Founded as long ago as 1874, Aston Villa Football Club were founding members of both the Football League in 1888 and of the Premier League in 1992. Known to most simply as Villa, they are also sometimes referred to as The Lions - a reference to the symbol on their badge - or as The Claret and Blues in reference to the colour of their home kit. Aston Villa have been based at Villa Park since 1897.
Although trophies have been scarce in recent times, Villa have an exceptional record when it comes to acquiring silverware. To date they have won the Football League First Division seven times, the FA Cup seven times, the League Cup five times, and the European Super Cup once. Currently managed by Dean Smith, some of the most successful managers in the club's history include George Ramsay who was responsible for six FA Cup titles between 1884 and 1926. Tony Barton was at the helm between 1982 and 1984 when Villa won both the European Cup and the European Super Cup. Ron Atkinson, Brian Little and John Gregory also won trophies with the club.
Some of the great players to have graced the turf at Villa Park include Andy Gray, David Platt and Paul McGrath while in more recent times names like James Milner, Ashley Young, Gabriel Agbonlahor and Gareth Barry (the player with the most Premier League games of all time) have featured prominently for the Midlands club.
Who owns Aston Villa?
The club is owned by the NSWE group, a company owned by the men whose initials the company is named after - Egyptian Nassef Sawiris and American Wes Edens.
- Ground:
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Villa Park
- Capacity:
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42,749