Levante UD celebrates 110 years and Ciutat de València celebrates its 50th anniversary

Levante UD celebrates this Monday 110 years since its foundation in 1909, while the Ciutat de València stadium celebrates its 50th anniversary today since its construction in 1969.

The LaLiga club, which presents during the day the different events it plans to celebrate for these anniversaries, is currently in one of its best moments in history: in the First Division, with its most expensive squad and with several ambitious projects underway, such as the remodeling of the Ciutat de València stadium itself and the construction of a new sports city.

Levante FC

The dean of football in Valencia, then under the name Levante FC, was founded in September 1909 with José Ballester as president. At the same time, as the club explains on its official website, Gimnástico emerged and both teams played separately until their merger at the end of the Civil War in August 1939.

The inauguration of the Campo de La Cruz in September 1922 or the premiere of the Stadium or Vallejo in 1925 were the most outstanding milestones of Levante and Gimnástico until the debut of UDLG (Unión Deportiva Levante-Gimnástico) in the Second Division on December 2, 1934, in Malaga against Malacitano.

Current Name since 1941

The club acquired its current name in the first days of June 1941. Levante kept the name and the heritage of Gimnástico materialized in the attire (blue and garnet) and in the Vallejo stadium, where it would play its first match in the First Division in 1963 after the promotion achieved the previous season by eliminating Deportivo de la Coruña.

Although its experience in the top category lasted only two seasons, Levante maintained its growth with the construction of its new stadium, which was inaugurated on September 9, 1969, with a friendly match against Valencia, although the Antonio Román stadium opened its doors to official competition five days later against Palma in the Third Division and Navarro scored the first goal of the new field.

Return after 40 years

After almost 40 years of absence, Levante returned to the First Division in 2004 and since then has experienced its best period with twelve seasons in the elite of national football. Its best sporting moment came with Juan Ignacio Martínez as coach and with its first and only participation in a European competition in 2012.

In these 110 years of history, renowned footballers such as Faas Wilkes, Johan Cruyff, Carlos Caszely, Pedja Mijatovic, or the Spaniards Domínguez and Antonio Calpe have passed through Levante.

Levante, led for the last ten years by president Quico Catalán, now faces an ambitious future, as it is about to start the construction of its new sports city in Nazaret (Valencia) and has already begun to remodel its stadium, with the installation of its new roof scheduled to begin in May 2020.