Aston Villa

The club

Aston Villa were founded on 21 November 1874 and play at Villa Park in Birmingham, which holds 43,205. They are known as the Villans or the Lions, and play in claret shirts with sky blue sleeves, white shorts and sky blue socks.

Recent seasons

Villa finished 17th in the Premier League in 2019/20 with 35 points, surviving on the final day, then 11th with 55 points in 2020/21 and 14th with 45 in 2021/22. The upturn under Unai Emery produced 7th and 61 points in 2022/23, fourth and 68 points in 2023/24, sixth and 66 points in 2024/25, and fourth again in 2025/26 with 65 points from 19 wins, eight draws and 11 defeats, scoring 56 and conceding 49. That fourth place returned them to the Champions League for the second time in three seasons. The 2025/26 campaign included an eight-match winning run in the league, the club's longest in the top division since 1910. Their domestic cup form was poor by contrast: out of the FA Cup in the fourth round and out of the EFL Cup in the third. Ollie Watkins was top scorer with 16 league goals and 21 in all competitions.

Honours and landmarks

Villa have won the league championship seven times, in 1894, 1896, 1897, 1899, 1900, 1910 and 1981, and the FA Cup seven times, in 1887, 1895, 1897, 1905, 1913, 1920 and 1957. They have five League Cups, from 1961, 1975, 1977, 1994 and 1996. The European Cup was won in 1982 and the European Super Cup followed in 1982/83. On 20 May 2026 they beat SC Freiburg 3-0 in the Europa League final, their first major trophy since the 1995/96 League Cup and their first European trophy since 1982.

The club's record attendance is 76,588 against Derby County in an FA Cup quarter-final in March 1946. The highest league crowd at Villa Park is 69,492 against Wolverhampton Wanderers on 27 December 1949, and the all-seater record is 43,157 against Manchester United on 21 December 2025. Charlie Aitken made the most appearances, 657 between 1959 and 1976, and Harry Hampton scored the most goals, 242 between 1904 and 1920. The record fee paid is the £52m, rising to £59.5m, spent on Johan Manzambi in July 2026. The record fee received is the £117m Chelsea paid for Morgan Rogers in July 2026, a British transfer record at the time.

Notable scorelines

The record league win is 12-2 against Accrington on 12 March 1892. In the Premier League era the biggest is 7-1 against Wimbledon on 11 February 1995. The record defeat is 0-8 at Chelsea in the Premier League on 23 December 2012. The heaviest FA Cup defeat is 1-8 against Blackburn Rovers in the third round on 16 February 1889. In 2025/26 the best results were three 4-0 wins, against Bournemouth in the league and against Bologna and Nottingham Forest in the Europa League; the worst were 0-3 at Crystal Palace and 1-4 defeats by Arsenal and Chelsea.

Head-to-head notes

No published all-time head-to-head records were found for Villa's 2026/27 Premier League opponents. Villa are not in a league fixture with their nearest rivals this season: the all-time Second City derby record against Birmingham City stands at Villa 57 wins, Birmingham 38, with 31 draws from 126 meetings, but the clubs last met on 10 March 2019, when Villa won 1-0 at St Andrew's through Jack Grealish, and Birmingham are in the Championship, so any meeting in 2026/27 would have to come in a cup. Villa's record FA Cup defeat, the 8-1 in 1889, was inflicted by Blackburn Rovers, also now a Championship club.

Right now (2026/27)

Unai Emery is the head coach. The summer's business reshaped the midfield. Modou Kéba Cissé, a centre-back, arrived from LASK on 15 June 2026 for £4m. Johan Manzambi signed from Freiburg on 17 July for £52m and João Gomes from Wolverhampton Wanderers on 20 July for £38m. Alejandro Garnacho joined on a season-long loan from Chelsea on 23 July.

The outgoings were larger. Donyell Malen went to Roma on 29 June for £21.6m, Enzo Barrenechea to Benfica on 1 July for £10.3m, Youri Tielemans to Manchester United on 14 July for £35m, Lewis Dobbin to Southampton on 15 July for £9m and, on 21 July, Morgan Rogers to Chelsea for £117m.

Pre-season brought a 5-0 win at Walsall on 21 July, a 2-1 defeat at Porto on 25 July and a 4-2 home defeat by Real Sociedad on 28 July. The 2026/27 Premier League season starts a week later than usual, on 21 August 2026, because of the 2026 World Cup. Villa's opening fixture is away to Brighton and Hove Albion at the Falmer Stadium on Sunday 23 August 2026 at 14:00 BST. As a Premier League club they enter the EFL Cup in the second or third round rather than the first round of 8 August.

Sources

Researched and written for not4quarters. Where a fact could not be established from the sources read, this page says so rather than guessing.