On A Day Like Today: Legendary president Luis Casanova passes away

On May 4th, 1999, Valencia CF's first LaLiga title winning president, Luis Casanova Giner, passed away. Aged 90, the legendary head of the club left behind an amazing legacy from his presidency, which ran from 1940 to 1959.

During his tenure, Valencia CF celebrated three league titles and three Copa wins, and Casanova was held in such high regard that Mestalla would go on to bear his name for a period.

He was entrusted with navigating through a difficult time, and would transform, modernise and professionalise Valencia CF on a sporting level and improve the infrastructure and social role of the club as well.

As a season ticket holder he had witnessed the promotion to the Primera División, and in 1934 he was in attendance for the Copa final against Madrid FC. A year later, joined the board as vice-president under Francisco Almenar, even becoming acting president in the organisation of the 1936 Copa final.

When the Civil War came to an end, having devastated the team and the stadium, Valencia CF regrouped. Casanova, alongside Eduardo Cubells and Luis Colina, contributed enormously financially, even postponing his own wedding in order to invest his savings in the construction of the stadium.

On a sporting level, he put together a side that included Iturraspe, Amadeo, Epi, Igoa, Gorostiza, Asensi, Álvaro and Mundo, and after becoming president in 1940 he combined the famous ‘Delantera Eléctrica’ forward line that helped win LaLiga in 1941-42, 1943-44 and 1946-47 (finishing runners-up in 1947-48, 1948-49 and 1952-53), also winning the Copa in 1941, 1949 and 1954, and reaching the final in 1944, 1945, 1946 and 1952. His Valencia CF would also win the Copa Eva Duarte -now known as the Spanish Supercopa- in 1949, having played in the final the previous year.

His era as president ended 19 years after first taking charge, when he stepped down from the role. In 1969 Mestalla was renamed the Luis Casanova, although he himself would ask for it to revert back to its original moniker in 1994. Casanova would also create CD Mestalla, the second team which lives on today as VCF Mestalla, and is regarded as one of Valencia CF's greatest ever presidents.