The Mestalla Stadium is the home of Valencia CF and is one of the oldest stadiums in Spain.
On the 101st anniversary, I signed up for the Mestalla Forever Tour. A hat-trick of football stadiums visited:
In 1998, I watched FC St Gallen play Lausanne at the Wankdorf.
In May 2022, I visited the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, which hosted the 1970 and 1986 World Cups. It will also be one of 3 stadiums in Mexico hosting the FIFA World Cup 2026.
And now, I get to visit the Mestalla Stadium home of Valencia CF.
With a seating capacity of 49,430, it is the eighth-largest football stadium in Spain.
It opened on May 20, 1923, with a friendly match between Valencia and Levante FC, the latter formed in 1909, making it the oldest football club in Spain.
Valencia won that first match, 1-0.
It must have been some sort of fluke. The day I chose to visit the stadium, check this out, was May 20, 2024.
Mestalla Forever Tour
Tickets for the Mestalla Forever Tour cost €15.30 (2025).
The club was formed in 1919 and was known as Valencia FC, but was changed after the Spanish Civil War to Valencia CF (Valencia Club de Fútbol).
Having a pre-tour beer near the stadium:
Doing the Mestalla Forever Tour on its 101st anniversary:
The stadium hosted three games of the 1982 FIFA World Cup when the stadium was known as the Luis Casanova Stadium.
Spain played all three of their first-round matches in Group 5 at the Mestalla, the third of which was when Northern Ireland beat Spain 1-0, to win the group, with the winning goal scored by Gerry Armstrong.
The stadium’s name was changed in 1969 to Luis Casanova Stadium to honour club president Luis Casanova Giner.
The name was later changed back to The Mestalla, in 1994.
Backpacking the Mestalla Stadium in my 2022/2023 MK DONS home shirt, 101 years since Valencia CF had played its first game in the stadium, May 20, 1923:
Home Team Dressing Rooms:
The pitch at the Mestalla Stadium:
The dugout:
Souvenir football boots:
The football shirts of Valencia CF:
The press room where managers are interviewed after the match:
Nomadic Backpacker emerging from the tunnel at the Mestalla Stadium:
Valencia has had a lot of success. They have won six La Liga titles, eight Copa del Rey titles, one Supercopa de España, and one Copa Eva Duarte.
In European competitions, they have won many times, including one UEFA Cup, one UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup, two UEFA Super Cups, and one UEFA Intertoto Cup.
And the IFFHS World’s Best Club in 2004:
The future of the Mestalla Stadium
A new stadium, the Nou Mestalla, is being built. Work started back in 2007 and ground to a halt in 2009, due to financial reasons, but as of January 1, 2025, construction is underway again and is set to open in 2027.
The Nou Mestalla will have a seating capacity of 70,044 and is located just north of the old town.
The Estadio de Mestalla will be demolished.
