Champions League football earned through a fourth-place finish in the league and a Europa League trophy in the cabinet, Aston Villa’s end to the season was perhaps as good as it could get, after a wobbly period at the start of 2026. Wins against Liverpool and Manchester City, sandwiched a great night in Istanbul, as Villa finished the season in the final week in style. Unai Emery described it as “fantastic” and Here’s five reasons to be cheerful as Villans on an end to the 2025/26 season that Unai Emery described as “fantastic”.
30 Years of Hurt Vanquished
After Aston Villa missed out on Champions League football with a defeat at Old Trafford on the last day of the 2024/25 season, there seemed to be a silver lining, as oddly, it soon seemed the stars were aligning. Villa were the favourites for the Europa League and there didn’t seem a major threat to challenge the bookies’ odds. The fact it was the 30th anniversary of Villa’s last silverware, the 1996 League Cup, won 3-0 against Leeds United, seemed to be a sign. Fittingly, Villa also beat Freiburg 3-0 in the Europa League final, to mirror what happened three decades earlier.
In 1996, Villa finished fourth in the Premier League under Brian Little, which coupled with the League Cup win made it Villa’s best overall season since 1982 and any season that has come after it. Until now. Unai Emery with a fourth place and Europa League win has surely trumped it in terms of prestige.
Super Cup Scouting
There’s a big reason for Villans to watch the Champions League final between Arsenal and PSG on Saturday, May 30th – scouting for the Super League final in Salzburg on August 12th. It’s good for Villa to be back competing for a trophy that is essentially the Community Shield on steroids. In 1983, Villa beat Barcelona 3-1 over two legs to lift their first Super Cup. If they won it again this year, Villa would have one more than Manchester United and Manchester City (both have won it once), not to mention two more than Arsenal.
A Third Trip to Istanbul?
Turkey’s capital Istanbul has treated Villa fans very well this year. From the first trip, back in January, to play Fenerbahçe to the grand finale of the Europa League final at the Beşiktaş Stadium. Next season, there’s a chance to potentially play Galatasaray, who will be in Pot Three of the Champions League draw. So Villa could potentially visit Rams Park (Ali Sami Yen Stadium) to complete visiting Istanbul’s main trio of teams’ stadiums in the space of a year. If it happens, no doubt it will be most welcome by travelling Villans, as Istanbul with it’s football-loving population has proven a great city for watching football.
European Rise
Villa added 35,750 points to their UEFA coefficient by lifting the Europa League in Istanbul, taking them into the Top 20 of the UEFA Coefficient Club Rankings, which, despite being based on the last five seasons of European football, sees Villa in 17th place based on their last three seasons in European competition.
Villa’s total score of 83.000 now takes them above Manchester United (76.500) and Spurs (82.000), both of whose records are based on four seasons in European competition in the past five years.
Villa are already a Pot Two Champions League team, so it’ll be interesting to see where they stand in a couple of season’s time. After all, Emery doesn’t do seasons out of European competition.
Europa League Shade
You’re always going to get outside voices dissing the Europa League this season and trying to diminish Villa’s efforts in the competition. But closer inspection sees that six of the Champions League stage qualifiers for next season, were in the Europa League this season: Roma, Porto, Real Betis, Feyenoord, Lille, Stuttgart.
Then there’s a bunch of this season’s Europa League teams in the Champions League qualifiers next season like Lyon, Celtic, Sturm Graz & Dinamo Zagreb, who may also end up in the group stages.
If you need further evidence of Villa’s European pedigree in the scheme of things, then look at Villa’s record this season against the other four English teams to qualify for the Champions League next season (including one of this season’s Champions League finalists). If there were a round-robin table of the matches between the Premier League’s Champions League qualifiers, Villa would have topped it.
| Team | W | D | L | GF | GA | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aston Villa | 5 | 0 | 3 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
| Man City | 4 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 8 | 13 |
| Man United | 4 | 1 | 3 | 14 | 12 | 13 |
| Arsenal | 2 | 2 | 4 | 10 | 10 | 8 |
| Liverpool | 2 | 1 | 5 | 9 | 14 | 7 |
Nuff said.
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