Following Tuesday’s defeat to Manchester City by top-four opponents Tottenham Hotspur, Aston Villa has earned their first-ever Champions League berth.
With one game left, Tottenham is currently five points behind Unai Emery’s club, when before Tuesday, they were the only team capable of passing Villa and moving up to fourth place.
Villa hasn’t made it to UEFA’s top club tournament since it changed its name from the European Cup to the Champions League in the 1991-92 season.
After winning the competition the year before, they participated in the European Cup for the last time 41 years ago, in 1982–1983.
While Villa did place second and fourth in the Premier League in 1992–1993 and 1995–1996 respectively, only first place in each of those seasons qualified them for the Champions League.
Aston Villa hired manager Emery in October 2022 when the team was 14th in the Premier League, just three points above the relegation zone.
Before Emery arrived, Aston Villa had finished in 14th and 17th place in the previous two seasons and had been playing in the Championship just three years earlier, in 2019.
Since Emery took over, Villa’s performance has improved significantly. Only Manchester City, Liverpool, and Arsenal have earned more points in the Premier League than Villa under his leadership. Emery is now set to manage his sixth different club in the Champions League, following stints at Valencia, Spartak Moscow, Sevilla, Paris St-Germain, and Villarreal.
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