Aston Villa FC is the club with the second most seasons in the English top division after Everton. The Villains have mostly played in Division 1/Premier League. Throughout the years they have gathered many merits, and primarily cup titles.
The home stadium of Aston Villa, Villa Park, can take almost 43,000 spectators, but the stadium is seldom sold out. In spite of this, tickets can be hard to get a hold of. If you buy a package trip with hotel, flights and game tickets, or just hotel and game tickets, you can manage to get very sough-after tickets.
Aston Villa FC was formed back in 1874. The club took part in the first season of The Football League in 1888. The years following this were very kind to Villa. In seven seasons, between 1894-1900, Villa won five League golds and three FA Cups. The procurement of merits has since then been rather slow, however. Aston Villa has seven League titles in total (the latest in 1980/81), five wins in the FA Cup (the latest in 1957), five League Cup titles and one win the European Cup/Champions League (1982).
Birmingham is the second largest city in England. This fact alone makes it rather clear that there is a lot to see and do in the city. Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, the Rag Market, Balti Triangle with its many restaurants, Warwick Castle and Birmingham Botanical Gardens are only some of the many places you can visit.
Aston Villa is a classic football club and Villa Park is one of the most classic football stadiums on the British islands. To see Aston Villa play at Villa Park is something you have to do if you have a heart that beats for The Villans.
Villa Park can take 42,788 spectators and is one of five English stadiums that are rated with four stars from UEFA (the other ones are Stadium of Light, Anfield, Etihad Stadium and Goodison Park). The stadium was inaugurated in 1897 and is regarded today as one of the most beautiful stadiums in England. The attendance record was set in 1946, when 76,588 people saw a game against Derby County.
Initially, football wasn’t the main activity in the area where Villa Park now resides. Cricket actually had precedence at the stadium of the time, called Lower Park. Athletics and cycling were also prominent competition for football. When Aton Villa started to achieve great progress, the stadium was moved to Perry Barr. After the team’s League win in 1897, however, it moved back to Lower Park, which had then been converted to a football stadium. It was also then that the stadium was given its current name.
At the beginning of the 1900’s, Villa Park could hold 40,000 spectators. When they later removed the cycle velodrome that went around the field, the capacity was further increased. After World War I, Villa Park could welcome well over 70,000 visitors.
Just like with all other stadiums in England, its capacity has shrunk as time have passed. New safety rules forced them to remake all standing bleachers into seats.
Villa Park lies in the northern part of Birmingham. The distance to the heart of the city is about four kilometers. You can get to the stadium by foot, but the best way to get to Villa Park is to take to local train. From Birmingham New Street Station the train will depart for Aston Station, which is in close proximity to the stadium.