Villa Park, in Birmingham, England; is the stadium at which Aston Villa Football Club play their home games.

The Aston Villa legend, Billy Walker summed up Villa Park when he said "About Villa Park itself hung an aura that seems almost to be visible. Most certainly it is there to be felt and I know of no other ground that has the same effect on one. Almost it seems to be peopled by ghosts - amiable ghosts whose job it is to breathe the great Villa spirit into generation after generation of ambitious youngsters who pass through the great gates to achieve a life's ambition; to wear the famous claret and blue of the great club."

Opened in 1897, the year Aston Villa won the League and FA Cup 'Double', it was officially called the Aston Lower Grounds, on the site of a Victorian amusement park in the former grounds of a Jacobean stately home, Aston Hall. Once the site of a fishpond and kitchen garden belonging to Sir Thomas Holte , the owner of Aston Hall. This is where the name of the legendary Holte End came from. The pitch was initially surrounded by a 24 foot wide concrete cycle track and a cinder running track. Many athletics and cycle events were staged here prior to the First World War. The running track was removed in 1922 when work started on the Trinity Road Stand and the ground was squared off. The Trinity Road Stand was demolished in 2001 and replaced by a larger modern stand.

Record Attendance: 76,588, Aston Villa v Derby County, FA Cup Sixth Rd, 02 March 1946

• It has an approximate capacity of 43,000 and has played host to many FA Cup semi-finals, due to it being a quite large, often neutral venue roughly in central England.

• Villa Park has hosted a number of England internationals at senior level. The first of which was in 1899, the most recent being in 2005.

• Villa Park hosted three World Cup matches during the 1966 World Cup and four during Euro '96.

• The last ever final of the European Cup Winners' Cup was staged at Villa Park. Lazio beat Real Mallorca 2-1.

• The first English ground to stage international football in three centuries

Villa Park compromises of 42,000 seats split, as with most stadiums, between four stands. These four stands are the Holte End to the South, the Trinity Rd stand to the West, the Witton Lane (commercially known as the 'Doug Ellis Stand') stand to the opposite of that, and the North Stand behind the northern goal.

The Club have planning permission to extend the North Stand. This will involve the 'filling in' of the corners to either side of the North Stand. However the chairman has stated that the money must be spent on improving the playing squad first. When completed, the capacity of Villa Park will be increased to 51,000.

External links

• Internet Football Ground Guide on Villa Park
• The Stadium Guide - Villa Park