Editing Valencia CF (section)

===1940s: Emergence as a giant in Spanish football===
[[file:Valencia_cf_festejando_con_la_copa_1941.jpg|thumb|left|Players of Valencia celebrating after having won the 1941 Copa del Rey final]]
The [[Spanish Civil War]] halted the progress of the Valencia team until 1941, when it won the Copa del Rey, beating [[RCD Espanyol]] in the final. In the 1941–42 season, the club won its first Spanish [[La Liga]] championship title, although winning the Copa del Rey was more reputable than the championship at that time. The club maintained its consistency to capture the league title again in the 1943–44 season, as well as the 1946–47 league edition. They would conclude their decade of success by winning the 1949 Copa del Rey; this meant Valencia ended the decade with a record of three La Liga and two Copa del Rey titles. This success would help cement the club's name in Spanish football.
[[File:Faas Wilkes 1955.jpg|thumb|right|[[Faas Wilkes]] in 1955]]
In the 1950s, Valencia failed to emulate the success of the previous decade, even though it grew as a club. A restructuring of Mestalla resulted in an increase in spectator capacity to 45,000, while the club had a number of Spanish and foreign stars. Players such as [[Spain men's national football team|Spanish international]] [[Antonio Puchades]] and [[Netherlands|Dutch]] forward [[Faas Wilkes]] graced the pitch at Mestalla. In the 1952–53 season, the club finished as runners-up in La Liga, and in the following season, won the Copa del Rey, then known as the Copa del Generalísimo.