Villarreal FC's first Liga home match ticket sales will go towards refugee aid

The home match which kicks off the season will see the Castellón province-based team up against Athletic Club next Sunday from 18.15hrs.

In an open letter, Villarreal FC expresses its 'frustration and profound sadness' for the 'pain, anxiety and suffering of millions of Syrians' who 'regrettably, have to flee their country desperately in order to survive'.

“After over four years of civil war in Syria, millions of people – more than half of them children – have had to abandon their homes and everything they own in order to seek safety in other countries,” the missive reads.

“The Syrian refugee emergency is one of the greatest humanitarian crises of our time, and the needs of these families are increasing, due to escalating violence that has affected their country since 2011 and which has risen to unprecedented levels of cruelty and brutality.”

As a result, their first premier league match of the season, played at home in the El Madrigal stadium in Villarreal, will be a fund-raiser for refugees, the club says.

All sales of tickets to watch them play will go to charities in Spain working to help Syrians fleeing their conflict-stricken country – a tourist destination and mostly reasonably affluent until the Arab Spring of 2011, anyone who stays there risks torture, rape, shooting, barrel bombs, air strikes and chemical weapons.

Entire homes have been destroyed and families wiped out.

One woman says she left her house and her country, with the lights still switched on at home and the fridge full of food.