Valencia Club de Fútbol (also known as Valencia or Los Che) is a
Spanish professional football club based in Valencia. They play in La
Liga and are one of the most successful and biggest clubs in Spanish
football. Valencia have won six La Liga titles, seven Copa del Rey
trophies, one UEFA Cup, two Fairs Cups, one UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, two
UEFA Super Cups and two Spanish Super Cups. They have also reached two
UEFA Champions League finals in a row, losing to La Liga rivals Real
Madrid in 2000 and German club Bayern Munich in 2001. Valencia were
also members of the G-14 group of leading European football clubs.
In the all-time La Liga table, Valencia is in 4th position behind Real
Madrid, FC Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao. In terms of international
titles, Valencia is 3rd behind Real Madrid and Barcelona, these three
being the only Spanish clubs to have won more than five international
trophies.
Valencia were founded in 1919, and have played their home games at the
55,000-seater Estadio Mestalla since 1923. They are soon to move into
the 75,000-seater Nou Mestalla in the north-west of the city in 2009.
Valencia have a long-standing rivalry with Levante, also located in
Valencia, and with another club in the Valencian Community region,
Villarreal.
Valencia is the third most popular football team in Spain, only behind
Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. It is also one of the biggest clubs in
the world in terms of number of associates (registered paying
supporters), with more than 50,000 season ticket holders and another
20,000+ season ticket holders on the waiting list, which will come into
effect once the new 75,000-seater stadium is built .
Valencia started the 1999-2000 season by winning another title, the
Spanish Super Cup, beating FC Barcelona. Valencia finished third in the
league, behind the champions, Deportivo and level on points with second
placed Barcelona. But the biggest success was in the UEFA Champions
League, for the first time in its history Valencia reached the European
Cup final. However, in the final played in Paris on May 24, 2000, Real
Madrid beat Valencia 3-0.
It was also Claudio López's farewell, as he had agreed to sign for the
Italian side Lazio. Also leaving was Farinós for Inter and Gerard for
Barcelona. The notable signings of that summer were the Uruguayan Diego
Alonso, the Norwegian John Carew, Rubén Baraja from Atletico Madrid,
the Argentine Roberto Ayala and the Brazilian left back Fabio Aurelio.
Valencia started the championship on the right foot and were top after
10 games, after the Christmas break Valencia started to pay for the top
demand that such an absorbing competition like the Champions League
requires. After passing the two mini-league phases, Cúper's team
eliminated Arsenal FC in quarter finals and Leeds United in the semi-
finals, and got ready to face Bayern Munich in the big final, Valencia
had now reached two European Cup finals in a row. This time the final
was to be played in Milan and at the San Siro, on 23 May. Gaizka
Mendieta gave Valencia the lead by scoring from the penalty spot right
at the start of the match, Cañizares then stopped a penalty from Mehmet
Scholl, but Stefan Effenberg drew level after the break thanks to
another penalty. After extra time, it was a penalty shoot-out to decide
who would be European champions Valencia or Bayern Munich. Mauricio
Pellegrino was the man who missed to give Bayern European glory and
Valencia heartbreak for the second season running in the biggest game
in club football. For Valencia it was difficult to recover from the
blow in Milan, it culminated in Valencia finishing 5th in La Liga and
out of the Champions League for the 2001-2002 season.
The president D. Pedro Cortés resigned due to personal reasons and left
the club in July, with the satisfaction of having won the King’s Cup,
one Spanish Super Cup and having been runners up in two Champions
League finals in a row. D. Jaime Ortí replaced him as president and
expressed his intention on maintaining the good form that had made the
club so admired on the European circuit. There were also some changes
in the team and staff, Rafa Benítez, after helping Tenerife to
promotion, replaced Héctor Cúper after the latter became the new coach
at Inter Milan. Among the footballers, Mendieta, Deschamps, Milla,
Zahovic and Gerard left, and Marchena, Mista, Curro Torres, Rufete, De
los Santos and Salva arrived.
From 1999 up until the end of the 2004 season, Valencia had one of the
their most successful periods in the club's history. With a total of 2
La Liga titles, 1 UEFA Cup, 1 Copa del Rey and 1 UEFA Super Cup, in
those six years, no less than five first class titles and two UEFA
Champions League finals had been achieved.
During Valencia's domestic and european dominance of the Noughties,
Argentine Roberto Ayala had been a key component in their defence.The
2001/02 season brought Valencia a La Liga title, thirty-one years after
the last title crown. There were new incorporations to the team, the
manager Rafa Benítez and the new players; Marchena, Mista, Curro
Torres, Rufete, De los Santos and Salva.
That first game against fellow title rivals Real Madrid, produced a
significant and important victory. This was followed by a record of
eleven games won consecutively, breaking the existing one set in the
1970/71 season, the season they had last won the La Liga title under
Alfredo Di Stefano.
After a defeat in La Coruña against Deportivo on the 9 December 2001,
the team had to win against Espanyol in the Montjuic stadium to prevent
falling further behind the league leaders. Valencia were 2-0 down at
half time, but a comeback in the second half saw Valencia win 3-2.
In the second part of the season, Benítez's team suffered a small
setback after losing 1-0 in the Santiago Bernabéu to Real Madrid, but
they recovered from this setback and achieved four victories and two
draws in the following six games. The games against Las Palmas,
Athletic de Bilbao, Alavés, Real Zaragoza and Barcelona.
In one of those crucial games they would come up against Espanyol,
Valencia were trailing 1-0 half-time and a man down too with the
dismissal of Carboni, but after two goals from Baraja, Valencia
achieved a 2-1 victory. Furthermore, Real Madrid's defeat in Anoeta to
Real Sociedad left Valencia with a three-point lead at the top of the
table.
The final game of the season was at La Rosaleda to face Malaga, on 5
May 2002, a date that has gone down in Valencia’s history. The team
shut itself away in Benalmádena, close to the scene of the game, in
order to gain focus. An early goal from Ayala and another close to
half-time from Fabio Aurelio, assured them their fifth La Liga title.
Thirty-one years after their last title win.
The 2002-2003 season was a disappointing one for Valencia, they failed
in their attempt to retain the La Liga title and ended up outside of
the Champions League spots in 5th behind Celta Vigo, they were also
knocked out in the quarter-finals of the Champions League by Inter
Milan on away goals. However, in the 2003-2004 season Valencia were
champions again beating Real Madrid once again to the title. The club
added the UEFA Cup to this success. Valencia had now been La Liga
champions twice in three seasons.
In the summer of 2004, coach Rafa Benitez decided to leave the club
stating he had had problems with the club president, he would soon
become manager of Liverpool FC. He was replaced by former Valencia
coach Claudio Ranieri who had recently been sacked by Chelsea FC.
However, his second reign at the club was a disappointment, Valencia
harboured realistic hopes of retaining their La Liga crown but by
February found themselves in 7th place, Valencia had also been knocked
out of the Champions League group phase, Ranieri was promptly sacked in
February. The 2004-2005 season ended with Valencia outside of the UEFA
Cup spots.
In the summer of 2005, Getafe coach Quique Sanchez Flores was appointed
as the new manager of Valencia, he ended the season in 3rd place, which
in turn gained Valencia a place in the Champions League after a season
away from the competition. The 2006/2007 season was a season with many
difficulties, a season which started with realistic hopes of
challenging for La Liga was disrupted with a huge list of injuries to
key players and internal arguments between Flores and new Sporting
Director, Amedeo Carboni. Valencia ended the season in 4th place and
were knocked out of the Champions League at the quarter-finals stage by
Chelsea 3-2 on aggregate, after knocking out Italian champions Inter
Milan in the second round. In the summer of 2007, the internal fight
between Flores and Carboni was settled with Carboni being replaced by
Angel Ruiz as the new Sporting Director of Valencia.
On 29 October 2007, the Valencia board of directors fired Flores after
a string of disappointing performances and caretaker manager Óscar Rub
én Fernández took over on a temporary basis until a full-time manager
was found, rumoured to be either Marcello Lippi or Jose Mourinho. A day
later, Dutch manager Ronald Koeman announced he would be leaving PSV
Eindhoven to sign for Valencia. But there was still no improvement, in
fact, Valencia even went on to drop to the 15th position in the league,
just two points above the relegation zone. Although on 16th April 2008,
Valencia lifted the Copa del Rey with a 3-1 victory over Getafe CF at
the Vicente Calderon, this was the club's 7th Copa title. Five days
later, one day after a devastating 5-1 league defeat in Bilbao,
Valencia fired Ronald Koeman and replaced him with Voro who would guide
Valencia as Caretaker Manager for the rest of the season, he went on to
win the first game since the sacking of Koeman, beating Osasuna 3-0 in
his first game in charge. Voro would eventually drag Valencia from the
relegation battle to a safe mid-table finish of 10th place, finally
ending a disastrous league campaign for Los Che. Highly-rated Unai
Emery was announced as the new manager of Valencia on 22 May 2008.
Spanish professional football club based in Valencia. They play in La
Liga and are one of the most successful and biggest clubs in Spanish
football. Valencia have won six La Liga titles, seven Copa del Rey
trophies, one UEFA Cup, two Fairs Cups, one UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, two
UEFA Super Cups and two Spanish Super Cups. They have also reached two
UEFA Champions League finals in a row, losing to La Liga rivals Real
Madrid in 2000 and German club Bayern Munich in 2001. Valencia were
also members of the G-14 group of leading European football clubs.
In the all-time La Liga table, Valencia is in 4th position behind Real
Madrid, FC Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao. In terms of international
titles, Valencia is 3rd behind Real Madrid and Barcelona, these three
being the only Spanish clubs to have won more than five international
trophies.
Valencia were founded in 1919, and have played their home games at the
55,000-seater Estadio Mestalla since 1923. They are soon to move into
the 75,000-seater Nou Mestalla in the north-west of the city in 2009.
Valencia have a long-standing rivalry with Levante, also located in
Valencia, and with another club in the Valencian Community region,
Villarreal.
Valencia is the third most popular football team in Spain, only behind
Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. It is also one of the biggest clubs in
the world in terms of number of associates (registered paying
supporters), with more than 50,000 season ticket holders and another
20,000+ season ticket holders on the waiting list, which will come into
effect once the new 75,000-seater stadium is built .
Valencia started the 1999-2000 season by winning another title, the
Spanish Super Cup, beating FC Barcelona. Valencia finished third in the
league, behind the champions, Deportivo and level on points with second
placed Barcelona. But the biggest success was in the UEFA Champions
League, for the first time in its history Valencia reached the European
Cup final. However, in the final played in Paris on May 24, 2000, Real
Madrid beat Valencia 3-0.
It was also Claudio López's farewell, as he had agreed to sign for the
Italian side Lazio. Also leaving was Farinós for Inter and Gerard for
Barcelona. The notable signings of that summer were the Uruguayan Diego
Alonso, the Norwegian John Carew, Rubén Baraja from Atletico Madrid,
the Argentine Roberto Ayala and the Brazilian left back Fabio Aurelio.
Valencia started the championship on the right foot and were top after
10 games, after the Christmas break Valencia started to pay for the top
demand that such an absorbing competition like the Champions League
requires. After passing the two mini-league phases, Cúper's team
eliminated Arsenal FC in quarter finals and Leeds United in the semi-
finals, and got ready to face Bayern Munich in the big final, Valencia
had now reached two European Cup finals in a row. This time the final
was to be played in Milan and at the San Siro, on 23 May. Gaizka
Mendieta gave Valencia the lead by scoring from the penalty spot right
at the start of the match, Cañizares then stopped a penalty from Mehmet
Scholl, but Stefan Effenberg drew level after the break thanks to
another penalty. After extra time, it was a penalty shoot-out to decide
who would be European champions Valencia or Bayern Munich. Mauricio
Pellegrino was the man who missed to give Bayern European glory and
Valencia heartbreak for the second season running in the biggest game
in club football. For Valencia it was difficult to recover from the
blow in Milan, it culminated in Valencia finishing 5th in La Liga and
out of the Champions League for the 2001-2002 season.
The president D. Pedro Cortés resigned due to personal reasons and left
the club in July, with the satisfaction of having won the King’s Cup,
one Spanish Super Cup and having been runners up in two Champions
League finals in a row. D. Jaime Ortí replaced him as president and
expressed his intention on maintaining the good form that had made the
club so admired on the European circuit. There were also some changes
in the team and staff, Rafa Benítez, after helping Tenerife to
promotion, replaced Héctor Cúper after the latter became the new coach
at Inter Milan. Among the footballers, Mendieta, Deschamps, Milla,
Zahovic and Gerard left, and Marchena, Mista, Curro Torres, Rufete, De
los Santos and Salva arrived.
From 1999 up until the end of the 2004 season, Valencia had one of the
their most successful periods in the club's history. With a total of 2
La Liga titles, 1 UEFA Cup, 1 Copa del Rey and 1 UEFA Super Cup, in
those six years, no less than five first class titles and two UEFA
Champions League finals had been achieved.
During Valencia's domestic and european dominance of the Noughties,
Argentine Roberto Ayala had been a key component in their defence.The
2001/02 season brought Valencia a La Liga title, thirty-one years after
the last title crown. There were new incorporations to the team, the
manager Rafa Benítez and the new players; Marchena, Mista, Curro
Torres, Rufete, De los Santos and Salva.
That first game against fellow title rivals Real Madrid, produced a
significant and important victory. This was followed by a record of
eleven games won consecutively, breaking the existing one set in the
1970/71 season, the season they had last won the La Liga title under
Alfredo Di Stefano.
After a defeat in La Coruña against Deportivo on the 9 December 2001,
the team had to win against Espanyol in the Montjuic stadium to prevent
falling further behind the league leaders. Valencia were 2-0 down at
half time, but a comeback in the second half saw Valencia win 3-2.
In the second part of the season, Benítez's team suffered a small
setback after losing 1-0 in the Santiago Bernabéu to Real Madrid, but
they recovered from this setback and achieved four victories and two
draws in the following six games. The games against Las Palmas,
Athletic de Bilbao, Alavés, Real Zaragoza and Barcelona.
In one of those crucial games they would come up against Espanyol,
Valencia were trailing 1-0 half-time and a man down too with the
dismissal of Carboni, but after two goals from Baraja, Valencia
achieved a 2-1 victory. Furthermore, Real Madrid's defeat in Anoeta to
Real Sociedad left Valencia with a three-point lead at the top of the
table.
The final game of the season was at La Rosaleda to face Malaga, on 5
May 2002, a date that has gone down in Valencia’s history. The team
shut itself away in Benalmádena, close to the scene of the game, in
order to gain focus. An early goal from Ayala and another close to
half-time from Fabio Aurelio, assured them their fifth La Liga title.
Thirty-one years after their last title win.
The 2002-2003 season was a disappointing one for Valencia, they failed
in their attempt to retain the La Liga title and ended up outside of
the Champions League spots in 5th behind Celta Vigo, they were also
knocked out in the quarter-finals of the Champions League by Inter
Milan on away goals. However, in the 2003-2004 season Valencia were
champions again beating Real Madrid once again to the title. The club
added the UEFA Cup to this success. Valencia had now been La Liga
champions twice in three seasons.
In the summer of 2004, coach Rafa Benitez decided to leave the club
stating he had had problems with the club president, he would soon
become manager of Liverpool FC. He was replaced by former Valencia
coach Claudio Ranieri who had recently been sacked by Chelsea FC.
However, his second reign at the club was a disappointment, Valencia
harboured realistic hopes of retaining their La Liga crown but by
February found themselves in 7th place, Valencia had also been knocked
out of the Champions League group phase, Ranieri was promptly sacked in
February. The 2004-2005 season ended with Valencia outside of the UEFA
Cup spots.
In the summer of 2005, Getafe coach Quique Sanchez Flores was appointed
as the new manager of Valencia, he ended the season in 3rd place, which
in turn gained Valencia a place in the Champions League after a season
away from the competition. The 2006/2007 season was a season with many
difficulties, a season which started with realistic hopes of
challenging for La Liga was disrupted with a huge list of injuries to
key players and internal arguments between Flores and new Sporting
Director, Amedeo Carboni. Valencia ended the season in 4th place and
were knocked out of the Champions League at the quarter-finals stage by
Chelsea 3-2 on aggregate, after knocking out Italian champions Inter
Milan in the second round. In the summer of 2007, the internal fight
between Flores and Carboni was settled with Carboni being replaced by
Angel Ruiz as the new Sporting Director of Valencia.
On 29 October 2007, the Valencia board of directors fired Flores after
a string of disappointing performances and caretaker manager Óscar Rub
én Fernández took over on a temporary basis until a full-time manager
was found, rumoured to be either Marcello Lippi or Jose Mourinho. A day
later, Dutch manager Ronald Koeman announced he would be leaving PSV
Eindhoven to sign for Valencia. But there was still no improvement, in
fact, Valencia even went on to drop to the 15th position in the league,
just two points above the relegation zone. Although on 16th April 2008,
Valencia lifted the Copa del Rey with a 3-1 victory over Getafe CF at
the Vicente Calderon, this was the club's 7th Copa title. Five days
later, one day after a devastating 5-1 league defeat in Bilbao,
Valencia fired Ronald Koeman and replaced him with Voro who would guide
Valencia as Caretaker Manager for the rest of the season, he went on to
win the first game since the sacking of Koeman, beating Osasuna 3-0 in
his first game in charge. Voro would eventually drag Valencia from the
relegation battle to a safe mid-table finish of 10th place, finally
ending a disastrous league campaign for Los Che. Highly-rated Unai
Emery was announced as the new manager of Valencia on 22 May 2008.
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