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Valencia CF players undergo their pre-season medical assessments at IMED Valencia
July 3, 2026
Valencia CF players have kicked off the 2026-27 pre-season at Hospital IMED Valencia, where over several days they undergo the medical assessments and stress tests that precede the start of on-pitch work. These evaluations are complemented by the physical assessments carried out by the coaching staff at the Ciutat Esportiva in Paterna.
Goalkeeper Cristian Rivero was the first to arrive at the IMED facilities on Thursday morning, opening a staggered stream of players that will continue until the full squad has been assessed. The club's international players will join the group later and will undergo their own tests at that point.
What a professional footballer's medical assessment involves
The pre-season check-up that Valencia CF players undergo at IMED is a comprehensive evaluation of their health and performance. It includes, among other tests:
• Full blood work and anthropometry, with measurement of weight, height and blood pressure.
• Full-body bone densitometry, which analyses the percentages of muscle, bone and fat in the body. Based on this data, the club's nutritionists design an individual nutrition plan for each player.
• Twelve-lead resting electrocardiogram and echocardiogram, the central components of the sports cardiology assessment, which make it possible to detect alterations in the heart muscle, the valves or the coronary arteries.
• Ergospirometry or stress test, performed on a treadmill. This test subjects the heart to controlled effort to rule out arrhythmias during exercise while measuring respiratory capacity and oxygen consumption, allowing the type of training each player needs to be fine-tuned.
The combined assessment of all these tests offers a global picture of the athlete's state of health, far more complete than performing each one in isolation. Specialties such as sports cardiology are key to this process: the early detection of cardiac conditions is the main tool for preventing serious events in elite sport.
IMED Activa, the unit that brings sport and health together
The assessments are carried out at IMED Activa at Hospital IMED Valencia, IMED Hospitales' unit specialising in active health. IMED Activa brings together in a single space sports medicine, sports cardiology, advanced physiotherapy, rehabilitation, biomechanics, nutrition, podiatry and hyperbaric medicine, with the distinctive advantage of operating within a hospital environment: if an athlete needs a diagnostic imaging test, a procedure or emergency care, all the hospital's resources are available.
The unit is not reserved for professional sport. Anyone who exercises regularly, or who wants to start doing so safely, can access the same assessments and programmes as Valencia CF's players. All information on services, programmes and appointments is available at www.imedactiva.com.
A demanding summer for the Mestalla side
With the assessments completed, Valencia CF face a pre-season featuring six friendlies: Petro de Luanda (18 July), CD Eldense (22 July), CD Castellón (25 July), Derby County (28 July), Stoke City (1 August) and Newcastle United, opponents in the 54th edition of the Trofeu Taronja at Mestalla (8 August). The 2026-27 LALIGA EA SPORTS debut will be against Real Betis, at Mestalla, on the weekend of 15-16 August.
The starting point of that entire calendar is the same every year: the certainty that players begin their work in the best possible health. That guarantee starts at IMED.
