Aston Villa Wiki

Aston Villa was founded by a group of cricketers from the Villa Cross Weslyan Chapel in Birmingham in the winter of 1874. They were founder members of The Football League in 1888 and the Premier League in 1992. Strangely enough, their very first game was a combination of half soccer and half rugby. Their fierce rivalry with Birmingham City began in 1879; the two teams have been playing the Second City derby since 1879.

The team's home is Villa Park, a UEFA 5-star stadium.  It is the largest stadium in the English Midlands and the eighth largest in England.

Nicknamed "The Villans", Aston Villa has very distinctive uniforms. Their jerseys are claret with sky blue and yellow trim over white shorts with claret and sky blue side trim.  Their crest has a star that represents their European Cup win in 1982.  It features a lion rampant against a background of light blue with claret bars and their motto, "Prepared" appears at the bottom

Aston Villa won the FA Cup first in 1887 and 6 more times, the last in 1957. They won the First Division Championship 7 times and the 1981-82 European Cup. Their first manager was George Ramsey, who retired in 1926 after 42 years of service and their current Manager is Gerard Houllier.