Aston Villa Football Club, commonly referred to as Villa, is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park, since 1897.
Aston Villa is one of England's oldest and most successful clubs, and the club was influential in the sport's move to professionalism in 1885 with a Villa director, William McGregor, founding the world's first Football League in 1888. Aston Villa was a founding member of the Premier League in 1992, one of just three clubs to have been founding members of both the Football League and the Premier League
