AVAston Villa
AVAston Villa has reached the english top-flight champions decider 17 times on record, first in 1888-89 and most recently in 1992-93. 7 wins against 10 runner-up finishes are recorded below, sourced from our full english top-flight champions list.
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
AVAston Villa — 7 english top-flight champions (1893-94, 1895-96, 1896-97, 1898-99, 1899-1900, 1909-10, 1980-81).
Club history
Aston Villa was founded on 21 November 1874 by four members of the Aston Villa Wesleyan Chapel cricket club in Handsworth, Birmingham -- Jack Hughes, Frederick Matthews, Walter Price and William Scattergood -- who wanted a winter sport to keep the cricketers fit, choosing football over rugby. The claret and blue colours, adopted in the 1880s, have no definitively documented origin, though the shirts are traditionally said to derive from an early kit change from all-white. The club is nicknamed "The Villans" and, more traditionally, "The Lions." Villa played first at Aston Park, then Wellington Road in Perry Barr, before settling at Villa Park in 1897, where they remain.
Villa were instrumental in founding the Football League in 1888, driven by director William McGregor, and became the dominant club of the Victorian era, winning five league titles and three FA Cups by 1901 under trainer George Ramsay. A second golden age arrived in 1980-81, when Ron Saunders led Villa to a seventh league championship, and the following year Tony Barton's side stunned Bayern Munich 1-0 to win the 1982 European Cup, becoming only the fourth English club to do so. Financial strain and poor recruitment brought relegation from the top flight in 1987, just five years after that continental triumph, and the club yo-yoed between divisions before stabilising.
Villa spent 29 consecutive seasons in the Premier League before relegation in 2016 under Randy Lerner's ownership, an era in which heavy spending failed to translate into sustained success. Egyptian businessman Nassef Sawiris and American investor Wes Edens took control via V Sports in 2018, overseeing promotion back to the top flight and a return to the Champions League in 2023-24 under manager Unai Emery -- the club's first European campaign at that level in 42 years.
Sources
English Top-Flight Champions won (7)
- 1893-94
- 1895-96
- 1896-97
- 1898-99
- 1899-1900
- 1909-10
- 1980-81
Runner-up finishes (10)
- 1888-89
- 1902-03
- 1907-08
- 1910-11
- 1912-13
- 1913-14
- 1930-31
- 1932-33
- 1989-90
- 1992-93
See the full english top-flight champions list for the winner each of these years.
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