Valencia appoint Javier Aguirre as head coach to replace Carlos Corberan

Managerial appointment

Valencia CF confirmed the hiring of Javier Aguirre on Wednesday, 23 September 2026, agreeing to terms on a deal running until the conclusion of the current season. The agreement includes a club option to extend the Mexican manager's contract for an additional campaign. Reports in the media indicate that this renewal will activate automatically if Aguirre manages to guide the club into European qualification through La Liga. Aguirre is scheduled to be officially presented on Monday before taking full charge of first-team training.

Valencia announced the arrangement in an official statement detailing the contractual terms.

“The Mexican coach joins until the end of the current season and the club will have an option to extend his contract for one additional season.”

Crisis at Mestalla

The appointment follows the dismissal of Carlos Corberan on 13 September 2026, alongside his coaching staff, after a poor start to the domestic campaign. Under Corberan, Valencia collected just one point from their opening five La Liga fixtures. Reserve-team manager Oscar Sanchez stepped in as interim coach for two matches, overseeing a 1-0 away victory against Alaves followed by a home defeat to Real Sociedad. Valencia currently occupy 19th place in the 20-team table, sitting second-from-bottom with four points from seven games, one point clear of 20th-placed Malaga.

Aguirre's track record

Valencia represents the seventh Spanish club of Aguirre's managerial career. The 67-year-old coach previously managed CA Osasuna, Atletico Madrid, Real Zaragoza, Espanyol, CD Leganes, and RCD Mallorca. During his tenure at Osasuna, he guided the club to the 2005 Copa del Rey final and secured a fourth-place league finish in 2006 to reach the Champions League qualifying rounds. He later spent three years in charge of Atletico Madrid and led Mallorca to their first Copa del Rey final in 21 years before departing in 2024. Outside Spain, he has managed national teams including Japan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Mexico across three separate stints, winning the CONCACAF Gold Cup in 2009 and 2025, and the CONCACAF Nations League in 2024–2025. At club level in Mexico, he secured a league championship with Pachuca in 1999 and the CONCACAF Champions League with Monterrey in 2021. Aguirre recently concluded his third tenure with Mexico at the 2026 World Cup, where the co-hosts reached the round of 16 before falling to England.

Ownership tensions

Aguirre becomes Valencia's 18th permanent head coach since 2012, arriving during an extended period of institutional and sporting instability. The club has remained in Spain's top division continuously since 1987 and won six La Liga championships, most recently in 2002 and 2004 under Rafael Benitez, alongside consecutive Champions League final appearances in 2000 and 2001. However, Valencia have failed to finish higher than ninth place in any of the previous seven seasons since the 2018–2019 campaign. Earlier this month, Singaporean billionaire owner Peter Lim also dismissed chief executive officer Ron Gourlay. Supporters have staged sustained protests against Peter Lim and his son Kiat Lim, who took over as club president in March 2025.