1999–2000 Valencia CF season

During Spring of 1999, after rumours of Claudio Ranieri being linked to Atletico Madrid[1] the club replaced the Italian head coach for the upcoming season, the final choices were Radomir Antic from Atletico Madrid with a contract until 2000 with colchoneros and Argentine Héctor Cúper from RCD Mallorca free in June[2] and whom, finally, was appointed as new manager.[3] Valencia CF emerged as a world football heavyweight after reaching the Champions League final. New coach Héctor Cúper [4] focused heavily on making the defence invincible, although, despite the general perception of a much more defensive Valencia, they actually conceded the same amount of league goals as they had under previous coach Claudio Ranieri. Among the key players were playmaker Gaizka Mendieta (voted as the best midfielder in the Champions League), fellow midfielder Gerard, goalkeeper Santiago Cañizares, winger Javier Farinós and striker Claudio López, who was sold to Lazio at the end of the season. Lazio had been Valencia's opponents in the quarter-final of the Champions League, which resulted in a 5–2 victory for Valencia against the eventual Italian champions. Gerard was also sold, to the team that had nurtured him, Barcelona, for £15 million. Barcelona had been Valencia's opponents in the semi-finals, and had been crushed 4–1 away. A 2–1 defeat at the Camp Nou still saw Valencia progress to the final at Stade de France, where they came up against Real Madrid in the first ever all-Spanish final of the competition. Valencia's dreams were shattered by a clear 3–0 defeat.

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  ESP Santiago Cañizares 2 DF  ARG Mauricio Pellegrino 3 DF  SWE Joachim Björklund 4 DF  ESP Javier Navarro 5 DF  SRB Miroslav Đukić 6 MF  ESP Gaizka Mendieta 7 FW  ARG Claudio López 8 MF  ESP Javier Farinós 9 MF  ESP Óscar 10 MF  ESP Angulo 11 FW  ROU Adrian Ilie 12 MF  ESP Jandro 13 GK  ESP Jorge Bartual 14 DF  ESP Gerard 15 DF  ITA Amedeo Carboni 16 DF  FRA Alain Roche 17 FW  ESP Juan Sánchez 18 FW  ARG Kily González 19 FW  CRO Goran Vlaović

No. Pos. Nation Player 20 DF  FRA Jocelyn Angloma 21 MF  ESP Luis Milla 22 MF  ESP Gerardo 23 MF  ESP David Albelda 24 DF  ARG Daniel Fagiani 25 GK  ESP Andrés Palop 26 MF  ESP Francisco Padalino 27 MF  ESP Curro Montoya 28 DF  ESP Antonio Diallo 29 GK  ESP Jonathan López 30 DF  ESP Manuel Cabezas 31 FW  ESP Fernando Mayora 32 FW  ESP Luciano Alkorta 33 DF  ESP Jesús Pañenka 34 MF  ESP Francisco Muedra 35 MF  ESP Íker Dañobeitia 36 DF  ESP Ignacio Dearro 37 MF  ESP Alex Pascual 38 MF  ESP José Braulio

Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 4 DF  ESP Francisco Camarasa (to Valencia B) 12 DF  ESP Miguel Ángel Soria López (on loan to Numancia)

No. Pos. Nation Player 22 MF  ROU Dennis Serban (on loan to Villareal)