Situated in the heart of England, Villa Park embodies the tradition and heritage that only English football can offer. Holding just a shade over 42,000 Villa Park was initially built in 1897 (then named Ashton Lower Grounds) and is home to Aston Villa Football Club.This stadium is steeped in history, most notably Aston Villa’s European Cup triumph in the early 1980s. The stadium has also been used for many FA Cup semi final encounters. These games have produced moments of magic such as Ryan Giggs’ wonder goal against Arsenal in 1999.
The ground is easy to get to by car via the M6, is accessible by train and is close to Birmingham city centre. Despite being close to the motorway the stadium is in the middle of a housing estate, giving it that traditional football feel of walking through the housing and all of a sudden bumping into the stadium.
The 2018 World Cup at Villa Park?
Once inside the stadium the facilities are adequate if a little worn, but this adds to the vintage feel. When full the atmosphere in the ground is impressive and unique. The Holte End (13,500 capacity) in full voice can give Aston Villa ‘the 12th man’ in tight games. If the world cup were to be held here Villa Park would be an excellent choice to host games as it really does display the history of Football in England.
Sorry, I forgot this one on my list!
Of course VP should be on the list of venues for England 2018.
Might need a serious facelift, though!
It should be there. 3/4 place play off
This should be a stadium for the semi final of world cup. Magical, facillities amazing and they are getting it expanded to 55 k
This is a missleading photograph of Villa Park and must be changed. The victorian style Trinity Road stand you can see no longer exists, and has been replaced by a monster three tier stand (Still named trinity) .
The North stand (on the right of the picture) will soon be knocked down and the giant Trinity Stand will be wrapped around to the corner of the Doug Ellis for the 2012 Olympics. Giving VP a Capacity of around 53,000.
The proposed “filling in of the corners” at the North Stand will not now happen, due to the above plan.
Do you really expect your website to be taken seriously when you publish such a quaint, years out of date photo of Villa Park!?
Also you make a big thing of the tradition, history and heritage of Villa Park yet make no mention whatsoever of the fact that the stadium was very successfully used as one of the main venues when the World Cup was held in England in 1966.
Agree with Peter! However V has now been withdrawn!
This is Villa Park as it is now:
The birthplace of league football and the most historic stadium in the UK.
Villa Park will have to host a semi-final.
The home of football. Magical.
Yeah villa park and the valley
Villa Park is a ‘real’ British football stadium that is modern but also has huge tradition and a fantastic atmosphere. It was a fantastic host stadium in Euro 96, I remember when Holland played Scotland and the fans took over the city and walked together from the city centre to the stadium…try doing that at any of the ‘new build’ stadiums!!!
I believe plans to re-build the north stand have ben put on hold which is a real shame!! It is an outdated stand and if it was re-built it would put Villa Park up there as one of the best stadiums in Europe.
Imagine when those three tiers are wraped around to the north stand! It’ll be like a mini Santiago Bernabeau!!!
Yeah having the three tires wrapped around would look amazing! That should make it over 50k. Ive never liked that end of the ground. the north stand has always been too small (same as the clubs outlook im afraid).