Villa Park is a football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, England. It has been the home of Aston Villa Football Club since 1897. Villa Park has hosted 55 FA Cup semi-finals, more than any other stadium. The ground is less than a mile from both Witton and Aston railway stations. The club has initial planning permission to redevelop the North Stand.
About Villa Park in brief
Villa Park is a football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, England, with a seating capacity of 42,749. It has been the home of Aston Villa Football Club since 1897. Villa Park has hosted 55 FA Cup semi-finals, more than any other stadium. The ground is less than a mile from both Witton and Aston railway stations and has hosted sixteen England internationals at senior level, the first in 1899 and the most recent in 2005. The club has initial planning permission to redevelop the North Stand, which will increase the capacity of Villa Park from 42,785 to about 50,000. The stadium has gone through various stages of renovation and development, resulting in the current stand configuration of the Holte End, Trinity Road Stand, North Stand and Doug Ellis Stand. In 1999, the last ever final of the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup took place at Villa Park. In 2012, Villa Park also hosted the 2012 FA Community Shield, as Wembley Stadium was in use for the final for the Olympic football tournament. The pitch stands on the site of the Dovehouse Pool, an ornamental pond that was drained in 1889. Before 1914, a cycling track ran around the perimeter of the pitch where regular cycling meetings were hosted as well as athletic events. Aside from football-related uses, the stadium has seen various concerts staged along with other sporting events including boxing matches and international rugby league and rugby union matches. In 1911, Villa bought the freehold of the ground for £8, the old aquarium and car park area for £1,500 and the carriage and bowling green for £250.
This was the first stage in plans drawn up by Villa director Frederick Rinder that saw Villa Park increased to 104,000 capacity. In June 1914, another phase of enhancements began to compete with other grounds around the country including Everton’s Goodison Park, where a new two-tiered stand had just been completed. The first stage of improvements saw the cycling track removed, new banking and a re-profiling of all the terracing to bring it closer to the newly squared-off pitch. The second stage extended the terrace covering on the Trinity Road side at the cost of £887; the second involved re-laying all terracing around the track to remedy a design flaw that caused poor sightlines for the majority of the crowd. The third and final stage of enhancements saw the new banking at theHolte End stand and a new hotel at the end of the stand. The final stage included a new 440 yards cement cycle track to replace the existing cinder one, with the main stand to be built to the east on the Witton Lane side, and the track and pitch fully enclosed by banking. The current stand was built in late 1896 after negotiations with contractors over the price. The almost-complete stadium opened with a friendly against Blackburn Rovers on 17 April 1897, which ended as a 3-0 win, one week after Aston Villa had completed the League and FA Cup ‘Double’
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This page is based on the article Villa Park published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 06, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
