Valencia CF
Los Che · Valencia, Valencian Community · LaLiga EA Sports
A superclub-sized fanbase, a mid-table budget, and the longest-running stadium saga in Europe.
The club
Founded in March 1919 and playing at Mestalla since 1923. Valencia have won LaLiga six times and the Copa del Rey eight, and reached consecutive Champions League finals in 2000 and 2001, losing both. Work on the replacement Nou Mestalla, abandoned in 2009, has restarted with a target of 2027–28 and a planned capacity above 70,000. Mestalla's steep stands remain among the most intimidating in Spain, which is part of why replacing it has taken so long.
Things worth knowing
- Lost the 2000 final to Real Madrid and the 2001 final to Bayern on penalties, the only club to lose two European Cup finals in a row this century.
- Mestalla was destroyed by the Turia flood of October 1957 and rebuilt, gaining floodlights two years later.
- DC Comics formally opposed the club's 2013 centenary bat crest, arguing it was too close to Batman's.
- The club recorded €323m of losses across six seasons under Peter Lim's ownership.
