital channels.