The Constant Struggles of Valencia
For fans of a certain age, Valencia are one of Spain’s most significant clubs, but lately, that hasn’t proven to be true. Between 2002 and 2019, Valencia won the league twice and finished in the top four seven times. European football was regular, competing with the best was expected, making the Mestalla a tough place to visit was the standard, and having ambition was at the forefront of their plans.
Unfortunately, for about half-a-decade, things haven’t been quite as rosy. The last time they played in Europe’s premier club cup competition was in 2019, and after years of flirting with it, relegation to the Segunda division come the summer of 2026 is a very real possibility – something many fans are bracing themselves for.
Los Che currently sit 17th in La Liga, with just three wins all campaign and while its not all doom just yet given the competition, it’s not looking too optimistic either. For years, fans have grown tired of the ownership under Peter Lim, the controversial Singaporean businessman, currently worth $1.9 billion, who supporters can’t wait to see the back of.
Lim gained his interest in football having followed the glory years of Manchester United in the 1990s. Valencia was seen as the ideal in for him into the European football scene, and there was promise of a bright future under him. But close connections with super-agent Jorge Mendes, a string of confusing decisions including hiring Gary Neville – who he shared ownership of Salford City with – as head coach and a general negligence of the club caused anger.
Challenging the elite in La Liga was still common, and winning the Copa del Rey by beating Barcelona in the final in 2019 was a particular highlight. Incidentally, that would become the last great day for this famed institution, as mere months later, CEO Mateu Alemany (who was hired in 2017 and oversaw a small change in fortunes) would depart, as would esteemed head coach, Marcelino. Both would enjoy fair success elsewhere, while Valencia would begin their slow – but widely expected – decline.
The fan rebellion against them was still prevalent but it was after that wonderful night in 2019 that things truly turned sour. The squad was competitive, featuring players like Dani Parejo, Carlos Soler and Rodrigo Moreno, but Lim’s intense cost cutting and desire to raise funds to pay off debt was a problem. They were all let go in time, and Valencia were declining in competitiveness.
Lim himself wanted to take control of things, firing key executives and appointing Anil Murthy – a close colleague of his – as president of the club. The football figures were being phased out, and in came the businessmen to handle a proud Spanish institution, and the results were unsurprising.
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In the Covid-affected 2019-20 season, the anger reached boiling point, and Libertad VCF was founded. They became an actively-vocal fan group, calling out and criticizing decisions by Lim and the parent group that owns the club, Meriton Holdings.
“2019 was the turning point,” Paco Polit, a journalist and Valencia fan who has been vocal about the club’s ownership, says. “Both Marcelino and Mateu Alemany were, as manager and CEO, doing a decent job and were able to increase their decision-making powers because Valencia had succeeded in returning to the Champions League under them. Jealousy within other executives like president Anil Murthy was patent.”
“So Lim decided he wanted to snatch the remote again and do everything on his own, without the assistance and guidance of real professionals.”
“The fall of Valencia was sealed back in 2019 and we’re just watching it unfold lately, even after Murthy himself got sacked in 2022. Lim’s lack of investment in the club forced the squad to be worsened every summer, selling the best players for cash and only signing low-profile players.”
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Libertad VCF are seen as the voice of the voiceless, organising protests across the city, gathering thousands of fans and even challenging decisions by the club. They promoted the #LimGoHome movement, with their bright yellow banners visible at every Valencia-related event, and they are clear in their goal.
“It was pretty clear that the decision-making that year was only aimed at destroying every positive step that Marcelino and Mateu had taken. That involved sacking or selling players who had backed them, firing employees loyal (or perceived as) to them,” Polit added.
“So a bunch of angry fans decided to group together during the pandemic and created Libertad VCF, the only real fan group opposite Peter Lim, as both the Agrupacio de Penas (which also represents part of the fanbase) and the Asociacion del Pequeno Accionista (allegedly representing small shareholders) have behaved as sell-outs to Meriton, never really criticising anything wrong they did and signing agreements with the club.
“Libertad VCF involves both fans and shareholders, have organised half a dozen massive protests in the city (with thousands in attendance) and have been pursuing legal action against Peter Lim and the rest of the board.”
Libertad VCF’s first major protest came in May 2021, almost as soon as large gatherings were allowed after Covid lockdown restrictions. Over 15,000 fans and ex-players like Santiago Cañizares and Roberto Ayala took part. They wanted clarity over the club’s debt, a free voice – which had been blocked out after Valencia’s barred comments and replies on their social media channels at the time – a promise of a competitive team, and an ambition towards moving to their new stadium.
For nearly two decades, Valencia have been planning a move to the newly-constructed Nou Mestalla, a project previously halted due the club’s ailing finances. Lim’s arrival signalled new hope that he would revive the project, but his decisions have plunged the club into further financial abyss, making the move to the new stadium an even more distant dream.
The decline in the squad’s quality is clear to see. At the time they won the Copa del Rey, the squad was valued at around €450 million (according to Transfermarkt). In the years since, they’ve let go of talent, and they are currently valued at €156 million, with players sold for cheap, much to the anger of their fans. Of the current squad, 13 players are out of contract in the next two years, and with relegation possible and Lim’s interest dwindling, they could be in further trouble.
The latest star to leave them for a cut-price fee was goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili, moved to Liverpool in 2025 (a deal was agreed for him the previous year). His reported €30 million fee was a lot less than the club should’ve got – especially after a brilliant Euro 2024 campaign – but fans aren’t surprised given the club’s poor transfer dealings of late.
Polit: “Mamardashvili is worth more than €30 million. Gonçalo Guedes and Carlos Soler were sold for low fees and suddenly the team lost most of its ability to score. Kang-In Lee was released for free when everybody knew he could be a flagship player. The transfer policy in the last five years has been abhorrent and appalling. In that sense, anger for Mamardashvili’s sale was there, but it wasn’t that bad: many fans expected Lim to sell him for even less.”
The situation keeps getting worse at Mestalla. At their shareholder meeting at the end of December 2024 at the Mestalla, around 300 fans and minority shareholders continued to hound Meriton Holdings and president Layhoon Chan, leading the board of directors to suspend the club’s ordinary general meeting after just 13 minutes and go straight to a vote regarding a variety of club matters.
The protests carried on into the following Sunday, where, ahead of a crucial league match against Alavés, fans made their voices heard again. Supporters unveiled a banner that read “odio eterno a Meriton,” which translates to “eternal hatred for Meriton.” This was another addition to countless protests by supporters against Lim and Meriton’s ownership, and it looks unlikely to stop as long as the club doesn’t have new owners.
The year of 2024 was challenging as a whole. Floods in Valencia in October saw 221 people lose their lives making it the worst natural disaster in Spain’s recent history, and the club have still been a part of the recovery effort, with Lim donating the equivalent of the match gate fees from their first game back against Real Betis to the recovery effort. Still, his lack of presence in the city over the last five years has been noted.
By March of 2025, Chan was gone, and was replaced by Kiat Lim as president, the son of the controversial Peter. This came just weeks after reports that the Lim family were keen to sell Valencia, with a reported €400 million enough to appeal to them. Nothing was confirmed, but the anger still persisted around the family after it was suggested that Kiat, like Peter, would manage the club from overseas and only occasionally visit the club.
Soon after, after form picked up under new manager Carlos Corberán, they were able to defeat the demons of a possible relegation and maintain their La Liga status. However, the poor sales continued in the summer. They let go of Cristhian Mosquera – arguably their most exciting Spanish talent – to Arsenal for a low €15 million fee, and he has proven his capability with the Gunners, where he has made a positive start to life at the club.
Their form in the 2025/26 campaign has been strikingly poor. Three wins from the first 16 matches has them sat in 17th, one place above the relegation zone. Not too long ago, Valencia were a largely competitive side that the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid struggled again, but that hasn’t been the case in a long time – so far this campaign, Spain’s big two have scored 10 in two games against them, while struggles against lower clubs have hardly inspired fans.
On the plus side, the long-delayed stadium project seems to have taken flight after years of trouble, although this wasn’t without further trouble. In May 2025, a group called Ultimes vesprades a Mestalla (Last nights at Mestalla) aimed to stop the building of the new stadium, instead advocating for the redevelopment of the current Mestalla, citing a lack of audit for new funds which would plunge Valencia into further trouble.
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Not long after, in June 2025, Valencia announced a historic deal where they were able to secure funding for their new stadium. A €322 million financial restructuring would see the new stadium being developed at no extra strain on the club’s debt, and there was a belief that the 70,000-seater venue would be ready by 2027.
Speaking to Forbes, Kiat suggested the deal would solidify Valencia’s future: “We’re going from fewer than 500 hospitality seats to more than 6,500, from a dated venue to a modern destination that can host major events year-round. Nou Mestalla is not just bricks and seats – it’s the engine that will drive our next era of growth.”
Many traditional Valencia fans still aren’t pleased, though. They want to remain at the Mestalla, La Liga’s oldest active ground, which opened in 1923, which has preserved over a century of history. Sempre Mestalla, an appeal launched by the Libertad VCF group, proposes a refurbishment of 65,000 seats, a roof and greater hospitality sections rather than a brand new ground with no history, with help and insight from experts.
“Sempre Mestalla is about modernizing and reorganizing its spaces to enhance this activity every day with improved services, multipurpose areas, updated hospitality, and seamlessly integrated VIP experiences. All this without severing the connection with the neighborhood and the fans. And with something impossible to replicate elsewhere: the emotion of a stadium steeped in history, the oldest active stadium in La Liga and among the oldest in Spain,” they write on their website.
“65,000 seats steeped in history carry more weight than 70,000 soulless ones, because at Mestalla, the fans’ connection transcends mere numbers. Its steep stands, close to the pitch, place the fans squarely on top of the game, a pressure recognized by rivals, the press, and the players alike.” They believe their proposal retains the originality and uniqueness of the Mestalla, while coming in at a much lower cost – an estimated €134 million.
Where Valencia go from here remains to be seen. The Lim family has been known to not live up to their promises, and the new grand announcements don’t fill many with confidence. Having survived last season, there’s going to be another fight to beat relegation in the second half of this season. Despite slight glimmers of positivity, Valencia fans still protest against the Lim family at the stadium and on the internet.
The last few years have been desperately sad for a historic pillar of Spanish football, and have shown what negligence can do to a club as grand as Valencia.
By: Karan Tejwani / @karan_tejwani26
Featured Image: @GabFoligno / Soccrates Images / Getty Images / Aitor Alcalde Colomer / Getty Images