The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup , sometimes referred to as the European Fairs Cup , Fairs Cities' Cup , or simply as the Fairs Cup , was a European football competition played between 1955 and 1971. It is considered the predecessor to the UEFA Cup (now the UEFA Europa League). The competition was the idea of FIFA vice-president and executive committee member Ernst Thommen , Italian Football Federation president and FIFA executive committee member Ottorino Barassi , and the English Football Association general secretary, Stanley Rous , who later became an executive committee member and vice-president of UEFA (1958–1961) and president of FIFA (1961–1974). As the name suggests, the competition was set up to promote international trade fairs . Friendly games were regularly held between teams from cities holding trade fairs and it was from these games that the competition evolved. Initially, the competition was only open to cities that hosted trade fairs, and where the cities' clubs finished in their national league had no relevance. Early competitions also featured a "one city, one team" rule, with some teams selected from multiple clubs.
83-563: VCF may refer to: Organizations [ edit ] Valencia CF , a Spanish professional football club in Valencia Victory (church) (formerly VCF), an evangelical Protestant church based in the Philippines Technology [ edit ] Variant Call Format , the format of a text file used in bioinformatics for storing gene sequence variations vCard ,
166-511: A club. A restructuring of Mestalla resulted in an increase in spectator capacity to 45,000, while the club had a number of Spanish and foreign stars. Players such as Spanish international Antonio Puchades and Dutch forward Faas Wilkes graced the pitch at Mestalla. In the 1952–53 season, the club finished as runners-up in La Liga, and in the following season, won the Copa del Rey, then known as
249-477: A comeback in the second half saw them win 3–2. In the second part of the season, Benítez's team suffered a temporary setback after losing 1–0 at the Santiago Bernabéu to Real Madrid, but in the coming six matches they recovered from this defeat and achieved four victories and two draws. [REDACTED] In one of these crucial games against Espanyol, Valencia were trailing 1–0 at half-time and down
332-417: A disappointing season, Valencia was in 17th place and faced relegation with seven games left to play. Koldo Aguirre replaced Miljanić as coach, and Valencia barely avoided relegation that year, relying on favorable results from other teams to ensure their own survival. In the 1983–84 and 1984–85 seasons, the club was heavily in debt under the presidency of Vicente Tormo. The club finally hit rock bottom when it
415-423: A dramatic final week where they defeated Granada 4–0. On 2 July 2015, Amadeo Salvo resigned from his post as the executive president of Valencia, citing personal reasons. He was a popular figure among the fans. On 10 August 2015, Nicolás Otamendi was sold to Manchester City for £32 million and Aymen Abdennour was signed from Monaco for £22 million as his replacement. Valencia defeated Monaco in
498-599: A file format standard for electronic business cards Virtual Case File , a software application developed by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation VMware Cloud Foundation, an infrastructure platform for hybrid cloud management of the VMware Infrastructure product line Voltage-controlled filter , an electronic filter whose operating characteristics can be set by an input control voltage Volume correction factor ,
581-485: A group stage and also featured some city representative teams instead of clubs. The eventual finalists were the city of Barcelona , dubbed Barcelona XI, and a London XI . While the latter side consisted of players from 11 clubs, the former was effectively FC Barcelona with one player from RCD Espanyol . After a 2–2 draw at Stamford Bridge , Barcelona emerged triumphant after winning the return 6–0. A second tournament took place between 1958 and 1960. This time,
664-643: A last minute goal completing a hat-trick from Rivaldo , resulting in Barcelona qualifying for the Champions League ahead of their side. Valencia president D. Pedro Cortés resigned for personal reasons and left the club in July, with the satisfaction of overseeing the club win the Copa del Rey and Spanish Super Cup, as well as reaching two successive Champions League finals. D. Jaime Ortí replaced Cortés as president and expressed his intention of maintaining
747-638: A player as well following the dismissal of Carboni. However, after a second half brace from Rubén Baraja , they would achieve a 2–1 comeback win. Furthermore, Real Madrid's defeat at the Anoeta to Real Sociedad left Valencia with a three-point lead at the top of the table. Valencia's final game of the season was on 5 May 2002 at La Rosaleda against Málaga , a day that has gone down in Valencia's history. The team shut itself away in Benalmádena , close to
830-531: A record entry of 48 teams, testimony to the growing status of the Fairs Cup. It also produced only the second final not to feature a Spanish team. Ferencvárosi TC of Hungary beat Juventus in another single-game final. The 1966 competition attracted attention for all the wrong reasons. Chelsea were pelted with rubbish at Roma and Leeds United fought a bruising encounter with Valencia CF which ended with three dismissals. Leeds also had Johnny Giles sent off in
913-455: A second win for Leeds United saw English clubs winning the last four Fairs Cup tournaments. The last final saw Leeds United declared winners on away goals after drawing with Juventus 3–3 on aggregate. In the 1971–72 season the competition was abolished and replaced by the UEFA Cup after UEFA revised the entry regulations and concluded that the "one city one team" rule related with
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#1732782855044996-576: A standardized computed factor used to correct for the thermal expansion of fluids Other [ edit ] September 11th Victim Compensation Fund , an act of the US Congress to compensate the victims of the September 11 attacks VCF, one of several brands of spermicide Vintage Computer Festival , an international event celebrating the history of computing See also [ edit ] VFC (disambiguation) Topics referred to by
1079-420: A string of disappointing performances, and caretaker manager Óscar Fernández took over on a temporary basis until a full-time manager was found, rumoured to be either Marcello Lippi or José Mourinho . A day later, Dutch manager Ronald Koeman announced he would be leaving PSV Eindhoven to sign for Valencia. However, Koeman's appointment failed to lead to improvement; in fact, Valencia even went on to drop to
1162-463: A third consecutive Inter-Cities Fairs Cup final in the following season , but this time were defeated 2–1 by fellow Spanish club Zaragoza . Former two-time European Footballer of the Year award winner Alfredo Di Stéfano was hired as Valencia coach in 1970, and immediately inspired his new club to their fourth La Liga championship and first since 1947. This secured Valencia its first qualification for
1245-565: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol ( Spanish: [baˈlenθja ˈkluβ ðe ˈfuðβol] ; Valencian : València Club de Futbol [vaˈlensi.a ˈklub de fubˈbɔl] ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF (or simply Valencia ), is a Spanish professional football club based in Valencia , Spain, that currently plays in La Liga ,
1328-408: The 2016–17 season . Former Italy national team head coach Cesare Prandelli was hired as his replacement on 28 September. However, he resigned after just three months on 30 December, claiming the club had made him false transfer promises. Days later, on 7 January 2017, Valencia sporting director Jesús García Pitarch also resigned, saying he felt like he was being used as a shield for criticism by
1411-516: The Champions League play-off round with a 4–3 aggregate victory. However, Valencia had a poor start to the 2015–16 league season , winning only five out of thirteen matches and failing to progress from the Champions League group stage . The fans were also increasingly concerned about the growing influence of Jorge Mendes in the club's activities. On 29 November, Nuno resigned as manager and former Manchester United defender Gary Neville
1494-529: The G-14 group of leading European football clubs and since its end has been part of the original members of the European Club Association . In total, Valencia have reached seven major European finals, winning four of them. Historically one of the biggest clubs in the world in terms of number of associates (registered paying supporters), with around 50,000 season ticket holders at their peak,
1577-616: The Netherlands and Argentinian forward Mario Kempes , who was consecutively La Liga top scorer in 1976–77 and 1977–78. Valencia would go on to win the Copa del Rey again in the 1978–79 season, and also capture the European Cup Winners' Cup the next season, after beating English club Arsenal in the final, with Kempes spearheading their success in Europe. In 1982, the club appointed Miljan Miljanić as coach. After
1660-702: The Spanish Super Cup . Valencia finished third in the league, four points behind champions Deportivo La Coruña , and level on points with second-placed Barça. The biggest success for the club, however, was in the Champions League; for the first time in its history, Valencia reached the European Cup final. However, in the final played in Paris on 24 May 2000, Real Madrid would beat Valencia 3–0. The final would also be Claudio López's farewell, as he had agreed to sign for Italian side Lazio ; also leaving
1743-734: The UEFA Cup . Guus Hiddink was appointed as head coach in the 1991–92 season, and the club finished fourth in the League and reached the quarter-finals of the Copa del Rey. In 1992, Valencia officially became a Sporting Limited Company, and retained Hiddink as their coach until 1993. Brazilian coach Carlos Alberto Parreira , fresh from winning the 1994 FIFA World Cup with the Brazil national team , became manager at Mestalla in 1994. Parreira immediately signed Spanish goalkeeper Andoni Zubizarreta , Russian forward Oleg Salenko , and Predrag Mijatović , but failed to produce results expected of him. He
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#17327828550441826-572: The "Runners-up Cup", with teams now qualifying based on league position. The winning team received the Noel Beard Trophy ( Trophée Noel Beard ), named for the cutler who designed it. The competition was organised by the Fairs Cup Committee which was led by some FIFA executives until 1971, when it was taken over by UEFA and replaced with the UEFA Cup . According to UEFA general secretary Hans Bangerter , "The competition
1909-575: The 15th position in the league, just two points above the relegation zone. Despite their poor league form, Valencia would still go on to lift the Copa del Rey on 16 April 2008, following a 3–1 victory over Getafe at the Vicente Calderón . This was the club's seventh Copa title. Five days later, one day after a devastating 5–1 league defeat in Bilbao, Valencia fired Koeman and replaced him with Voro , who would guide Valencia as caretaker manager for
1992-473: The 1986–87 season. Di Stéfano stayed on as coach until the 1987–88 season, when the team finished in 14th position in La Liga. Bulgarian forward Luboslav Penev joined the club in 1989, as Valencia aimed to consolidate their place in La Liga. In the 1988–89 La Liga season, Valencia finished third, which would signal their competitiveness going into the 1990s. In the 1989–90 La Liga season, Valencia finished as runners-up to Real Madrid, and thus qualified for
2075-555: The Copa del Generalísimo. While managing average league form in the early 1960s, Valencia had its first European success in the form of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (the forerunner to the UEFA Cup ), defeating Barcelona in the final of the 1961–62 edition . The following edition of the tournament pitted Valencia against Croatian club Dinamo Zagreb in the final, which the Spanish side also won. Valencia reached
2158-508: The European Cup, they were beaten in the final by Benfica . Roma took three games to beat Hibernian in the semi-finals before they progressed to the final. Birmingham City reached their second final in two years but once again they were defeated. After a 2–2 draw at home, they lost 2–0 to Roma in the return. The 1961–62 season saw the rules amended to allow three teams from each country to enter. The "one city, one team" rule
2241-415: The Fairs Cup must be abolished, which had had a particularly bad effect on English entrants for 1969–70, when Liverpool (2nd), Arsenal (4th), Southampton (7th), and Newcastle United (9th-also holders) got the places, at the expense of Everton (3rd), Chelsea (5th), Tottenham Hotspur (6th), and West Ham United (8th). The Football League upheld the geographic rule until 1975, when UEFA pressured
2324-432: The League to drop it or face sanctions. Everton that year, having come 4th, would have been excluded from the competition due to Liverpool's 2nd-place finish. After the 1970–71 tournament, the last of the Fairs Cup, the competition was abolished and replaced with the UEFA Cup . The Fairs Cup trophy had not been won by any club permanently, so a play-off match was organised to decide who would gain permanent possession of
2407-525: The UEFA Cup by Dynamo Kyiv on away goals. After a run where Valencia took only five points from ten games in La Liga, an announcement was made that the club had secured a loan that would cover the players' expenses until the end of the year. This announcement coincided with an upturn in form, and the club won six of its next eight games to surge back into the critical fourth place Champions' League spot. However, Los Che were then pushed down to sixth place in
2490-403: The assistant coach just one month prior. Valencia finished the season in twelfth place. In the summer of 2016, André Gomes and Paco Alcácer were both sold to Barcelona and Shkodran Mustafi was sold to Arsenal, while Ezequiel Garay and former Manchester United player Nani were brought in. Pako Ayestarán was sacked on 21 September 2016 after four straight defeats at the beginning of
2573-407: The books. In the first season of the new decade, Valencia returned to the Champions League for the first time since the 2007–08 campaign, as they finished comfortably in third place in the 2009–10 La Liga standings. However, in the summer of 2010, due to financial reasons, David Villa and David Silva were sold to Barcelona and Manchester City , respectively, to reduce the club's massive debt. Despite
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2656-468: The championship on the right foot and were top of the league after ten games. After the Christmas break, however, Valencia started to pay for the top demand that such a draining competition like the Champions League requires. After passing the two mini-league phases, Héctor Cúper 's team eliminated English sides Arsenal in the quarter-finals and Leeds United in the semi-finals, reaching the final for
2739-607: The club and that he could not defend something he no longer believed in. Voro was named caretaker manager for the fifth time until the end of season, with Valencia in 17th position and in danger of relegation. However, results improved under Voro and he steered Valencia clear off relegation, ultimately finishing the season in 12th place. On 27 March, Mateu Alemany was named the new director general of Valencia. The club also announced club president Lay Hoon Chan had submitted her resignation and that she would be replaced by Anil Murthy . After rumors arose of Lim's attempts at selling
2822-406: The club began to decline in the mid-2010s. Singaporean billionaire Peter Lim acquired the team in 2014. Over the years, the club has achieved a global reputation for their prolific youth academy, or "Acadèmia ." Products of their academy include world-class talents such as Raúl Albiol , Javier Farinos , David Albelda , Vicente Rodríguez , Gaizka Mendieta and David Silva . Current stars of
2905-464: The club was a disappointment, however, as Valencia harboured realistic hopes of retaining their La Liga crown but, by February, found themselves in seventh place. Valencia had also been knocked out of the Champions League group phase, with Ranieri being sacked promptly in February. The 2004–05 season ended with Valencia outside of the UEFA Cup spots. In the summer of 2005, Getafe coach Quique Flores
2988-487: The club winning four out of its first five games, a surge that saw the team rise to the top position of the La Liga table. Despite looking impressive in Europe, Los Che then hit a poor run of form in the league that saw them dip as low as seventh in the standings. Amid the slump emerged reports of a massive internal debt at the club exceeding 400 million euros, as well as that the players had been unpaid for weeks. The team's problems were compounded when they were knocked out of
3071-665: The club's owner. Peter Lim's sons became club directors and Lay Hoon Chan returned as the club President. Valencia played its first years at the Algirós stadium, but moved to the Mestalla in 1923. In the 1950s, the Mestalla was restructured, which resulted in a capacity increase to 45,000 spectators. Today it holds 49,430 seats, making it the fifth largest stadium in Spain. It is also renowned for its steep terracing and for being one of
3154-476: The club), an agreement was reached in August 2014. Juan Antonio Pizzi was unexpectedly sacked as head coach and replaced by Nuno Espírito Santo on 2 July 2014. Later, Salvo revealed in an interview that hiring Nuno was one of the conditions Lim had insisted on when buying the club. This raised eyebrows in the media because of Nuno's close relationship with the football agent Jorge Mendes , whose first-ever client
3237-465: The club, Murthy assured the fans and local media that Valencia was a long-term project for both him and Lim, and they would not consider selling the club. For the following season, former Villarreal coach Marcelino was named the new manager on 12 May. After a successful first season under Marcelino, the club secured fourth place in La Liga and a return to the Champions League. In Marcelino's second season, Valencia again finished fourth and also reached
3320-489: The competition six times between them from 1958 to 1966. The Fairs Cup saw three all-Spanish finals in 1962, 1964, and 1966. The 1962 final saw Valencia CF beat FC Barcelona 7–3 on aggregate and in 1963 they retained the title after beating Dinamo Zagreb with a 4–1 aggregate score. They reached their third final in 1964 but lost 2–1 to Real Zaragoza in a single game at the Camp Nou . The 1965 tournament saw
3403-552: The confederation does not consider clubs' records in the Fairs Cup to be part of their European record . The first competition was to be held over two seasons to avoid clashes with national leagues fixtures. Because it was also intended to coincide with trade fairs, it ran over into a third year. It commenced in 1955 and finished in 1958. Cities that entered teams included Barcelona , Basel , Birmingham , Copenhagen , Frankfurt , Vienna , Cologne , Lausanne , Leipzig , London , Milan , and Zagreb . The first competition included
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3486-445: The domestic Copa del Rey cup competition for the first time in its history. The Spanish Civil War halted the progress of the Valencia team until 1941, when it won the Copa del Rey, beating RCD Espanyol in the final. In the 1941–42 season, the club won its first Spanish La Liga championship title, although winning the Copa del Rey was more reputable than the championship at that time. The club maintained its consistency to capture
3569-404: The end of the 2004 season, Valencia had one of their most successful periods in the club's history. With a total of two La Liga titles, a UEFA Cup , a Copa del Rey, and a UEFA Super Cup in those six years, no less than five first class titles and two Champions League finals had been achieved. That first match against fellow title rivals Real Madrid produced a significant and important victory. This
3652-465: The game to have graduated in recent years include Isco , Jordi Alba , Juan Bernat , José Gayà , Carlos Soler , Ferran Torres , and Lee Kang-in . The club was established on 5 March 1919 and officially approved on 18 March 1919, with Octavio Augusto Milego Díaz as its first president; incidentally, the presidency was decided by a coin toss . The club played its first competitive match away from home on 21 May 1919 against Valencia Gimnástico, and lost
3735-625: The good form that had made the club so admired on the European circuit. There were also some changes in the team and staff. Rafael Benítez , after helping Tenerife to promotion, replaced Héctor Cúper after the latter became the new coach at Inter in Italy . Among the playing squad, Gaizka Mendieta , Didier Deschamps , Luis Milla , and Zlatko Zahovič left, while Carlos Marchena , Mista , Curro Torres , Francisco Rufete , Gonzalo de los Santos , and Salva Ballesta all arrived. From 1999 up until
3818-482: The group stage format was abandoned in favour of a knockout tournament. Barcelona retained the cup, beating Birmingham City 4–1 in the final. The third tournament was held over the course of the 1960–61 season and all subsequent tournaments were completed over one season. The season also saw the holders, Barcelona, compete in both the Fairs Cup and European Cup . During the early days of European competition, these tournaments were effectively rivals and there
3901-420: The league following defeats to top four rivals Atlético Madrid and Villarreal in two of their final three games, meaning they failed to qualify for the Champions League for a second successive season. No solution had yet been found to address the massive debt Valencia was faced with, and rumors persisted that top talents such as David Villa , Juan Mata , and David Silva could leave the club to help balance
3984-429: The league title again in the 1943–44 season, as well as the 1946–47 league edition. They would conclude their decade of success by winning the 1949 Copa del Rey; this meant Valencia ended the decade with a record of three La Liga and two Copa del Rey titles. This success would help cement the club's name in Spanish football. In the 1950s, Valencia failed to emulate the success of the previous decade, even though it grew as
4067-465: The loss of two of the club's most important players, the team was able to finish comfortably in third place again in the 2010–11 La Liga for the second season running, although they would be eliminated from the Champions League by German side Schalke 04 in the round of 16. In the summer of 2011, then-captain Juan Mata was sold to Chelsea to further help Valencia's precarious financial situation. It
4150-520: The managers of the time to carry out the first alterations of Mestalla in 1927. The stadium's total capacity increased to 25,000 before it became severely damaged during the Civil War; the Mestalla was used as a concentration camp and a junk warehouse. It would only keep its structure, since the rest was a lonely plot of land with no terraces and a stand broken during the war. Once the Valencian pitch
4233-541: The match 1–0. Valencia moved into the Mestalla Stadium in 1923, having played its home matches at the Algirós ground since 7 December 1919. The first match at Mestalla pitted the home side against Castellón Castalia and ended in a 0–0 draw. In another match the day after, Valencia won 1–0 against the same opposition. Valencia CF won the Regional Championship in 1923, and was eligible to play in
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#17327828550444316-469: The match went to a penalty shoot-out, where a Mauricio Pellegrino miss gave Bayern Champions League glory and dealt Valencia a second-straight defeat in the final. Valencia went on to slip to fifth place in La Liga and out of the Champions League positions for the 2001–02 season. Going into the final league match, Valencia only needed a draw at the Camp Nou against Barcelona to seal Champions League qualification. However, Los Che lost to Barcelona 3–2, with
4399-512: The most intimidating atmospheres in Europe. On 20 May 1923, the Mestalla pitch was inaugurated with a friendly match between Valencia and Levante UD . A long history has taken place on the Mestalla field since its very beginning, when the Valencia team was not yet in the Primera División . Back then, this stadium could hold 17,000 spectators, and at that time, the club started to show its potential in regional championships, which led
4482-546: The playing squad was cut significantly in terms of quality and Lim's ownership has faced strong criticism in Valencia. In the 2021–22 season, José Bordalás was hired as head coach, following his five-season tenure with Getafe. Valencia reached the Copa del Rey final final in Bordalás' first season in charge, but lost to Real Betis on penalties following a 1–1 draw. In June 2022, Anil Murthy left after reportedly insulting
4565-459: The prestigious European Cup , contested by the various European domestic champions. Valencia reached the third round of the 1971–72 competition before losing both legs to Hungarian champions Újpesti Dózsa . In 1972 the club also finished runners-up both in La Liga and the domestic cup, losing to Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid, respectively. The most notable players of the 1970s era include Austrian midfielder Kurt Jara , forward Johnny Rep of
4648-416: The quarter-finals of the Champions League by Inter Milan on away goals. The 2003–04 season saw Valencia trailing longtime leaders Real Madrid. In February, with 26 matches played, Madrid were eight points clear at the top of the table. However, their form severely declined in the late stage of the season, and consecutive losses in their last five games of the campaign allowed Valencia to overtake them and claim
4731-440: The remainder of the season. He went on to win the first match since the sacking of Koeman, beating Osasuna 3–0. Voro would eventually drag Valencia from the relegation battle to a safe mid-table finish of tenth place, finally ending a disastrous league campaign for Los Che . Highly rated Unai Emery was announced as the new head coach of Valencia on 22 May 2008. The start of the young manager's career looked to be promising, with
4814-403: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title VCF . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=VCF&oldid=1192462964 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
4897-441: The scene of the game, in order to gain focus. An early goal from Roberto Ayala and another close to half-time from Fábio Aurélio secured Valencia a fifth La Liga crown, 31 years after their last title win. The 2002–03 season was a disappointing one for Valencia, as they failed in their attempt to retain the La Liga title and ended up outside of the Champions League spots in fifth, behind Celta Vigo . They were also knocked out in
4980-433: The season in fourth place and were knocked out of the Champions League in the quarter-finals by Chelsea 3–2 on aggregate, after they had knocked out Italian champions Inter in the second round. In the summer of 2007, the internal fight between Flores and Carboni was settled, with Carboni being replaced by Ángel Ruiz as the new sporting director of Valencia. On 29 October 2007, the Valencia board of directors fired Flores after
5063-511: The second consecutive year. In the final match against Bayern Munich , played in Milan 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. Goalkeeper Santiago Cañizares then stopped a penalty from Mehmet Scholl , but Stefan Effenberg drew Bayern level after the break thanks to another penalty. After extra time,
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#17327828550445146-425: The semi-final against Real Zaragoza. The final saw FC Barcelona beat Real Zaragoza 4–3 on aggregate. The 1967 tournament saw the emergence of English clubs with Leeds United reaching the final. Although they lost to Dinamo Zagreb, they returned the following season and defeated Ferencvárosi TC to become the first English club to win the competition. The subsequent victories of Newcastle United and Arsenal and
5229-564: The semi-finals of the UEFA Europa League , where they lost to eventual winners Sevilla on away goals, and finished eighth in La Liga despite a disastrous start to the season. In May 2014, Singaporean businessman Peter Lim was designated by the Fundación Valencia CF as the buyer of 70.4% of the shares owned by the club's foundation. After months of negotiations between Lim and Bankia (the main creditor of
5312-434: The semi-finals of the UEFA Europa League . On 25 May 2019, Valencia won the Copa del Rey , their first trophy since 2008, upsetting league winners Barcelona 2–1 in the final . Both Marcelino and sporting director Mateu Alemany , who were credited as the architects of this success, were fired on 11 September 2019 after the former publicly criticized Lim. He was replaced by the ultimately unsuccessful Albert Celades , who
5395-532: The title after a close fought race. Valencia would struggle for the next two seasons, but the 1998–99 La Liga season would signal the start of one of the club's most successful periods in their history; they lifted their first trophy in nineteen years by winning the 1998–99 Copa del Rey under Claudio Ranieri , and also qualified for the UEFA Champions League . Valencia started the 1999–2000 season by winning another title, beating Barcelona in
5478-426: The title, their second in three seasons. The club also added the UEFA Cup to this success, defeating Marseille 2–0 in the final . In the summer of 2004, manager Benítez decided to depart Valencia, stating he had had problems with the club president; he would soon become head coach of Liverpool . He was replaced by former Valencia coach Claudio Ranieri , who had recently been sacked by Chelsea . His second reign at
5561-632: The top flight of the Spanish league system . Valencia was founded in 1919 and has played its home games at the 49,430-seater Mestalla since its opening. Valencia has won six Spanish League titles, eight Copa del Rey titles, one Supercopa de España , and one Copa Eva Duarte . In European competitions, they have won two Inter-Cities Fairs Cups , one UEFA Cup , one UEFA Cup Winners' Cup , two UEFA Super Cups , and one UEFA Intertoto Cup . They have also reached two consecutive UEFA Champions League finals ( 2000 and 2001 ). Valencia were also members of
5644-421: Was relegated at the end of the 1985–86 season, and riven with internal problems such as unpaid player and staff wages, as well as poor morale. The club was relegated for the first time after 55 years in Spanish top-flight football. Arturo Tuzón was named the new club president, and he helped steer Valencia back to La Liga. Alfredo Di Stéfano returned as coach in 1986 and Valencia won promotion again following
5727-437: Was Farinós for Inter Milan and Gerard for Barcelona. The notable signings of that summer were John Carew , Rubén Baraja , Roberto Ayala , Vicente Rodríguez , and Brazilian left-back Fábio Aurélio . That season Valencia also bought Pablo Aimar in the winter transfer window. Baraja, Aimar, Vicente, and Ayala would soon become a staple of Valencia's dominance of the early 2000s in La Liga. [REDACTED] Valencia started
5810-563: Was Nuno. Lim and Mendes were also close friends and business partners. Regardless, Nuno's first season was a successful one. Notable signings included Álvaro Negredo , André Gomes and Enzo Pérez , who had just won the Player of the Year in the Portuguese Primeira Liga . Valencia finished the 2014–15 season in fourth place, achieving Champions League qualification with 77 points, just one point ahead of Sevilla after
5893-399: Was also sold to Manchester City for a price deemed half his market value. Overall, Valencia sold players worth 85 million euros in order to rebalance the club's books. At the beginning of the season, the club was unable to pay the salaries to the remaining players. After six seasons under Peter Lim 's ownership, Valencia had accumulated losses of 323 million euros, In the following years,
5976-402: Was announced by club president Manuel Llorente that the club's debt had been decreased and that the work on the new stadium would restart as soon as possible, sometime in 2012. During the 2012–13 season , Ernesto Valverde was announced as the new manager, but after failing to qualify for the Champions League, he stepped down and was replaced by Miroslav Đukić . On 5 July 2013, Amadeo Salvo
6059-474: Was appointed as the new manager of Valencia and ended the season in third place, which in turn gained Valencia a place in the Champions League after a season away from the competition. The 2006–07 season was one with many difficulties; a campaign which started with realistic hopes of challenging for the title was disrupted with a huge list of injuries to key players, as well as internal arguments between Flores and new sporting director Amedeo Carboni . Valencia ended
6142-509: Was followed by a record of eleven consecutive wins, breaking their existing record set in the 1970–71 season, which was also the club's La Liga title win under Alfredo Di Stéfano . After a defeat in A Coruña against Deportivo on 9 December 2001, the team had to overcome Espanyol at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys to avoid further backsliding behind the league leaders. at half-time, Valencia were 2–0 down, but
6225-440: Was hired as his replacement on 2 December. Valencia went winless for nine matches before earning their first win under Neville in a 2–1 victory at home against Espanyol. On 30 March 2016, Neville was sacked after recording the lowest win percentage in La Liga history for a Valencia manager with minimum of five matches, winning just three out of sixteen games. He was replaced by Pako Ayestarán , who had been brought in by Neville as
6308-419: Was inaugurated during the 1959 Fallas festivities. During the 1960s, the stadium kept the same appearance, while the urban view around it was quickly being transformed. Moreover, the ground held its first European matches, with Nottingham Forest being the first foreign team to play at the Mestalla, on 15 September 1961. Inter-Cities Fairs Cup After 1964, the Fairs Cup was sometimes referred to as
6391-439: Was little or no co-ordination between the administrators running them. The European Cup quickly established itself as the premier club competition, largely because it had the advantage of featuring national league champions and was completed in a single season from the very start. The efforts of Barcelona ended in failure in both competitions. In the Fairs Cup quarter-finals, they lost 7–6 on aggregate to Hibernian , while in
6474-475: Was named as the new president of the club. Almost a month after Salvo was named president, on 1 August, Valencia sold star striker Roberto Soldado to English club Tottenham Hotspur for a reported fee of €30 million. Đukić was sacked six months into the 2013–14 season after just six wins in his first sixteen matches, Valencia's worst start to a season in fifteen years. He was replaced by Juan Antonio Pizzi on 26 December 2013. Under Pizzi, Valencia reached
6557-629: Was renovated, the Mestalla stadium in which the team managed to bring home their first title in 1941. During the 1950s, the Valencia ground experienced the deepest change in its whole history. That project resulted in a stadium with a capacity of 45,500 spectators, that eventually saw destruction by a flood in October 1957 that arose from the overflowing of the Turia River . Nevertheless, the Mestalla not only returned to normality, but also some more improvements were added, like artificial light, which
6640-431: Was replaced by new coach José Manuel Rielo . The club's earlier successes continued to elude it, although it was not short of top coaching staff like Luis Aragonés and Jorge Valdano , as well as foreign star forwards like Brazilian Romário , Claudio López , Ariel Ortega from Argentina, and Adrian Ilie from Romania. In the 1995–96 La Liga season, Valencia finished second to Atlético Madrid , being unable to capture
6723-519: Was sacked due to poor results, while sporting director César Sánchez resigned that same season, making it six different managers and another six sporting directors by 2020. For the 2020–21 season, manager Javi Gracia was hired. He was put in charge of a team full of prospects and reserves after the club failed to sign any players during the summer transfer window, but sold key players such as captain Dani Parejo . Local wonderkid Ferran Torres
6806-403: Was temporarily abandoned and two teams represented each of Edinburgh , Milan, and Barcelona (respectively Hibernian and Heart of Midlothian , Internazionale and A.C. Milan , and FC Barcelona and RCD Espanyol). This increase in teams resulted in Spanish teams continuing to dominate the competition. FC Barcelona were now regularly joined by Valencia CF and Real Zaragoza . These three clubs won
6889-599: Was very successful but the time came when the UEFA Executive Committee thought that such a major competition should be governed and organised by UEFA itself, which could ensure that standard rules were followed and could deal with refereeing and disciplinary matters." While the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup is generally considered to be the predecessor to the UEFA Cup, it was not organised by UEFA and ran under different regulations; consequently,
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