Aston Villa cheered often last season. Mostly involved: attacking players Ollie Watkins (left) and Leon Bailey
Image: Keystone
Among others, the team from Birmingham beat champions Manchester City in impressive fashion
Image: Keystone
Things have been going well at Aston Villa since Basque manager Unai Emery took over the reins
Image: Keystone
The Argentinian world champion goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez is a strong back-up
Image: Keystone
The market value of the squad is estimated at just under 600 million euros. Captain John McGinn takes 9th place in the team's internal ranking with 30 million euros
Image: Keystone
Aston Villa cheered often last season. Mostly involved: attacking players Ollie Watkins (left) and Leon Bailey
Image: Keystone
Among others, the team from Birmingham beat champions Manchester City in impressive fashion
Image: Keystone
Things have been going well at Aston Villa since Basque manager Unai Emery took over the reins
Image: Keystone
The Argentinian world champion goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez is a strong back-up
Image: Keystone
The market value of the squad is estimated at just under 600 million euros. Captain John McGinn takes 9th place in the team's internal ranking with 30 million euros
Image: Keystone
Five years ago in the second-tier Championship, Aston Villa are about to make their debut in the Champions League - thanks to a lot of talent, even more money and a coach who knows how to combine the two.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- The newly created league phase of the Champions League gets underway on Tuesday. YB will face Aston Villa in the first match.
- The team from Birmingham is playing in the top flight for the first time, but is still the favorite in Bern.
- blue Sport shows all Champions League matches live.
Rarely has a team been so dominated by Pep Guardiola as on December 6 of last year. Although Aston Villa only won 1:0, Unai Emery's team played the champions from Manchester to a wall - not just in phases, but for 90 minutes. The 22:2 shots on goal reflected this.
Aston Villa also beat league leaders Arsenal a week later to lay the foundations for their first ever qualification for the Champions League. In the end, 68 points were enough for fourth place. The Villans had only finished higher in the Premier League once before - when the new league was introduced in 1992/93.
Difficult times
Not so long ago, it seemed illusory that the traditional club from Birmingham would make it to the top tier of European football. Aston Villa is one of the most important clubs in the country; the club has won the Champions Cup once and has won the league and FA Cup seven times each. But its successes date back more than 40 years.
Aston Villa were relegated from the Premier League in 2016 and took three seasons to recover from the shock. Even after returning to the top flight, the club bobbed around in lower mid-table. Success only returned to Villa Park with the arrival of Unai Emery, who took over from the hapless Steven Gerrard in November 2022. The meticulous Basque led the team from 13th to 7th place and into the European Cup. The breakthrough finally came last season.
A big wallet
As much as the success bears the signature of Unai Emery, Aston Villa's upswing is linked to the names of Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens. Since the Egyptian entrepreneur and the American businessman took over the club in 2018, money has been flowing freely in England's second-largest city. In the last five years, the two billionaires have invested almost 800 million euros in new players. In comparison: Young Boys spent less than €30 million on the transfer market in the same period.
Aston Villa's most expensive transfers
- 1. Amadou Onana, 59.35 million euros
Came from Everton FC for the 2024/25 season - 2. Moussa Diaby, 55 million euros
Came from Bayer Leverkusen for the 2023/24 season - 3. Ian Maatsen, 44.5 million euros
Came from Chelsea FC for the 2024/25 season - 4. Emiliano Buendia, 38.4 million euros
Came from Norwich City for the 2021/22 season - 5. Ollie Watkins, 34 million euros
Joined from Brentford FC for the 2020/21 season
The traditional English club and the Swiss champions live on different planets in terms of financial resources. And yet they play in the same European league, with three points at stake on Tuesday. At least in terms of Champions League experience, the Bernese are ahead. While this year's campaign is a first for the English side, YB are playing in the top flight for the fourth time.
