Aston Villa fans flooded Birmingham city center on Thursday to celebrate the club’s UEFA Europa League title. The unticketed open-top bus parade followed the team’s 3-0 victory over SC Freiburg in Istanbul. It marks the club’s first major trophy in over 30 years.
The event started at 4:30 p.m. BST from Branston Street in the Jewellery Quarter. A convoy of three buses navigated a 4.5-kilometer route through Sand Pits and Broad Street before reaching Centenary Square. Manager Unai Emery and the players rode on the middle claret-colored bus. They spoke to the crowds directly over microphones.
The sheer volume of attendees choked local transit networks. Transport for West Midlands and Network Rail issued severe travel warnings regarding immense crowd sizes and the transport impact at major stations like Birmingham New Street. Aston Villa fully funded the parade. Club officials originally wanted to recreate the famous 1982 European Cup celebrations at Victoria Square, but ongoing construction and safety constraints forced the shift to Centenary Square.
Celebrations extended well beyond the UK. In Juaben, Ghana, the local “Ghana Lions” supporters’ club held a concurrent parade. Fans in the village, located over 5,000 kilometers away, used a minibus and 30 motorcycles to honor the victory. For fans who could not travel back from Istanbul or attend the Birmingham event, the club broadcast the entire parade live across VillaTV and YouTube.