2017–18 Valencia CF Femenino season

The Valencia CF Femenino 2017–18 season was the ninth season of the women's football section of Valencia CF. The team ended the championship in 5th position and was eliminated in the national cup's quarterfinals by league champion Atlético Madrid.

Valencia CF Femenino

2017–18 season
Chairman	Anil Murthy
Manager	Jesús Oliva
Stadium	Antoni Puchades Stadium
Primera División	Fifth
Copa de la Reina	Quarterfinalist
Top goalscorer	María Paz Vilas (19)
Highest home attendance	1,600
Lowest home attendance	100
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Season summary

The 2016–17 season had seen the team attain its best result in the championship yet, third position, and play for the first time in the club's main venue, the Mestalla Stadium. The ambitious project behind this successful season was reported as a personal initiative of president Lay Hoon Chan,[1] but she resigned in mid-season due to the disappointing season by the men's team. The departure of manager Cristian Toro after five seasons was reported in May with one game remaining,[2] and on 20 June, a few days after the team was eliminated in the Copa de la Reina's semifinals by FC Barcelona, his second in command Jesús Oliva was appointed his successor.[3] Oliva, a coach at Valencia Femenino since the team's establishment in 2009, had been the manager of the club's B team that topped the 2015–16 Segunda División's Group 7.[4]

Most of the previous season's key signings left the team, as Estefanía Banini and Yanara Aedo returned to Washington Spirit, and Christiane Endler was transferred to Paris Saint-Germain, with the €30,000 fee to Valencia the first paid transfer in Spanish women's football.[5] Another notable loss was the departure of Claudia Zornoza, who left for Real Sociedad. Jennifer Vreugdenhil, coming from the Eredivisie, replaced Endler as the team's first-choice goalkeeper, and Valencia signed Noelia Bermúdez, Marta Carro, Sandra Hernández and Anair Lomba within the Primera División market. After the championship was underway the team was joined by Nadezhda Karpova, the first Russian to play in the Primera División.

Facing a harsh championship start, the team suffered more defeats in the six first games than in the whole previous campaign against top teams Athletic Bilbao, Atlético Madrid and Barcelona, and wasn't able to dislodge them from the three top positions for the remainder of the season. The team suffered a chain of injuries,[6] and so in the winter window transfer Mandy van den Berg, who had finished her WSL campaign with Reading, was signed to make up for the long-time absences of Natalia Gaitán and Paula Nicart in the team's defense.

Unlike the previous season, the Valencia derby on 9 December was scheduled for the team's usual ground at the Ciudad Deportiva de Paterna rather than in the Mestalla, and it was reported in the media that the club intended to reserve its main venue for the male team.[7] All political parties in the Valencian Courts issued an institutional statement demanding the club to allow the team to play in Mestalla.[8] Hours later the club replied with a statement defending its social policies for gender equality and women's sport, regretting the criticisms as an alleged lack of awareness of its commitment and leaving an open door to eventual future appearances of the women's team in Mestalla.[9] Months later, the away derby fixture was staged in Levante's main venue, the Ciutat de València Stadium, before a crowd of 14,000.[10]

By mid-April, a seven games non-winning streak left Valencia in sixth position, with a 4 points advantage to defend in the last four games in order to qualify for the Copa de la Reina.[11] Valencia won all four games and surpassed Betis in the table, ending fifth. The Cup's draw matched Valencia with league champion Atlético, which resulted in defeats in both games. One week later Jesús Oliva was sacked, but he stayed in the women's team as its academy's coordinator, while Óscar Suárez succeeded him as the team's new manager.[12]

Transfers

In					Out
Date	Pos.	Player	Origin		Date	Pos.	Player	Destination
2017–07–04 [13]	MF	Sandra Hernández	Barcelona		2017–06–19 [14]	MF	Estefanía Banini	Washington Spirit
2017–07–06 [15]	GK	Noelia Bermúdez	Levante		2017–06–22 [16]	MF	Esther Romero	Retirement
2017–07–06 [17]	GK	Andrea Esteban	Levante		2017–06–27 [18]	FW	Yanara Aedo	Washington Spirit
2017–07–11 [19]	DF	Marta Carro	Madrid		2017–06–29 [20]	GK	Esther Sullastres	Zaragoza
2017–07–14 [21]	MF	Anair Lomba	Espanyol		2017–07–03 [22]	DF	Sara Micó	Sporting Plaza de Argel
2017–07–18 [23]	GK	Jennifer Vreugdenhil	ADO Den Haag		2017–07–05 [24]	GK	Christiane Endler	Paris Saint-Germain
2017–09–22 [25]	FW	Nadezhda Karpova	Chertanovo		2017–07–05 [26]	MF	Claudia Florentino	Albacete
2018–01–08 [27]	DF	Mandy van den Berg	Reading		2017–07–10 [28]	MF	Claudia Zornoza	Real Sociedad
					2017–07–28 [29]	MF	Maya Yamamoto	Zaragoza

Results

  Win   Draw   Loss   Postponed

Pre-season

4 August 2017 COTIF – G1	Valencia	1–0	Levante	L'Alcúdia (Els Arcs)
19:15	Borini  67'	Report		Attendance: 1,600 Referee: Fuentes Molina

7 August 2017 COTIF – G2	Valencia	2–0	Atlético Madrid	L'Alcúdia (Els Arcs)
17:30	Borini  42' Cubedo  49'	Report		Referee: Frigols Sancho

9 August 2017 COTIF – G3	Valencia	2–0	Albi	L'Alcúdia (Els Arcs)
17:30	Peiró  5' Esteban  22'	Report		Stadium: Els Arcs Referee: Tórtola García

10 August 2017 COTIF – G4	Valencia	0–1	Morocco (national team)	L'Alcúdia (Els Arcs)
19:15		Report	Meryem  55'	Stadium: Els Arcs Referee: Barceló Gómez

11 August 2017 COTIF – F	Valencia	1–3	Atlético Madrid	L'Alcúdia (Els Arcs)
20:15	Borini  28'	Report	Bermúdez  21' Carro  25' (o.g.) Bautista  44'	Stadium: Els Arcs Attendance: 4,000 Referee: Amorós Ramírez

14 August 2017 MIFT – G1	Valencia	1–2	Montpellier	Fuenlabrada (La Aldehuela)
11:00

15 August 2017 MIFT – G2	Valencia	0–3	Anderlecht	Fuenlabrada (La Aldehuela)
13:00

16 August 2017 MIFT – G3	Atlético Madrid	1–1	Valencia	Fuenlabrada (La Aldehuela)
13:00

Primera División

2 September 2017 1	Real Sociedad	0–1	Valencia	Usurbil (Zubieta)
		Report	Vilas  56'	Attendance: 500 Referee: Peláez Arnillas

10 September 2017 2	Valencia	1–1	Santa Teresa	Paterna (Antoni Puchades)
	Vilas  6'	Report	Lima  45'	Attendance: 400 Referee: Líndez Ciurana

24 September 2017 3	Athletic Bilbao	3–2	Valencia	Lezama (Facilities)
	Corres  10', 76' Zárate  80'	Report	Vilas  16' Borini  84'	Attendance: 471 Referee: Fernández Ceferino

1 October 2017 4	Valencia	1–0	Sporting Huelva	Paterna (Antoni Puchades)
	Hernández  14'	Report		Attendance: 450 Referee: Sánchez Miguel

7 October 2017 5	Valencia	0–1	Atlético Madrid	Paterna (Antoni Puchades)
		Report	Corredera  38'	Attendance: 1,250 Referee: Martínez Madrona

14 October 2017 6	Barcelona	2–0	Valencia	Sant Joan (Joan Gamper)
	Duggan  28' Putellas  76'	Report		Attendance: 623 Referee: Huerta de Aza

29 October 2017 7	Valencia	4–0	Madrid	Paterna (Antoni Puchades)
	Lomba  44', 64' Szymanowski  53' Karpova  72'	Report		Attendance: 400 Referee: González González

5 November 2017 8	Granadilla	0–0	Valencia	San Isidro (La Palmera)
		Report		Attendance: 700 Referee: Arregui Gamir

12 November 2017 9	Valencia	5–2	Betis	Paterna (Antoni Puchades)
	Karpova  2', 62' Vilas  40' Lomba  47' Férez  72'	Report	Borja  48' Moreno  68'	Attendance: 800 Referee: Líndez Ciurana

18 November 2017 10	Sevilla	1–3	Valencia	Seville (Viejo Nervión)
	Morilla  63'	Report	Szymanowski  16', 40' Peiró  22'	Attendance: 186 Referee: Frías Acedo

2 December 2017 11	Valencia	1–1	Espanyol	Paterna (Antoni Puchades)
	Vilas  60'	Report	del Estal  67'	Attendance: 400 Referee: Casal Fernández

18 November 2017 12	Rayo Vallecano	4–2	Valencia	Madrid (Fundación Rayo)
	del Álamo  16' Pablos  48', 73' Ponciano  86'	Report	Vilas  24' Férez  57'	Attendance: 186 Referee: Prieto Martínez

9 December 2017 13	Valencia	2–3	Levante	Paterna (Antoni Puchades)
	Vilas  36' Peiró  90+1'	Report	Ramos  62' (pen.) Casado  75', 82'	Attendance: 1,600 Referee: Huerta de Aza

16 December 2017 14	Zaragoza	1–3	Valencia	Zaragoza (Pedro Sancho)
	Yamamoto  90+2'	Report	Vilas  6' Férez  72' Peiró  79'	Attendance: 400 Referee: Acevedo Dudley

7 January 2018 15	Valencia	3–0	Albacete	Paterna (Antoni Puchades)
	Szymanowski  5', 33' Férez  85'	Report		Referee: Líndez Ciurana

13 January 2018 16	Valencia	3–1	Real Sociedad	Paterna (Antoni Puchades)
	Vilas  33', 44', 58'	Report	Beristain  89'	Attendance: 650 Referee: Cebollada López

28 January 2018 17	Santa Teresa	1–1	Valencia	Badajoz (El Viejo Vivero)
	Merino 28'	Report	Szymanowski  70'	Attendance: 600 Referee: Kinga-Hajnalka

4 February 2018 18	Valencia	3–1	Athletic Bilbao	Paterna (Antoni Puchades)
	Vilas  6', 44' Hernández  54'	Report	Cirauqui  16'	Attendance: 100 Referee: Prieto Martínez

11 February 2018 19	Sporting Huelva	1–3	Valencia	Huelva (La Orden)
	Castelló  47'	Report	Vilas  10', 32' Hernández  89'	Attendance: 100 Referee: Huerta de Aza

17 February 2018 20	Atlético Madrid	1–0	Valencia	Majadahonda (Cerro del Espino)
	Bermúdez  24'	Report		Attendance: 463 Referee: Casal Fernández

25 February 2018 21	Valencia	1–4	Barcelona	Paterna (Antoni Puchades)
	Peiró  90+1'	Report	León  4' Martens  35' Torrejón  45+1' Andonova  62'	Attendance: 1,200 Referee: Contreras Patiño

10 March 2018 22	Madrid	2–1	Valencia	San Sebastián (Matapiñonera)
	del Río  72' Geyse  81'	Report	Peiró  55'	Attendance: 322= Referee: Martínez Madrona

18 March 2018 23	Valencia	0–0	Granadilla	Paterna (Antoni Puchades)
		Report		Attendance: 400 Referee: Líndez Ciurana

24 March 2018 24	Betis	0–0	Valencia	Seville (Luis del Sol)
		Report		Attendance: 350 Referee: Sánchez Miguel

31 March 2018 25	Valencia	1–1	Sevilla	Paterna (Antoni Puchades)
	Vilas  73'	Report	Calderón  35'	Attendance: 1,000 Referee: Arregui Gamir

15 April 2018 26	Espanyol	0–0	Valencia	Sant Adrià (Dani Jarque)
		Report		Attendance: 400 Referee: Prieto Martínez

22 April 2018 27	Valencia	4–1	Rayo Vallecano	Paterna (Antoni Puchades)
	Santiago  7' (o.g.) Vilas  32', 44', 49'	Report	Domínguez  80'	Attendance: 400 Referee: Rivera Olmedo

28 April 2018 28	Levante	0–1	Valencia	Valencia (Ciutat de València)
		Report	Lomba  36'	Attendance: 14,000 Referee: Martínez Madrona

5 May 2018 29	Valencia	1–0	Zaragoza	Paterna (Antoni Puchades)
	Peiró  90+4'	Report		Attendance: 900 Referee: Kinga-Hajnalka

12 May 2018 30	Albacete	0–2	Valencia	Albacete (Andrés Iniesta)
		Report	García  35' Szymanowski  42'	Attendance: 250 Referee: Acevedo Dudley

Final table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts	Qualification or relegation
3	Athletic Bilbao	30	18	2	10	51	41	56	Qualification for the Copa de la Reina
4	Granadilla	30	16	6	8	48	33	54
5	Valencia	30	14	8	8	49	32	50
6	Betis	30	14	4	12	40	37	46
7	Real Sociedad	30	10	8	12	42	37	38

Copa de la Reina

19 May 2018 QF – L1	Atlético Madrid	2–1	Valencia	Majadahonda (Cerro del Espino)
20:45	Corredera  57' Sampedro  63'	Report	Peiró  37'	Attendance: 916 Referee: Casal Fernández

23 May 2018 QF – L2	Valencia	1–2	Atlético Madrid	Paterna (Antoni Puchades)
21:00	Szymanowski  90+5'	Report	Sampedro  9' Falcón  90+3'	Attendance: 1,700 Referee: Acevedo Dudley

Primera División statistics

No.	Pos.	Born	Since	FIFA		Player	Games	Goals	Disciplinary record
				Nationality	FC
1	GK	1994	2017–18	Costa Rica	2014	Noelia Bermúdez	2	0	0	0
2	DF	1990	2017–18	Netherlands	2010	Mandy van den Berg	14	0	0	0
3	DF	1994	2014–15	Spain	2015	Paula Nicart	11	0	0	0
4	DF	1992	2010–11	Spain		Salomé Navalón	13	0	2	0
5	DF	1994	2009–10	Spain	2015	Ivana Andrés	29	0	5	0
6	MF	1997	2017–18	Spain	2018	Sandra Hernández	28	3	3	0
7	MF	1988	2015–16	Brazil	2017	Joyce Borini	26	1	6	0
8	MF	1998	2016–17	Spain		Ángeles Carrión	7	0	1	0
9	FW	1998	2016–17	Spain		Marta Peiró	23	6	1	0
10	FW	1988	2013–14	Spain	2008	María Paz Vilas	28	19	4	0
11	FW	1990	2016–17	Argentina	2014	Marianela Szymanowski	27	7	1	0
13	GK	1995	2017–18	Netherlands	2018	Jennifer Vreugdenhil	28	0	0	0
14	MF	1991	2014–15	Spain	2015	Carol Férez	21	3	1	0
15	DF	1991	2017–18	Spain	2018	Marta Carro	29	1	3	0
16	MF	1989	2017–18	Spain		Anair Lomba	21	4	3	0
17	MF	1989	2016–17	Spain	2012	Débora García	20	1	1	0
18	DF	1991	2015–16	Colombia	2011	Natalia Gaitán	5	0	0	0
19	FW	1995	2017–18	Russia	2016	Nadezhda Karpova	22	3	5	0
20	MF	1989	2013–14	Spain		Georgina Carreras	25	0	2	0
21	FW	1996	2017–18	Spain		Andrea Esteban	4	0	0	0
26	DF	1998	2013–14	Spain		Cintia Montagut	8	0	0	0
27	DF	1997	2016–17	Spain		Neus Llinares	1	0	0	0
29	MF	1998	2017–18	Spain		Paula Sancho	19	0	0	0
30	DF	1999	2017–18	Spain		Cristina Cubedo	19	0	2	0
	DF	1997	2017–18	Spain		Lidia Navarro	1	0	0	0
	MF	2000	2017–18	Spain		Alejandra Serrano	10	0	0	0
	MF		2017–18	Spain		Julia Aguado	1	0	0	0

References

1. Valencia Femenino, the personal project of Layhoon. Deporte Valenciano (in Spanish), 7 March 2017.
2. Cristian Toro leaves the bench of Valencia CF Femenino. EFE (in Spanish), 19 May 2017.
3. Jesús Oliva confirmed as Valencia Femenino's new manager. Levante-EMV (in Spanish), 20 June 2017.
4. Femenino B, Segunda champion!! Diario de Mestalla (in Spanish), 16 May 2016
5. Endler, who moves to PSG, is the first female player for whom a club pays a transfer. Levante-EMV (in Spanish), 20 June 2017.
6. Plague of injuries in Valencia Femenino. BeSoccer (in Spanish), 2 November 2017.
7. Women's football [is left] out of Mestalla. El Mundo (in Spanish), 30 November 2017.
8. Les Corts reprimand València CF for expelling its women's team from Mestalla. El Diario (in Spanish), 1 December 2017.
9. Valencia CF replies to Les Corts. Cadena SER (in Spanish), 1 December 2017.
10. Galicia's Lombi decides a Valencian derby with 14,000 attendants. La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish), 28 April 2018.
11. Valencia Femenino, point-by-point closer to the Cup. Superdeporte (in Spanish), 15 April 2018
12. Óscar Suárez replaces Jesús Oliva as the manager of Valencia CF Femenino. Levante-EMV (in Spanish), 1 June 2018.
13. Sandra Henrández signs for Valencia Cf for two seasons. Diario AS (in Spanish), 4 July 2018.
14. Argentina's Estefania Banini rejoins NWSL's Washington Spirit. The Washington Post (in English), 19 June 2017.
15. Noelia Bermúdez, from Levante UD to Valencia CF. Las Provincias (in Spanish), 7 July 2018.
16. . Las Provincias (in Spanish), 22 June 2017.
17. Valencia signs Andrea Esteban and Noelia Bermúdez. Diario AS (in Spanish), 6 July 2018.
18. . Vavel (in English), 28 June 2017.
19. Valencia CF signs Marta Carro from Madrid CFF. Super Deporte (in Spanish), 11 July 2018.
20. Esther Sullastres returns to Zaragoza CFF. Aragón Digital (in Spanish), 29 June 2017.
21. Valencia CF signs 'Lombi', coming from RCD Espanyol. Las Provincias (in Spanish), 14 July 2018.
22. Sara Micó, a deluxe reinforcement for Sporting Plaza de Argel. Diario Información (in Spanish), 3 July 2017.
23. Valencia CF Femenino signs Dutch goalkeeper Jennifer Vreugdenhil. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish), 18 July 2017.
24. Historic transfer of Christiane Endler to women's PSG. Vavel (in Spanish), 5 July 2017.
25. Nadezhda Kárpova signs for VCF Femenino. Vavel (in Spanish), 22 September 2017.
26. Funda makes its first signing. Aúpa Alba (in Spanish), 5 July 2017.
27. Valencia CF Femenino signs Netherlands' Mandy van den Berg. Diario AS (in Spanish), 8 January 2018.
28. Claudia Zornoza, third signing of Real Sociedad. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish), 10 July 2017.
29. Zaragoza Femenino signs Japan's Maya Yamamoto. Heraldo de Aragón (in Spanish), 28 July 2017.