European giants have massive unfinished 'ghost ground' that's been empty for 16 years
La Liga club Valencia have a future home that's still empty but no longer abandoned after work finally resumed
Chris Nee
Spanish giants Valencia play in one of the most iconic grounds in world football.
Valencia have played at the famous Mestalla for more than 100 years and continue to do so despite long-standing plans to move to a new stadium 4km away.
The building of Nou Mestalla has been beset by problems from the start.
Originally slated as the venue for the Champions League final in 2010, Valencia broke ground on their new 80,000-seater stadium in 2007 but suspended construction in 2009 because of ongoing financial issues at the club.
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Nou Mestalla stood abandoned until January, when work finally resumed after 16 years of developmental stasis.
"I believe it is now or never for the new stadium,” club president Lay Hoon Chan told fans at the club’s annual general meeting in December 2023.
Fenwick Iribarren Architects put forward refreshed plans as long ago as 2013. Various attempts have been made to scale back and restart the problem since then.
“Everybody has to admit that we’ve gone from an economically difficult time, but austerity doesn’t mean it can’t be a stupendous, magnificent stadium and a source of pride for the Valencia CF fans,” co-founder Mark Fenwick said in 2022.
The Nou Mestalla project's next incarnation presented an updated design and was listed as a potential venue to host some of the Spain-based matches at World Cup 2030, though the stadium ultimately did not make the cut.
Before it dropped off the World Cup list, a source close to what was then a 66,000-seater development project said that that the updated design provides a more open concept, emphasising a Mediterranean experience similar to the current ground, referencing the original Mestalla's familiar open bowl set-up.
Valencia, who sit in 14th in La Liga under new manager Carlos Corberan after being joint-bottom on points when he took over on Christmas Eve, plan to play their first match at Nou Mestalla at the start of the 2027-28 season.
Former West Bromwich Albion manager and Valencia native Corberan will be eager to still be in charge when his boyhood club finally move into their new home.