VALENCIA, Spain, September 16, 2026: Levante UD’s La Liga match against Athletic Club was postponed shortly before kickoff on Wednesday night after torrential rain left the Ciutat de València pitch and parts of the stadium infrastructure flooded.
The Matchday 6 fixture had been scheduled for 9:30 PM local time, and both teams completed parts of their pre-match preparations before conditions deteriorated rapidly. Heavy rain, thunderstorms and strong winds struck Valencia during the build-up, leaving standing water on the playing surface and flooding the access tunnel between the dressing rooms and the pitch.
Officials eventually determined that the match could not be played safely. No replacement date had been announced at the time of publication.
Why Was Levante vs Athletic Club Postponed?
The match was postponed because the severe rainfall made the Ciutat de València playing surface unsuitable for competitive football.
Weather conditions worsened shortly before the scheduled kickoff. Local reports from the stadium showed significant water accumulation on the pitch as well as flooding around the tunnel and dressing-room access areas.
The local Cadena SER report from Valencia confirmed that torrential rain, thunderstorms and strong winds prevented the fixture from going ahead.
Players had already been preparing for the match before the decision was taken, which explains why some live-score services initially continued to display the fixture as scheduled even after conditions around the stadium had become increasingly difficult.
Valencia Weather Alert Was Active Before Levante vs Athletic
The deterioration was not entirely unexpected.
Emergency authorities in the Valencian Community had issued elevated weather warnings ahead of the evening. An official update published by the Universitat Politècnica de València, citing the Generalitat’s Emergency Coordination Center, confirmed an orange-level rain alert in Valencia between 4:00 PM and 11:59 PM, along with a yellow thunderstorm warning.
Outdoor activities at affected university campuses were suspended as a precaution.
Forecasts earlier in the day had suggested rainfall could become especially intense around the scheduled kickoff time, and the worst conditions eventually arrived close enough to the match to overwhelm drainage around the stadium.
The situation provides another reminder that fixture schedules remain vulnerable to factors beyond sporting preparation. The Sports Encounter recently covered a very different kind of disruption when Barcelona and Athletic Club played a rearranged opening-round fixture after World Cup scheduling forced changes to the original La Liga calendar.
Was Levante vs Athletic Abandoned or Postponed?
The game was postponed before competitive play began.
That means this was not an abandoned match and no partial score or elapsed match time will carry into the eventual replay.
The fixture will instead need to be rescheduled and played from the beginning once La Liga, the clubs and the relevant competition authorities agree on a new date.
The official La Liga match page had originally listed the game for September 16 at the Ciutat de València as part of Matchday 6.
At the time the postponement was confirmed, some official fixture databases had not yet updated from the original scheduled status. That type of delay is common when a late postponement occurs close to kickoff.
When Will Levante vs Athletic Club Be Played?
No new date had been announced when this article was published.
The scheduling question is complicated by the short turnaround both clubs already face.
Athletic Club are due to host Deportivo Alavés on September 19, while Levante are scheduled to visit Villarreal on September 20. Finding a replacement date therefore requires La Liga to consider recovery time, stadium availability and the wider domestic calendar.
The Sports Encounter will update this story when a new date and kickoff time are officially confirmed.
Levante and Athletic Entered Matchday 6 With Different Pressures
| Team | Played | Wins | Draws | Losses | Goals | Points | Pre-match position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Levante UD | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 7 scored, 9 conceded | 5 | 14th |
| Athletic Club | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 7 scored, 6 conceded | 7 | 9th |
Levante were looking for another result after a competitive opening month back in La Liga. Their early campaign included a goalless draw with Osasuna, a result that later formed part of The Sports Encounter’s analysis of Osasuna’s unbeaten start.
Athletic’s season has been considerably more volatile.
They lost 3-1 at home to Sevilla during the opening phase of the campaign, a result examined in our early La Liga weekend review.
Athletic then suffered a 2-0 defeat at Barcelona in their rearranged Matchday 1 fixture before recovering strongly enough to beat Atlético Madrid 3-0.
The Sports Encounter’s Matchday 4 analysis highlighted Athletic’s three-goal victory as one of the round’s major results.
The momentum slowed again last weekend when Athletic were held 1-1 by Elche at San Mamés. Our Matchday 5 roundup showed how that draw left Athletic with seven points from five matches.
How the Postponement Affects the La Liga Table
Levante and Athletic will temporarily have played one fewer match than most teams around them once Matchday 6 is completed.
Any table position involving either club should therefore be read with that game in hand in mind.
The disruption arrives during an increasingly compressed early La Liga race. Sevilla moved onto 13 points after beating Deportivo 1-0 at Riazor, while Atlético Madrid also climbed to 13 after their 4-0 victory over Osasuna.
Elsewhere, Valencia finally collected their first league victory after a difficult opening sequence that included a 1-0 defeat at Sevilla.
For Levante and Athletic, their postponed game now becomes another variable in a table already shaped by rearranged fixtures and uneven numbers of matches played.
What Happens Next for Levante and Athletic Club?
Athletic have very little recovery time before their next scheduled league game. Deportivo Alavés are due at San Mamés on Saturday, September 19.
Continue the La Liga Story
Levante’s next scheduled assignment is away to Villarreal on Sunday, September 20.
Both teams now have to reset after preparing physically and tactically for a match that never began.
That disruption can be more significant than it appears. Players still complete warmups, coaches still build their matchday planning around a competitive evening, and travelling teams still absorb the physical and logistical demands of an away trip.
For Athletic, that is especially relevant because they travelled to Valencia with a 23-man squad before the postponement.
Levante face a different challenge. A home opportunity against a team only two points above them has disappeared from the immediate schedule, leaving them to turn attention toward an away game against Villarreal.
Levante vs Athletic New Date Will Now Become the Main Question
The football itself never had the opportunity to become the story at the Ciutat de València.
Instead, rapidly worsening weather turned a normal Matchday 6 fixture into an evening dominated by safety, drainage and scheduling.
The decision to postpone became increasingly unavoidable once water began accumulating across the playing surface and stadium access areas.
Attention now moves to the replacement date.
Until La Liga confirms one, supporters should treat any date circulating outside official channels as provisional.
The Sports Encounter will continue following the developing La Liga schedule through its Soccer coverage, including rearranged fixtures, match reports and the changing 2026-27 league table.
