Estadio Mestalla History

Stadium Overview

Stadium History

On 20 May 1923, the Mestalla pitch was inaugurated with a friendly match that brought Valencia CF and Levante UD face to face. It was the beginning of a new era that meant farewell to the old place, Algirós, which will always remain in the memories of the Valencians as first home of the club. A long history has treaded 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 in that time the club started to show its potential in regional championships, which led the managers of that 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.

Mestalla was used as concentration camp and 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 was renovated, Mestalla saw how the team managed to bring home their first title, the 1941 Cup. An overwhelming team was playing on the grass of the redesigned Valencian stadium in that decade, team that conquered three League titles and two Cups with the legendary ‘electric forwards’ of Epi, Amadeo, Mundo, Asensi and Guillermo Gorostiza. Those years of sporting success also served as support to recover little by little the Mestalla ground.

During the decade of the fifties, the Valencia ground experienced the deepest change in its whole history. That project resulted in a stadium with a capacity of 45,500 spectators. It was a dream that was destroyed by the flood that flooded Valencia in October 1957 after the overflowing of the Turia River. Nevertheless, Mestalla not only returned to normality, but also some more improvements were added, like artificial light, which was inaugurated during the 1959 Fallas festivities. This was the beginning of a new change for the Mestalla.

During the sixties, the stadium kept the same appearance, whilst the urban view around it was quickly being transformed. Moreover, the Valencian domain became from that moment on, the setting of big European feats. Nottingham Forest was the first foreign team that played an official match in Mestalla with the "Che" club. They played on the 15th of September of 1961 and it was the first clash of a golden age full of continental successes, reinforced with the Fairs Cup won in 1962 and 1963. Mestalla had just entered the European competitions as a stadium where the most important events were taking place.

From 1969, the expression "Anem a Mestalla" (Let’s go to Mestalla), so common among the supporters, started to fall into oblivion. The reason was the change of name that meant a big tribute that the club paid to his most symbolic president that lasted for a quarter of a century. Luis Casanova Giner admitted that he was completely overwhelmed by such honour, and the president himself requested in 1994 that his name was again replaced by the name of Mestalla, as it happened. At the beginning of the seventies, the local bench of the back-then-called Luis Casanova stadium was occupied by Alfredo Di Stéfano, whose results were the winning of one League competition, one second place in the League and two Cup finals lost by the minimum difference. Moreover, Valencia participated for the first time in the European Cup and made their debut in the UEFA Cup. It all was a series of events that made that every match in the stadium located in Suecia Avenue turned into a big party.

In 1972 the head office of the club, located in the back of the numbered terraces, was inaugurated. It consisted of an office of avant-garde style with a worth mentioning trophy hall, which held the foundation flag of the club. In the summer of 1973 there was another new thing, the goal seats, which meant the elimination of fourteen rows of standing terraces providing more comfort and an adjustment to the new times. Valencia's management started to consider the possibility of moving Mestalla from its present location to some land in the outskirts of the town, but finally the project was turned down and some years later.

At that time, Mario Kempes was the best footballer in the world and was playing for Valencia. With the Matador in its team, Valencia won the Copa del Rey, the Cup Winners Cup and European Super Cup in consecutive years. The "Che" team became continental superchampion in the last European final played in Mestalla. It was in 1980 against Nottingham Forest, which oddly enough was the first foreign team that had played an official match in the Valencian stadium.

Mestalla, which in 1925 had held the first match of the Spain national football team in Valencia, was chosen as the perfect setting for the debut of Spain in the 1982 World Cup, although the performance of the combined national team was not finally what was expected. Ten years later, the Olympic team would look for support in the Valencian stadium, this time with a very different result, since the selected young footballers finally got the gold medal in the 1992 Summer Olympics held in Barcelona.

Mestalla has been the setting for important international matches, has held several Cup finals, has been seat for Levante UD, home of the Spanish national team and exile for Castellón and Real Madrid in the European Cup; it has seen important footballers like Mario Kempes, Maradona or Pelé himself running on its grass and above all, it has lived the most important feats of Valencia Club de Fútbol.

Seating Chart

Getting There

From Barcelona and Zaragoza, the Mediterranean motorway A-7, which connects Valencia to the rest of Europe, takes you directly to the Mestalla Stadium. Once you leave the motorway, you just have to follow the dual carriageway that takes you to Cataluña Avenue, and on to Aragón Avenue, where you can already see the towers of the stadium.

    From A-3 (or N-III), that connects the city to Madrid and that is also the access road from the airport, you shall take Cid Avenue. After passing the Hospital General Universitario you must take the diversion to the left which takes you to the Turia old riverbed along 9 de Octubre Street. Without crossing the river we take Paseo de la Pechina, on the right of the old riverbed. Continuing straight ahead until Calatrava Bridge -which stands out for its peculiar shape of a hair comb - and after crossing it you can already see the Valencia stadium at the end of the street.

    From Alicante and Albacete, we can arrive in Valencia by the A-7 from the South. Entering Valencia, we are on Ausiàs March Avenue. Straight to Manuel Sanchis Guarner square and then turn right on Peris y Valero and straight again until we cross Àngel Custodi Bridge, across the Turia old riverbed. After crossing the river we take the detour to the left on Paseo de la Alameda, and at the roundabout of Zaragoza square we turn right on Aragón Avenue, which takes us directly to the stadium.

    From Ademuz and the inland of Valencia province, you can access the capital town by the Ademuz dual carriageway, which connects to Cortes Valencianas Avenue. After the second roundabout at the entrance of the city, we keep on straight under the tunnel that takes us to Ademuz Bridge. After crossing the Turia old riverbed, we continue left on Paseo de la Pechina always having the riverbed to our left. When arriving to Calatrava Bridge we cross the old riverbed again and straight on we will find the Mestalla pitch.

    From the main Coach Station we can take a taxi to the stadium or, if we decide to walk (it is approximately a 20-minute walk), we can take Menéndez Pidal Avenue to the left, which takes along the riverbed to Llano del Real, opposite Jardines de Viveros. Here we take Micer Mascó Street, which takes us to the stadium. We can also take the city bus line number 80 opposite the main Coach Station and get down in Aragón Avenue, right by the Mestalla Stadium.

    From the Norte Railway Station, we can take a taxi that takes us to the stadium or the bus line 10 in Ayuntamiento square -opposite the railway station, 2-minute walk-, which takes us to Aragón Avenue opposite the stadium.

Map

http://www.valenciacf.com/en/Estadio/EstadioMapa.html

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References

www.valencia c.f,