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A day at Villa Park with Club Level seats and pre-match dining.
Birmingham
12°
Rain showers
Our best tips
Birmingham in October averages 9–15°C. There is a decent chance of rain, so pack a compact waterproof just in case.
Smart casual is the standard in Premier League hospitality suites. Think collared shirts and smart trousers rather than replica kits. Most venues will turn away guests in sportswear or football shirts.
Arrive at Villa Park at least two hours before kick-off to enjoy the full pre-match hospitality. Bring a valid photo ID, as most Premier League venues require one for entry.
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F1, Wimbledon, Royal Ascot, the Six Nations, Glastonbury. If it sells out in minutes, we have people on the door.
Getting around
Witton station is the closest, around a ten-minute walk from the ground. Aston station is also nearby. Both are served by regular trains from Birmingham New Street.
Taxis and ride-hailing services are widely available from Birmingham city centre. Allow extra time on match days as traffic around the Aston Expressway builds quickly.
Villa Park is well connected by road, close to junction 6 of the M6. On-site parking is limited, so pre-booking through your ICE events manager is recommended.
Aston Villa and Manchester United have been meeting on the football pitch since 1887, making this one of the longest-running fixtures in English football. Both clubs were founding members of the Football League in 1888, and between them they hold 27 league titles, 18 FA Cups, and two European Cups. Villa Park, their Birmingham fortress since 1897, provides the stage for a fixture steeped in over 130 years of shared history.
I grew up a Villa fan. To play for this club, to captain this club, it means everything.
Aston Villa are a great club with a great history. They won the European Cup. You have to respect that.
Born from a cricket club's quiet winter problem, Villa conquered English football within a decade.
Four members of the Villa Cross Wesleyan Chapel in Handsworth, Birmingham, formed Aston Villa Football Club on 21 November 1874. They needed something to keep the cricket team together through winter. Within a decade, Villa had become one of the most formidable clubs in England, reaching the FA Cup final in 1887.
Before United existed under that name, Villa and Newton Heath were already facing each other as founding Football League rivals.
The first recorded meeting between Aston Villa and Newton Heath (who would become Manchester United in 1902) took place in the late 1880s. Both clubs were among the twelve founding members of the Football League in 1888, ensuring regular fixtures from the very start of organised English football. Villa dominated the early years, winning the league title six times before 1910.
Villa won the Double and built a stadium to match; Newton Heath were still counting their pennies.
In 1897, Aston Villa achieved the league and FA Cup Double, only the second club to do so after Preston North End in 1889. That same year, the club moved to the Aston Lower Grounds, which became Villa Park. It was a statement of intent: a purpose-built home for a club at the peak of Victorian football. United, still known as Newton Heath and struggling financially, were a world away from Villa's dominance.
Fifty thousand voices inside Villa Park; proof that English football's great rivalry was already very much alive.
Villa won the FA Cup for the sixth time in 1920, but the balance of power was shifting. Manchester United, reborn under their new name in 1902, had won their first league titles in 1908 and 1911. The fixture between the two clubs was becoming a genuine contest between equals. Villa Park regularly drew crowds of over 50,000 for these encounters in the interwar period.
McParland scored twice to sink the league champions; within a year, Munich would silence that brilliant young side forever.
Aston Villa beat Manchester United 2-1 in the 1957 FA Cup final at Wembley. It was a significant upset: United, led by Matt Busby's brilliant young side, had won the league in both 1956 and 1957. Peter McParland scored both Villa goals, though the match was overshadowed by a controversial collision that left United goalkeeper Ray Wood with a fractured cheekbone. Less than a year later, the Munich air disaster would devastate United's squad.
Peter Withe's solitary goal in Rotterdam made Villa only the fourth English club to conquer Europe.
Having won the First Division title in 1981, Aston Villa went on to win the European Cup in 1982, beating Bayern Munich 1-0 in Rotterdam. It remains one of the great underdog stories in European football. Peter Withe scored the only goal. Villa became just the fourth English club to lift the trophy, joining a list that included Manchester United's famous 1968 triumph at Wembley. The fixture between these two European Cup winners carried extra weight from this point on.
Villa finished runners-up in the Premier League's very first season; fitting that United's old boss was the man who nearly stopped them.
Villa were founding members of the Premier League in 1992 and finished runners-up to Manchester United in the inaugural season. Under Ron Atkinson, who had previously managed United, Villa pushed Alex Ferguson's side all the way. It set the tone for the 1990s: United would dominate, but Villa remained a persistent thorn, regularly taking points off them at Villa Park. The fixture became a barometer of Villa's ambitions.
Villa's third League Cup triumph denied Ferguson's side a domestic treble that had never been done before.
In March 1994, Aston Villa beat Manchester United 3-1 in the League Cup final at Wembley. Dean Saunders and Dalian Atkinson scored in a performance that denied Ferguson's side any chance of an unprecedented domestic treble. United would go on to win the league and FA Cup Double that season, but Villa had their day at Wembley. It was the club's fifth League Cup triumph.
Three years in the Championship ended at Wembley, where Grealish led Villa home and the Premier League beckoned once more.
After three years in the Championship, Villa won promotion via the play-offs in 2019, beating Derby County 2-1 at Wembley. Jack Grealish, a lifelong Villa fan, was the talisman. The return to the Premier League meant the resumption of fixtures against Manchester United, and Villa Park was buzzing again. The early encounters were tight, competitive affairs that signalled Villa's intent to re-establish themselves among the top flight's serious players.
Over 40 years out of Europe's top competition, then Emery arrived and Villa swept United aside home and away in a single season.
Under Unai Emery, Aston Villa finished fourth in the 2023-24 Premier League season, qualifying for the Champions League for the first time in over 40 years. Villa beat United home and away that season, a double that underlined the shift in momentum between the two clubs. With Villa Park set for a major redevelopment to increase capacity beyond 50,000, the fixture between these two founding members of the Football League has rarely felt more significant.
