Aston Villa win Europa League final to end 30-year trophy drought
Premier League side Aston Villa earned a comfortable 3-0 win over Freiburg to win the 2025-26 Europa League final at the Tüpraş Stadium in Istanbul on Wednesday.
The victory ended Villa’s 30-year trophy drought and it was also their first major European trophy in 44 years after winning the European Cup in 1982.
Unai Emery’s side produced a sensational performance to spank the Bundesliga club with goals from Youri Tielemans, Emi Buendia and Morgan Rogers.
Tielemans opened the scoring with a first-time stunner in the 41st minute before Emi Buendia added his own outrageous strike to make it 2-0 on the stroke of halftime.
Rogers made it 3-0 in the 58th minute to wrap up the victory as Freiburg struggled to cope with Aston Villa’s quality all night.
It was a record-breaking night for Emery, who has now won the Europa League five times after previous victories with Sevilla and Villarreal.
He won the competition three consecutive times for Sevilla from 2014-2016 before leading Villarreal to glory in 2021.
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He is tied with the likes of Jose Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti as the coaches who have won the most European finals, five in total.
Emery replaced Steven Gerrard as Aston Villa’s coach in November 2022 with the team three points above the relegation zone, he has overseen a major transformation at Villa Park.
Meanwhile, Aston Villa’s Europa League triumph has boosted the Premier League’s hopes of a sixth Champions League spot next season.
They have already booked a place in the competition with a top-five finish but after their victory in Istanbul the sixth placed team will get a chance to qualify for the Champions League if Aston Villa finish fifth on the log.
Unai Emery’s side will qualify for the Champions League as the Europa League winners.
The extra Champions League place that the Premier League earned through the European Performance Spot would then go to the team finishing sixth.
Villa would finish fifth if they lose at Manchester City on Sunday and Liverpool also win at home to Brentford.
Should that happen, the Champions League qualification focus then turns to sixth spot. If Bournemouth avoid defeat at Nottingham Forest, or Brighton fail to win at home to Manchester United, the Cherries would finish sixth.
