The 2013–14 season was Valencia Club de Fútbol's 96th in existence and the club's 27th consecutive season in the top flight of Spanish football. Valencia endured its worst domestic season since 2007–08, following a serious hamstring injury to star goalkeeper Diego Alves. Contrary to the previous four seasons under the guidance of

Unai Emery Unai Emery Etxegoien (born 3 November 1971) is a Spanish Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player who is the manager of Premier League club Aston Villa F.C., Aston Villa. He is widely regarded as o ...

Mauricio Pellegrino Mauricio Andrés Pellegrino Luna (; born 5 October 1971) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a centre-back, currently manager of Lanús. After nearly one decade with Vélez Sarsfield, he spent the vast majority of his ...

Ernesto Valverde Ernesto Valverde Tejedor (born 9 February 1964) is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a forward. He is the current manager of La Liga club Athletic Bilbao. Over ten seasons, he amassed La Liga totals of 264 games and 68 ...

and

Miroslav Đukić Miroslav Đukić ( sr-cyr, Мирослав Ђукић, ; born 19 February 1966) is a Serbian football manager and former player who played as a sweeper. He spent fourteen years of his professional career in Spain, notably at the service of De ...

, Valencia's offence malfunctioned, and in December, Đukić was fired by the club, with successful former

San Lorenzo San Lorenzo is the Italian and Spanish name for Saint Lawrence, the 3rd-century Christian martyr, and may refer to: Places Argentina * San Lorenzo, Santa Fe * San Lorenzo Department, Chaco * Villa San Lorenzo, town and municipality in Salta P ...

coach

Juan Antonio Pizzi Juan Antonio Pizzi Torroja (, ; born 7 June 1968) is a retired professional footballer who played as a striker. He is currently the head coach of the Kuwait national team. Pizzi spent the bulk of his club career in Spain, mainly at Tenerife, ...

taking over. With Pizzi at the helm, Valencia managed to salvage some respectability by reaching the semi-finals of the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

, where they were eliminated by eventual champions

Sevilla Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Seville ...

. Following that narrow defeat, Valencia failed to qualify to Europe for the next season for the first time since 1997–98 due to a lowly eighth-place finish in La Liga. In June 2014, the club was sold to Singaporean consortium Meriton Holdings, owned by

Peter Lim Peter Lim Eng Hock (born 21 May 1953) is a Singaporean business magnate who was a stockbroker and an investor in palm oil, and is now a private investor focused on healthcare, property, sports, and education. In 2024, he was ranked 26th on F ...

Season summary

Valencia continued its increasingly frustrating run without the league title, which was extended to ten years following a chaotic season. Coach

was fired when the side did not perform to the expected level, and the season saw a further two coaches ( Nicolás Estévez and

) trying to lead Valencia without much success. Under Pizzi's reign, Valencia recorded a surprise 3–2 victory over

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

Camp Nou Camp Nou (), meaning ''New Field'' and often referred to in English as the Nou Camp, is a stadium in Barcelona and the home of La Liga club FC Barcelona since its opening in 1957. It is currently undergoing renovation, and with a planned increa ...

in February and a 2–2 draw against

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

at the

Santiago Bernabéu Stadium Santiago Bernabéu Stadium (, ) is a retractable roof association football, football stadium in Madrid, Spain. With a seating capacity of around 83,000 following its extensive renovation completed in late 2024, the stadium has the second-largest ...

in May. Despite the chaos, the side managed to reach the semi-finals of the

, where it lost to eventual champions

. Another worry was the injury problems affecting goalkeeper Diego Alves, who only played in 26 of the 38 league matches. After the season, Valencia signed

Rodrigo De Paul Rodrigo Javier De Paul (; born 24 May 1994) is an Argentine professional football player who plays primarily as a central midfielder for club Atlético Madrid and the Argentina national team. Club career Racing Club Born in Sarandí, Greater ...

from Racing Club for a fee of €4.6 million to help out with the goalscoring, while successful ex- Rio Ave coach

Nuno Espírito Santo Nuno Herlander Simões Espírito Santo (born 25 January 1974), known as Nuno Espírito Santo or simply Nuno, is a Portuguese-São Toméan Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who played as a Goalkee ...

was appointed in the hope he could help Valencia return to winning ways. José Sevilla Álvarez, owner of

Bankia Bankia () was a Spanish financial services company that was formed in December 2010, consolidating the operations of seven regional savings banks, and was partially nationalized by the government of Spain in May 2012 due to the near-collapse ...

, sold the club to

Singaporean Singaporeans are the citizens and nationals of the sovereign island city-state of Singapore. Singapore is home to a people of a variety of ethno-racial-religious origins, with the city-state itself being a multi-racial, multi-cultural, m ...

to help Valencia clear its debt.

Players

:''The numbers are established according to the official website
www.valenciacf.com
'

From Valencia Mestalla

Out on loan

Detailed squad information

Transfers

In

Out

Club

Technical staff

Competitions

Overall

Overall friendly trophies

La Liga

League table

Matches

Copa del Rey

Valencia began in the last 32, beating

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: second division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish ...

side

Gimnàstic de Tarragona Club Gimnàstic de Tarragona, commonly known as Gimnàstic Tarragona or sometimes just Nàstic, is a Spanish sports club based in Tarragona, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Its football team plays in . The club was founded in 1886 an ...

before losing to

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

in the last 16.

UEFA Europa League

Group stage

Knockout phase

Pre-season and friendlies

Valencia began training on 8 July 2013. The stage of pre-season was in

Speyer Speyer (, older spelling ; ; ), historically known in English as Spires, is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate in the western part of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located on the left bank of the r ...

, Germany, from Wednesday 10 July until Sunday 21 July, all players were invited and Mestalla members invited were Fede Cartabia,

Mario Arqués Mario Arqués Blasco (born 14 January 1992) is a Spanish footballer who plays as a midfielder for Malaysia Super League club Kuala Lumpur City. Club career Arqués was born in Alicante, Valencia. A product of Villarreal CF's youth system, he ...

, Salva Ruiz,

José Luis Gayà José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced very differently in each of the two languages: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , ...

and

Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, prais ...

. Players joining days later included Ricardo Costa, João Pereira,

Adil Rami Adil Rami (; born 27 December 1985) is a French former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. Rami began his football career playing for amateur club Étoile Fréjus Saint-Raphaël, then known as ES Fréjus. Due to playing the spo ...

and

Jérémy Mathieu Jérémy Mathieu (born 29 October 1983) is a French former professional Association football, footballer who played as a centre-back or a left-back. Mathieu made 172 Ligue 1 appearances across seven seasons, split equally between FC Sochaux-Mont ...

on 9 July;

Paco Alcácer Francisco "Paco" Alcácer García (; born 30 August 1993) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a striker for UAE Pro League club Sharjah. Having come through the Valencia youth ranks, he started playing with the first team in 2010 ...

on 10 July, Jonas,

Éver Banega Éver Maximiliano David Banega (born 29 June 1988) is an Argentine professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Midfielder#Central midfielder, central midfielder for Argentine Primera División club Newell's Old Boys. He started ...

and

Sofiane Feghouli Sofiane Feghouli (; born 26 December 1989) is a professional footballer who plays for the Algeria national team. He mainly operates as a midfielder, but can also play as a winger and as an attacking midfielder. Feghouli made his senior interna ...

on 13 July;

Andrés Guardado José Andrés Guardado Hernández (; born 28 September 1986) is a Mexican former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Popularly known as ''Principito'' (Spanish for '' Little Prince''), Guardado came through the youth ranks at ...

Juan Bernat Juan Bernat Velasco (; born 1 March 1993) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a left-back for La Liga club Getafe. He began his career at Valencia, featuring in three La Liga campaigns for the club. He moved to Bayern Munich in ...

and Gayà on 22 July; and

Roberto Soldado Roberto Soldado Rillo (; born 27 May 1985) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a striker. After emerging through Real Madrid's youth system, he went on to appear in only 27 official matches for the first team (four goals ...

on 27 July.

Fernando Gago Fernando Rubén Gago (; born 10 April 1986) is an Argentine football Manager (association football), manager and former player. He is the current head coach of Liga MX club Club Necaxa, Necaxa. During his 16-year club career, limited by multiple ...

did not join the team. On 21 July, they returned to Valencia to participate in the

International Champions Cup The International Champions Cup (ICC) was an annual club association football (soccer) official competition staged from 2013 to 2019. COVID-19 resulted in the 2020 edition being cancelled. The tournament was later abolished, but the Women's I ...

, which began in Valencia, then continued in the United States in August. Valencia presentations and the Orange Trophy were played on 10 August.

Statistics

Appearances and goals

:''Last updated on 17 May 2014'' , - ! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center, ''Goalkeepers'' , - ! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center, ''Defenders'' , - ! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center, ''Midfielders'' , - ! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center, ''Forwards'' , - ! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center, Players who have made an appearance or had a squad number this season but have been loaned out or transferred

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Valencia Season 2013-14 Spanish football clubs 2013–14 season 2013-14 2013–14 UEFA Europa League participants seasons 2013–14 La Liga 2013 in the Valencian Community 2014 in the Valencian Community