VALENCIA CF - A YEAR IN REVIEW • 24/7 Valencia

2025 will not be remembered fondly by Valencia supporters, as the team once again failed to meet the high expectations of their demanding fans. Struggling with form and looking relegation candidates at the turn of the year, a change in management late in 2024 did stem the tide of poor results, but as the year has progressed the team’s performances have continued to be uninspiring.The football on the field has been as anaemic at times as the activities off it. The conflict between the Lim family and the bulk of Valencia supporters has hardened. The 19th minute protest in every game when the fans sing for Lim to leave continues to be as vociferous now as it was a year ago.

One of the first announcements made in 2025 by Valencia CF was that work would restart on the ‘Nou Mestalla’. The project initially commenced in 2007 but has been blighted with financial problems, and licensing and safety issues. After lengthy discussions and a degree of support from the local council work on the stadium has restarted. The finishing date is touted for 2027, twenty years after the first stone foundation was laid!

In charge of the latest project are the architects Fenwick Iribarren Architects y FCC Construcción. The former built three of the new stadiums for the Qatar World Cup in 2022 and the latter had the responsibility of creating the Estadio Riyadh Air Metropolitano in Madrid and the RCDE stadium in Barcelona. They were also responsible for the recent upscaling of the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu.

Plans remain for the stadium to hold around 70,000 spectators, with 6,500 hospitality suites but the squabbling over the venue will probably cost the city any hosting rights in the 2030 World Cup unless there is a dramatic change of heart from the powers- that-be.

On the field, it was pleasing to see Mouctar Diakhaby back in the squad in January after nearly a year on the sidelines with a career threatening injury. His late substitute appearance in the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companysin Montjuïc coincided with a 7-1 thrashing at the hands of FC Barcelona, highlighting the gulf in class between the two teams.

A few weeks later any hope of domestic silverware was distinguished when the Catalans came to the Mestalla and thrashed the home side in the Copa Del Rey quarter final. The game was over as a contest inside 30 minutes with the visitors four goals to the good, and the former Valencia forward Ferran Torres bagging a hat trick in the process. Barca ran out 5-0 winners on the night to confirm the league result was not a fluke.

March did see improvement on the field with some personal milestones achieved. Umar Sadiq who was on loan from Real Sociedad at the time, was awarded with a trophy for the Best La Liga EA Sports goal of the month for his spectacular effort in the 3-3 draw in Pamplona, against Osasuna. The Nigerian international looks like he will be returning to the Mestalla in the New Year, after efforts to complete his signing at the end of his loan spell in June failed to materialise. Diego López also claimed an award at the same time as Sadiq for the La Liga EA Sports Under 23 player of the month.

April Peter Lim handed over the reins of the club to his son Kiat Lim. The event had little impact on appeasing the Valencia faithful and like his father, Kiat has spent little or no time in the city trying to conciliate with the “socios”. Arguably, the highlight on the pitch this year was the victory over Real Madrid in the Bernabéu by two goals to one. A winner in injury time by Hugo Duro after Diakhaby had given the visitors an early lead (only for Vini junior to restore parity) was a very enjoyable occasion for everyone associated with the club. From an Anglophile perspective it was also historical in the sense that the Hammersmith-born defender Max Aarons made his league debut in the game to become the first ever Englishman to don the Valencia colours. Yunus Musah spent a lot of his youth at the Arsenal Hale End Academy but was born in New York and chose to represent the USMNT despite making youth appearances for England.

The summer saw numerous quality players leave the Mestalla. The Georgian keeper Giorgi Mamardashvili headed to Liverpool in a deal that was agreed a year earlier, and three of the team’s youth products Cristian Mosquera, Yarek Gasiorowski and Hugo Guillamón moved on to Arsenal, PSV and Hadjuk Split respectively.

Arsenal seem to have done a better transfer purchase with Valencia than previously when they closed a deal to take Shkodran Mustafi to the Emirates for 35 million pounds. Mosquera was allegedly less than half that price and the Alicante born star has fitted seamlessly in the centre of the Arsenal defence, as the London based club put forward a serious claim for Premier and European honours this season.

Of the new arrivals to the Mestalla before August, the only one that has rooted down a regular first team spot is the goalkeeper Julen Agirrezabala from Athletic Bilbao. Behind Unai Simon in the pecking order at the Basque club, he has starred since the start of the season for Valencia. He is now firmly established as the club’s number one going into 2026.

Highlights of the pre-season campaign were friendlies between Borussia Mönchengladbach in Germany and the Trofeo Naranja against the Italian club Torino. The Borussia game gave the opportunity to pay homage to Rainer Bonhof, who had successful stints with both clubs. The contest against Torino acted as a curtain raiser for the new season when the whole squad got introduced to the crowd before the game.

Valencia started this year’s league campaign reasonable enough with a win, draw and loss in their first three games. September gave the team another match-up with Barcelona in the Catalan capital. With the new version of the Nou Camp still having licensing problems and the alternative Montjuïc stadium unavailable due to a rap concert the game was played in the 6,000 seater Johan Cruyff stadium.

With the loss of the usual plethora of Barça fans, it seemed an ideal opportunity to obtain a result. Unfortunately, Barcelona had other ideas and ran out 6-0 winners… giving Valencia another football education. October, November and December have seen Valencia win only one game in ten with the sole victory coming in the local derby against Levante UD. At Christmas the team are one point clear of the relegation places and needing a stimulus of sorts to move them up the table,

This could come in the shape of new year signings who make an immediate impact on the team or an extended run in the Copa Del Rey to help instill confidence in the squad. Victories over UD Maracena, FC Cartagena, and Sporting Gijon have ensured the club will be in the draw for the last 16 that takes place in the RFEF headquarters at Las Rosas on the 7th January.

Winnable games in January against Celta Vigo and Getafe away and Elche and Espanyol at home will certainly shape the rest of the season and could determine whether Corberán remains in charge of the club for the full campaign. Julian Calero was not given that lifeline and became the second manager to be sacked in La Liga this season, following Veljko Paunović getting his marching orders from Real Oviedo. The likeable coach from Madrid was relieved of his duties at the end of November, and has recently been replaced by Luis Castro who has been contracted with the club until June 2027. Previous experience includes managing Benfica youth teams, Panetolikos in Greece and Dunkirk and Nantes in France.

Report by John Howden

Article copyright ‘24/7 Valencia’

Valencia CF Fixtures

Celta Vigo v Valencia CF 3 Jan 14.00h

Valencia CF v Elche 10 Jan 21.00h

Getafe v Valencia CF 18 Jan 14.00h

Valencia CF v Espanyol 25 Jan tbd

Real Betis v Valencia CF 1 Feb tbd

Levante UD

Sevilla vs Levante UD 4 Jan 14.00h

Levante UD vs Espanyol 11 Jan 16.15h

Real Madrid vs Levante UD Jan 17 14.00h