Football Season Guide

Rayo Vallecano earned a surprise promotion, coming up through the playoffs. They almost didn’t even make the playoffs at all as they lost on the final day of the second division’s regular season, but results elsewhere meant they finished sixth anyway and they then went on to earn upset wins over Leganes and Girona. This promotion really wasn’t expected, so the club aren’t very prepared for a return to the top division. They haven’t been able to make many signings that really strengthen the squad, while they’ve even lost a key player with right-back Luis Advincula’s move to Boca Juniors. In a way, then, Rayo Vallecano enter the new season with a squad that isn’t any better than the one that came sixth in the second division last year. There is still time to go and it should be kept in mind that they only got promoted on June 20th, so have had less preparation time than other clubs. But, the summer planning hasn’t been great so far. The best piece of summer news for Rayo Vallecano is that coach Andoni Iraola is staying on. His contract expired at the end of last season and it wasn’t clear that Rayo Vallecano would be able to convince him to stay, but ultimately an extension was worked out. Iraola is a very young coach, but one who has already had successful moments. This, though, will be his first season in Spain’s top flight. Staying up is Rayo Vallecano’s only goal and they’ll look to take inspiration from what Elche did last year after coming sixth and then winning the promotion playoffs. But, there isn’t too much reason for confidence right now.