Valencia Appoint Javier Aguirre After Early-Season Collapse

Valencia have appointed Javier Aguirre as their new head coach until the end of the 2026/27 season, with an option for another year, after an opening seven matches that have left them 19th in La Liga.

The 67-year-old replaces Carlos Corberán, who was dismissed alongside football CEO Ron Gourlay on 13 September after Valencia took just one point from their first five league games. VCF Mestalla coach Óscar Sánchez added four more against Alavés and Real Sociedad during his spell in charge, but Aguirre still arrives with a side that has scored only four goals and lost five of its opening seven matches.

There is a bit more going on at Mestalla than a simple managerial change.

Corberán had signed a new contract until 2028 on 6 July, when Valencia spoke about building a “competitive, consistent and stable” sporting model. Sixty-nine days later, he and Gourlay were both gone.

Their departures brought Braulio Vázquez back to the club on the same day, 13 years after his previous spell as sporting director. He returns after nine seasons running Osasuna’s football operation, a period that included promotion back to La Liga, European qualification and a Copa del Rey final.

Aguirre is his first major appointment back at Valencia.

Braulio said during his presentation that he wanted a manager who understood the league and would not be put off by the size of the job. Aguirre certainly ticks the experience box. Valencia will be his seventh Spanish club after Osasuna, Atlético Madrid, Zaragoza, Espanyol, Leganés and Mallorca, while he returns to club football after taking Mexico to the last 16 of the 2026 World Cup.

For a club that has spent much of the past few seasons trying to get some sort of stability back, the choice makes sense.

Valencia are still six-time Spanish champions, eight-time Copa del Rey winners and a club that reached consecutive Champions League finals before winning La Liga and the UEFA Cup in 2004. Recent seasons have been much less glamorous. Relegation battles, executive changes and continued supporter opposition to Peter Lim’s ownership have become a far more familiar part of life around Mestalla.

Corberán had actually given them some breathing room last season. He arrived in December 2024 with Valencia in trouble and eventually took them to ninth, which made the decision to extend his contract in July understandable enough at the time. Two months later, the club had already torn up that plan and started again.

Braulio’s return suggests the changes will go beyond the manager. He has already spoken about adding another centre-back and strengthening the sporting structure around the first team, while the club is also preparing for a major shift off the pitch with Nou Mestalla scheduled to open in summer 2027.

So Valencia now find themselves trying to do several things at once: drag the first team away from the relegation zone, rebuild the football department and prepare to move into a stadium that has spent long enough as a construction story to qualify as part of the club’s modern history.

Aguirre gets the international break before his first league match away to Racing Santander on 11 October.

By then, Valencia will have a new manager, a returning sporting director and another new plan. At Mestalla, the unusual part would probably be if things stayed quiet for a while.