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.

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,Valencia Femenino, the personal project of Layhoon. Deporte Valenciano (in Spanish), 7 March 2017. 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,Cristian Toro leaves the bench of Valencia CF Femenino. EFE (in Spanish), 19 May 2017. 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.Jesús Oliva confirmed as Valencia Femenino's new manager. Levante-EMV (in Spanish), 20 June 2017. 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.Femenino B, Segunda champion!! Diario de Mestalla (in Spanish), 16 May 2016

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.Endler, who moves to PSG, is the first female player for whom a club pays a transfer. Levante-EMV (in Spanish), 20 June 2017. 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,Plague of injuries in Valencia Femenino. BeSoccer (in Spanish), 2 November 2017. 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.Women's football [is left] out of Mestalla. El Mundo (in Spanish), 30 November 2017. All political parties in the Valencian Courts issued an institutional statement demanding the club to allow the team to play in Mestalla.Les Corts reprimand València CF for expelling its women's team from Mestalla. El Diario (in Spanish), 1 December 2017. 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.Valencia CF replies to Les Corts. Cadena SER (in Spanish), 1 December 2017. Months later, the away derby fixture was staged in Levante's main venue, the Ciutat de València Stadium, before a crowd of 14,000.Galicia's Lombi decides a Valencian derby with 14,000 attendants. La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish), 28 April 2018.

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.Valencia Femenino, point-by-point closer to the Cup. Superdeporte (in Spanish), 15 April 2018 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.Óscar Suárez replaces Jesús Oliva as the manager of Valencia CF Femenino. Levante-EMV (in Spanish), 1 June 2018.

Transfers In Out Date Pos. Player Origin Date Pos. Player Destination 2017–07–04 Sandra Henrández signs for Valencia Cf for two seasons . Diario AS (in Spanish), 4 July 2018. MF Sandra Hernández Barcelona 2017–06–19 Argentina's Estefania Banini rejoins NWSL's Washington Spirit. The Washington Post (in English), 19 June 2017. MF Estefanía Banini Washington Spirit 2017–07–06 Noelia Bermúdez, from Levante UD to Valencia CF. Las Provincias (in Spanish), 7 July 2018. GK Noelia Bermúdez Levante 2017–06–22 . Las Provincias (in Spanish), 22 June 2017. MF Esther Romero Retirement 2017–07–06 Valencia signs Andrea Esteban and Noelia Bermúdez. Diario AS (in Spanish), 6 July 2018. GK Andrea Esteban Levante 2017–06–27 . Vavel (in English), 28 June 2017. FW Yanara Aedo Washington Spirit 2017–07–11 Valencia CF signs Marta Carro from Madrid CFF. Super Deporte (in Spanish), 11 July 2018. DF Marta Carro Madrid 2017–06–29 Esther Sullastres returns to Zaragoza CFF. Aragón Digital (in Spanish), 29 June 2017. GK Esther Sullastres Zaragoza 2017–07–14 Valencia CF signs 'Lombi', coming from RCD Espanyol. Las Provincias (in Spanish), 14 July 2018. MF Anair Lomba Espanyol 2017–07–03 Sara Micó, a deluxe reinforcement for Sporting Plaza de Argel. Diario Información (in Spanish), 3 July 2017. DF Sara Micó Sporting Plaza de Argel 2017–07–18 Valencia CF Femenino signs Dutch goalkeeper Jennifer Vreugdenhil. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish), 18 July 2017. GK Jennifer Vreugdenhil ADO Den Haag 2017–07–05 Historic transfer of Christiane Endler to women's PSG. Vavel (in Spanish), 5 July 2017. GK Christiane Endler Paris Saint-Germain 2017–09–22 Nadezhda Kárpova signs for VCF Femenino. Vavel (in Spanish), 22 September 2017. FW Nadezhda Karpova Chertanovo 2017–07–05 Funda makes its first signing. Aúpa Alba (in Spanish), 5 July 2017. MF Claudia Florentino Albacete 2018–01–08 Valencia CF Femenino signs Netherlands' Mandy van den Berg. Diario AS (in Spanish), 8 January 2018. DF Mandy van den Berg Reading 2017–07–10 Claudia Zornoza, third signing of Real Sociedad. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish), 10 July 2017. MF Claudia Zornoza Real Sociedad 2017–07–28 Zaragoza Femenino signs Japan's Maya Yamamoto. Heraldo de Aragón (in Spanish), 28 July 2017. MF Maya Yamamoto Zaragoza

Results

Pre-season

Primera División

+Final tablePos 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

Primera División statistics No. Pos. Born Since FIFA Player Games Goals Disciplinary record Nationality FC 1 1994 2017–18 2014 2 0 0 0 2 1990 2017–18 2010 14 0 0 0 3 1994 2014–15 2015 11 0 0 0 4 1992 2010–11 13 0 2 0 5 1994 2009–10 2015 29 0 5 0 6 1997 2017–18 2018 28 3 3 0 7 1988 2015–16 2017 26 1 6 0 8 1998 2016–17 7 0 1 0 9 1998 2016–17 23 6 1 0 10 1988 2013–14 2008 28 19 4 0 11 1990 2016–17 2014 27 7 1 0 13 1995 2017–18 2018 28 0 0 0 14 1991 2014–15 2015 21 3 1 0 15 1991 2017–18 2018 29 1 3 0 16 1989 2017–18 21 4 3 0 17 1989 2016–17 2012 20 1 1 0 18 1991 2015–16 2011 5 0 0 0 19 1995 2017–18 2016 22 3 5 0 20 1989 2013–14 25 0 2 0 21 1996 2017–18 4 0 0 0 26 1998 2013–14 8 0 0 0 27 1997 2016–17 1 0 0 0 29 1998 2017–18 19 0 0 0 30 1999 2017–18 19 0 2 0 1997 2017–18 1 0 0 0 2000 2017–18 10 0 0 0 2017–18 1 0 0 0

References