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Valencia played its first years at the
Algirós stadium but moved to the Mestalla in 1923. In the 1950s, Mestalla was restructured, which resulted in a
capacity increase to 45,000 spectators. Today it holds 55,000 seats. However, Valencia is scheduled to move to
a new stadium in the north-west of the city Valencia in 2009. The Nou Mestalla, as it will be called, will hold
around 75,000 spectators and will be given a 5 star status by FIFA. It ranks as the fifth largest stadium in
Spain. It is also renowned for its steep terracing and being one of the most intimidating atmospheres in all of
Europe to play at.
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[citation needed] 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 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.
2008-2009 will officially be the
last season at the Mestalla, Valencia will then move to their new 75,000-seater stadium Nou Mestalla in time
for the 2009-2010 season.
