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.
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