Aston Villa will participate in the Champions League this season, marking their return to the competition since the 2000/01 season. This will be only the English club's second appearance in the competition since that date.
Aston Villa finished fourth in the last Premier League season, which guaranteed them direct access to the league phase of the European competition. This feat represents a significant recovery for the club, which had not participated in the Champions League for more than two decades.
The club from Birmingham has an important history in Europe, having won the European Cup in 1982. That victory remains the greatest international title in Aston Villa's history, and the return to the competition comes almost 42 years after that historic conquest.
