Football Season Guide

For Rayo Vallecano, the 2021/22 campaign was a season of two halves. After securing a surprise promotion through the playoffs the season before, they hit the ground running and, spurred on by summer signing Radamel Falcao, they put points on the board early. They were especially strong at home and had the best home record in Europe’s top five leagues at one point. However, Rayo Vallecano had a terrible second half of the season. Had LaLiga started on January 1st, they’d have come dead last, but their early successes meant they finished 12th in the table. There are a number of explanations for their drop-off in the second half of the season. One might be complacency, with the target of survival virtually achieved. Another was the distraction of their run to the Copa del Rey semi-finals. Another was off-the-field drama, with fans protesting and Vallecas becoming less of a fortress. Going into 2022/23, many of these off-the-field issues remain, so that’s a concern. The club is a mess financially and haven’t signed many players. The good news is that they had many players out on loan last season, some of whom did very well, so they could keep a few of them, but can’t do much else. It could, therefore, be a much more difficult second season in the top tier for Rayo Vallecano.