Villarreal - 51,000 inhabitants
The Yellow Submarine is undoubtedly the best representative of small-town football. Since their promotion to the First Division in the 1998/1999 season, they have accumulated 24 seasons in the Spanish football's elite division. They were runners-up in 2007/2008, third in 2004/2005 and fourth on two occasions but the club's greatest achievements have taken place in Europe.
The club's main shareholder Fernando Roig is the owner of the ceramics company Pamesa and 9% of the supermarket chain Mercadona, which is run by his brother Juan.
His role is key to understanding the success of the Castellon club because, in addition to having brought in great stars of world football such as Juan Roman Riquelme and Diego Forlan, he has consolidated the club as a national reference both in the youth and first team.
His record in the Champions League could not be more successful. In the 2005/2006 season, after eliminating Everton in the qualifiers and advancing from a group with Benfica, Lille and Manchester United, they knocked Rangers and Inter out of the Champions League in the knockout stages. In the semi-finals, only a penalty missed by Riquelme in the second leg prevented them from reaching the final, which went to Arsenal.
That team also included players such as Juanpi Sorin, Marcos Senna, Diego Forlan, Alessio Tacchinardi and Jose Mari.
The club's second golden era has taken place recently. In the 2020/2021 season, Villarreal won their first major title: the Europa League.
After beating Salzburg, Dynamo Kyiv, Dinamo Zagreb and taking revenge on Arsenal in the semis, they defeated Manchester United in the final after a legendary penalty shoot-out that ended 11-10. Raul Albiol lifted the trophy with a team that also included Pau Torres, Dani Parejo, Manu Trigueros, Carlos Bacca and Gerard Moreno.
And only a year later they once again made the Champions League semi-finals. After knocking out European giants such as Juventus and Bayern in the last 16 and quarter-finals, Liverpool knocked them out in the penultimate round of the competition.
Sassuolo - 40,000 inhabitants
Sassuolo is currently owned by the industrial and building materials company Mapei, known for its sponsorship of cycling between 1993 and 2002.
It was in 2002 that Giorgio Squinzi (president of the industrial group who passed away in 2019) decided to take over the club and completely change its history, without doing anything too crazy and in a progressive manner.
Sassuolo has been playing outside its home for a long time. When they were promoted to Serie B in 2008, they moved to the Alberto Braglia in Modena. And with their historic promotion to Serie A in the 2012/2013 season they moved to the Stadio Citta del Tricolore in Reggio Emilia, which is now called the Mapei Stadium.
Since their promotion to the top division of Italian football, they have managed to establish themselves and have now accumulated 11 consecutive seasons in Serie A. In the 2016/2017 season, they participated in the Europa League for the first time.
In fact, they defeated Athletic Bilbao 3-0 in the opening match, although they were unable to get past a group stage that also included Genk and Rapid Vienna.
The club's greatest star is Domenico Berardi - he is the club's all-time top scorer and a key part of the Italian national side. But the club has also established itself as a great developer of players who go on to play for the big clubs in Serie A and end up making a name for themselves elsewhere. This is the case for Manuel Locatelli, Francesco Acerbi, Stefano Sensi, Giacomo Raspadori and Gianluca Scamacca.
Their reputation as giant killers has grown this season, as they have beaten both Juventus (4-2) at home and Inter (1-2) away.
Monaco - 38,000 inhabitants
Although Monaco is a city-state known the world over for its casino, its royal family and its Formula One circuit, it only has a population of less than 50,000 people.
Its football club, 66.67% owned by Dimitri Rybolovlev, has an extensive track record. They are eight times Ligue 1 champions in France and five times winners of the French Cup and they have come close to winning European titles on two occasions.
In 1992, a team that included Emanuel Petit, Lilian Thuram, Youri Djorkaeff and George Weah lost in the Cup Winners' Cup final to Werder Bremen. In 2004, after eliminating Manchester United, Lyon and Deportivo La Coruna, they reached the Champions League final against the odds. They lost to Jose Mourinho's Porto in the final. That team, coached by Didier Deschamps, had Fernando Morientes, Patrice Evra, Ludovic Giuly and Emmanuel Adebayor in it.
Over the course of their history, Monaco have produced renowned players such as Thierry Henry, David Trezeguet, Kylian Mbappe and Aurelien Tchouameni.
Mechelen - 86,000 inhabitants
Mechelen is a club that is currently fighting for survival in the Belgian Jupiler Pro League but had its breakthrough in European football in the 1980s.
In the 87/88 season, they won the Cup Winners' Cup after beating Dinamo Bucharest, Saint Mirren, Dinamo Minsk and Atalanta to reach the final. In the deciding match, a goal from Piet Den Boer brought glory to the Flemish club. The Dutchman was the leader of a team that also featured Israel's Eli Ohana and Michel Preud'homme in goal.
The following season they added another continental title to their trophy cabinet as they beat then-European champions PSV Eindhoven in a two-legged Super Cup final - 3-1 to Mechelen in the Netherlands, 1-0 to PSV in the Netherlands.
