Juan Costa, the origin of a legacy

Valencia CF have now reached 3,000 matches played in LALIGA, being the fourth club with the most games in the top national competition. This milestone began on November 22, 1931 at Sarriá against RCD Espanyol, although it took seven more days for the Girona-born forward Juan Costa to score the first goal for Valencia CF in the First Division.

On November 29, 1931, the man from Palafrugell (10-02-1911 / 25-02-1985) made history with Valencia CF (then Valencia FC) in the First Division. He scored the first Valencia CF goal in the top national competition, but he did not settle for that, as he was also the author of the first hat-trick seen at Mestalla in that competition.

This historic feat came against Real Unión Club de Irún, on matchday two of the 1931-32 season, with the visiting team’s goalkeeper being Antonio Emery, grandfather of former Valencia CF coach Unai Emery. The final result against the Gipuzkoa side was 5-1 for us. Costa scored the first, the second and the fifth goals, and also assisted Jesús Navarro for the third.

In that match, the Valencia CF starting XI was made up of: Ramón Nebot, Luis Pasarín, Rafael Fernández, Tonín Conde, Enrique Molina, Abdón García, Antonio Sánchez, Domingo Torredeflot, José Vilanova, Jesús Navarro (x2) and Juan Costa himself (x3).

3,000 matches after that first game in LALIGA, this historic feat returns to gift Juan Costa the symbol he deserved to take with him that day: the ball for his three goals scored.