How many times has Aston Villa qualified for the Champions League in its history?

Unai Emery’s impact at Premier League side Aston Villa has been nothing short of remarkable. The Basque coach took over at Villa Park in November 2022 with the club languishing above the relegation zone. The new managers impact was immediate as Villa put together an amazing run which saw the Villains winning fifteen of their twenty-five league games and secure 49 points from a possible 75 since his appointment.

The Irun born coach eventually took Villa to the club’s highest finish in the Premier League since the 2010–11 season with their seventh place finish enough to secure qualification to the UEFA Europa Conference League, the club’s first participation in European football since the 2010–11 season.

With just eight games remaining in the 2023-24 Premier League season, Villa sit in fourth place and are two points ahead of fifth placed Tottenham with the Villains facing a tricky away trip on Wednesday as they face Man City at the Etihad.

Villa in Europe

As things stand, short of end of season implosion, the 2023-24 campaign under Emery has been even better for the Villa Park faithful as the team are on the cusp of securing a Champions League place for the first time in the club’s long history (Villa are former European Cup winners in 1982, but have never progressed to the UCL since its inception and are one of just six English clubs to lift European football’s greatest trophy) and face Lille in the quarterfinals of the 23-24 Conference League.

Villa were European regulars in the halcyon days of the 80s and 90s but recent years have seen intermittent appearances for the claret and blue on the continent with recent forays in the Europa League in both the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons seeing the Premier League fall at the play-off stage at the hands of Rapid Vienna on both occasions.