VALENCIA FC

Full Name: Valencia Club de Fútbol
City: Valencia
Founded: 1919
Stadium: Estadio Luis Casanova - Mestalla (55,000)
Colors: Black, White
Previous: Valencia Football Club (1919-40)
Nickname: Los Ches
Rivals: Levante, Villarreal
Official Website: valenciacf.es

Description:

Valencia Football Club was founded in 1919 at the Torino Bar and played their first match later that year against Gimnástico of Valencia. The club changed its name in 1940 as part of an official directive by the Franco regime to remove non-Spanish names from official institutions. Since being promoted in 1931 Valencia have spent only one season outside the top tier of Spanish football, that being the 1986-87 season. Los Ches reached consecutive Champions League finals in 2000 and 2001. The club's logo includes the name, team colors, old-style football and a bat atop it all. The bat also appears in the emblem of the city of Valencia. According to legend when King James of Aragon reconquered Valencia from the Moors in the 13th century a bat landed atop his flag as entered the city. This was interpreted as a good open and incorporated into the emblem of the city. "Che" is a word generally used to describe someone from the Valencia region. The same word "che" is used in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The stadium is officially named for a former club president. It was originally named for a canal (the Mestalla) located next to the stadium and its still popularly known by that name. The club will moved into a new and much larger stadium (the Nou Mestalla) for the 2009-10 season. Previous Stadiums: Algirós (1919-23).

Valencia CF History

Valencia Club de Fútbol (also known as Valencia, CF or just Valencia or Los Ches) is a team in the first division of the Spanish Football League.
Founded in 1919, Valencia CF is based in the city of Valencia, Spain. The team's home stadium is the 53, 000 seater Mestalla, which was opened in 1923.
Valencia CF won the Spanish title for the sixth time in May 2004, their second in three years.

Valencia CF won the UEFA Cup for the third time in 2004, tying four other teams for the most UEFA Cups won. After suffering recent tough losses in Europe in the finals of the UEFA Champions League in 2000 and 2001, the team was finally able to triumph in the finals of European play.

Thanks to good coaching, one of the best defences in world soccer, including the charismatic Italian Carboni and the fiery Argentinian Roberto Ayala, and an imaginative playmaker, young Pablo Aimar (also from Argentina), Valencia has grown into one of the world's great teams.

On June 1, 2004, Rafa Benitez stepped down as coach of Valencia amid rumors that he was headed to Liverpool F.C.; those rumors proved true, as he was hired by Liverpool two weeks later.

On June 8, 2004, Claudio Ranieri was named the new head coach, but following Valencia's failure to advance past the round of 32 in the UEFA Cup he was dismissed on 25 February 2005 and replaced by Antonio López.

Trophy Room:

* La Liga (1942, 44, 47, 71, 2002, 04)
* Copa del Rey (1941, 49, 54, 67, 79, 99, 2008)
* Supercopa de España (1999)
* European Cup Winner's Cup (1980)
* Fairs Cup (1962, 63)
* UEFA Cup (2004)