Aston Villa Football Club is an English professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park, since 1897. Aston Villa were one of the founder members of the Football League in 1888 and of the Premier League in 1992. Villa are one of the five English clubs to have won the European Cup, in 1981–82. They have also won the Football League First Division seven times, the FA Cup seven times, the League Cup five times, and the European (UEFA) Super Cup once. The club are currently ranked 5th in the all-time English top flight table, since its creation in 1888.
Warwickshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon and Victorian novelist George Eliot,, at Nuneaton. Other significant towns include Rugby, Leamington Spa, Bedworth, Kenilworth and Atherstone. The county offers a mix of historic towns and large rural areas. It is a popular destination for international and domestic tourists to explore both medieval and more recent history.
Mark Anthony Delaney is a Welsh former professional footballer and current coach, who played for Carmarthen Town, Cardiff City and Aston Villa as a right back. He is also a former member of the Welsh national team, gaining 36 caps during his career. In doing so, he became the first player to progress from the Cymru Premier to the senior national side.
Kingsbury is a large village and civil parish in the North Warwickshire district of the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. The civil parish population at the 2011 census was 7,652. The village is situated between Birmingham and Tamworth, which is 5.5 miles (9 km) to the north, and overlooks the River Tame. The A51 to Chester starts from here; as does the A4097, which runs through Curdworth and Minworth before joining the A38. This continues to Junction 6 of the M6 giving access to the motorway network of the Midlands and the City of Birmingham. Kingsbury is notable for the Kingsbury Water Park, a shooting range and a large oil storage depot to the north-east. The church of Saints Peter and Paul dates from the 12th century and is a grade II* listed building.
Middleton is a small village in the North Warwickshire district of the county of Warwickshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 630.
Water Orton is a village and civil parish in the North Warwickshire borough of Warwickshire in the West Midlands, England near the River Tame. It is located between Castle Bromwich and Coleshill, and borders the West Midlands metropolitan county boundary to the north, west and south. At the 2001 Census, the population was 3,573, falling to 3,444 at the 2011 Census.
The Bartons Arms is a public house in the High Street in the Newtown area of Aston, Birmingham, England.
Hockley Heath is a large village and civil parish in the Arden area mostly within the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, West Midlands, England, incorporating the hamlet of Nuthurst, with a history dating back to the year 705 AD as a wood owned by Worcester Cathedral. The parish, known as Nuthurst cum Hockley Heath, is to the south of the West Midlands conurbation, 12 miles (19 km) southeast of Birmingham 5.5 miles (8.9 km) from Solihull town centre and 12.5 miles (20.1 km) north of Stratford-upon-Avon. The village forms part of the border with Warwickshire and the District of Stratford-on-Avon to the south, with some parts of the village on either side of the border. According to the 2001 census, the parish had a population of 6,771, being measured at the 2011 Census as 2,038.
Tanworth-in-Arden is a small village and civil parish in the county of Warwickshire, England. It is 14.5 miles southeast of Birmingham and 5.5 miles northeast of Redditch, and is administered by Stratford-on-Avon District Council. The civil parish includes Tanworth-in-Arden itself plus the nearby settlements of Earlswood, Wood End, Forshaw Heath, Aspley Heath and Danzey Green. The population of the parish was 3,104 at the 2011 UK census.
Minworth is a village contiguous with Sutton Coldfield on the northeastern outskirts of Birmingham, West Midlands. It is located near Walmley, Wishaw, Curdworth, Erdington, Water Orton, Thimble End, and Castle Vale. Minworth is one of the only villages which still has a village council, village head and flag.
Nether Whitacre is a small village and larger rural civil parish in North Warwickshire, Warwickshire, England.
In English football, the Second City derby or Birmingham derby, is the local derby between the two major clubs in the city of Birmingham – Aston Villa and Birmingham City, first contested in 1879. Villa play at Villa Park while Birmingham play at St Andrew's, the two grounds separated by roughly 2.4 miles (3.9 km). It is known as the Second City Derby based on Birmingham being referred to as the second city of the United Kingdom. The two clubs are generally regarded as each other's most fierce rivals. In addition both sides have affiliated women's sides, Aston Villa W.F.C. and Birmingham City W.F.C.
The Aston Villa Under-23s, also known as Aston Villa Under-21 and formerly Aston Villa Reserves, are the most senior youth development team of Aston Villa and compete in Premier League 2 of the Professional Development League and the EFL Trophy in the 2021–22 season. The team plays its home games at Aston Villa's training ground, Bodymoor Heath and occasionally Villa Park. Aston Villa also have an academy side that competes in the Under-18 division of the Professional Development League and the FA Youth Cup annually, they are the current holders of the trophy having won the 2020-21 competition. From 2019, having been promoted back to the Premier League, Aston Villa field an under-21 side in the EFL Trophy against League One and League Two opposition. They also field a youth side in the Birmingham Senior Cup annually.
Muntz Street is the popular name of a former association football stadium situated in the Small Heath district of Birmingham, England, taken from the street on which it stood. During its lifetime the ground was known as Coventry Road; the name "Muntz Street" is a more recent adoption. It was the ground at which the teams of Birmingham City F.C. – under the club's former names of Small Heath Alliance, Small Heath and Birmingham – played their home games for nearly 30 years. It also served as the headquarters of the Small Heath Athletic Club.
Kingsbury School is a coeducational secondary school located in the village of Kingsbury, Warwickshire, England. Its main catchment area is Kingsbury, but students also attend from a number of neighbouring villages, such as Hurley and Whitacre Heath, Picadilly, Wood End, Bodymoor Heath and Middleton.
Middleton Lakes RSPB reserve is a 160 hectares nature reserve, formally opened on 19 May 2011, created and run by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds at Middleton, Warwickshire, England, just south of Tamworth. The Northern part of the reserve lies in Staffordshire, yet the reserve is only a few minutes from the outskirts of Birmingham.
Bodymoor Heath Training Ground is Aston Villa Football Club's training ground, located at Bodymoor Heath in the North Warwickshire district of Warwickshire, England. The site was purchased from a farmer by then Aston Villa Chairman Doug Ellis in the early 1970s. The ground is situated near Fazeley, in the Tame Valley, by the side of the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal, a short distance from Drayton Manor Theme Park and Middleton Hall. It lies close to The Belfry Golf Club, Middleton Lakes RSPB reserve and Kingsbury Water Park, just a few hundred metres from the M42 link to Tamworth and Birmingham.
Kings Heath is a suburb of south Birmingham, England, four miles south of the city centre. Historically in Worcestershire, it is the next suburb south from Moseley on the A435, Alcester road.
John Harry Kartz was a British businessman best known for his longtime association with Aston Villa, having held various roles at the club, including as chairman from 1978 to 1980. Kartz also fought in the Second World War, as a front gunner in No. IX Squadron.
The 2020–21 Aston Villa Football Club season was the club's 26th season in the Premier League and their 107th season at the top flight of English football. It is also the club's 146th season in existence. In addition to the domestic league, Aston Villa participated in the EFL Cup, being eliminated by Stoke City in the fourth round, and participated in the FA Cup, being eliminated by Liverpool in the third round.
