| Other names | West Midlands derby |
|---|---|
| Location | West Midlands |
| Teams | |
| First meeting | Aston Villa 3–3 West Brom (9 December 1882) |
| Latest meeting | Aston Villa 2–2 West Brom Premier League (25 April 2021) |
| Stadiums | Villa Park (Villa) The Hawthorns (West Brom) |
| Statistics | |
| Meetings total | 173 |
| Most wins | Aston Villa (79) |
| Largest victory | Aston Villa 0–7West Brom[1] (19 October 1935) |
  Aston Villa  West Bromwich Albion | |
Aston Villa andWest Bromwich Albion are two Englishfootball clubs from theWest Midlands who share alocal rivalry. The matches between them are known asWest Midlands derbies,[2] though this term may also be used for a number of other rivalries within the region.
Their stadiums,Villa Park andThe Hawthorns respectively, are four miles away from each other.[3] Both clubs have bigger rivals—Birmingham City for the former in theSecond City derby, andWolverhampton Wanderers for the latter in theBlack Country derby. A 2010 article inThe Daily Telegraph ranked the rivalry between Aston Villa and West Bromwich Albion as the third most fierce in the region, behind the two aforementioned derbies.[3]
Aston Villa were founded in 1874, and West Bromwich Albion four years later. The two first meton 9 December 1882, in the second round of the Staffordshire Cup: Villa hosted a 3–3 draw in front of 13,900 fans, while in the replay West Bromwich Albion won by a single goal with an attendance of 10,500. It is possible that this is the first recorded incident of football violence with Albion fans being pelted with soil from home supporters before scuffles broke out between the two sets of fans. On 3 January 1885 they met for the first time in the third round of theFA Cup: a goalless draw at West Bromwich Albion was followed by a 3–0 victory for them away at Aston Villa.[4]
The firstFA Cup Final between the two was in1887, which Villa won 2–0 atKennington Oval with goals fromArchie Hunter andDennis Hodgetts for their first FA Cup.[5] The following year, both teams became founder members ofThe Football League. They met first in a league fixture on 19 January 1889, Villa winning 2–0 at home, and again the next week in a 3–3 draw.[6] The two teams met in two further FA Cup finals in the 19th century, a 3–0 win for West Bromwich Albion in1892 and a 1–0 win for Aston Villa in1895.[4]
The rivalry between the two clubs reached an intensity in the late 1970s and early 1980s: after Albion returned to the top flight under the management ofJohnny Giles in 1976, both clubs regularly challenged for the league title, culminating in Villa winning the league in1980–81. In the 10 league meetings between Albion's promotion and Villa winning the league, Albion only won once, and Villa won five times.[7]
West Bromwich Albion'sAlly Robertson said that the rivalry with Villa was more important than that with Wolverhampton Wanderers at this time, as Wolves were a comparatively weak team.[7] WingerTony Morley, who represented Villa and Albion in this period, said in 2013 “The biggest game for Villa fans will probably always be against Blues [Birmingham City] but for us players West Brom was always the massive game...When I was at Villa both Blues and West Brom were huge games, but for the players it was probably more vital to beat West Brom because they were such a good side".[7]Cyrille Regis, who also represented the two during that era, contrasted the scale of the rivalry with that of the Black Country derby: “They are both big games for different reasons. Albion and Wolves are the only two teams in the Black Country so that really is a local derby with local bragging rights at stake. But, in our day, Albion versus Villa was always about being the best team in the Midlands.”[7]
Birmingham City were relegated from thePremier League in 2011 and Wolverhampton Wanderers a season later, leaving Aston Villa and West Bromwich Albion as the only West Midlands teams in England's top division and without their respective main rivals.[7] On 7 March 2015, Aston Villa defeated West Bromwich Albion 2–0 in an FA Cup quarter-final at Villa Park, prompting a pitch invasion by home fans which was criticised by representatives of both clubs.[8]
Aston Villa were relegated in 2016, and West Bromwich Albion two years later. Both qualified for theEFL Championship play-offs in 2019, with Villa winning the semi-final on penalties after a 2–2 aggregate draw.[9]
Tony Morley represented Aston Villa and West Bromwich Albion in the 1970s and 1980s, winning the league and theEuropean Cup with the former.[7] Cyrille Regis played for both clubs in the same era, in addition to a third team in the region, Wolverhampton Wanderers.[7] More recent players to have represented both teams includeRiccardo Scimeca,James Chester,Sam Johnstone andKevin Phillips, who left Villa for Albion in 2006[10] and later played for Birmingham City, andLiam Ridgewell, who also played for all three teams.[11]
In the 2020s, Aston Villa made signings of a number ofWest Bromwich Albion Academy players. SigningTim Iroegbunam,Rico Richards,Finn Azaz, Finley Thorndike andJamaldeen Jimoh-Aloba in a period of two years after the acquisition of former West Brom Academy manager Mark Harrison as Aston Villa Academy manager.[12][13] In that period, Villa also signed former West Brom academy playersLouie Barry andMorgan Rogers although not directly from West Brom.[14]
Corrected as of april 2021
| Competition | Played | Aston Villa wins | Draws | West Bromwich wins | Aston Villa goals | West Bromwich goals | H2H |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| League | 150 | 67 | 35 | 48 | 238 | 203 | +19 |
| FA Cup | 16 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 24 | 14 | +7 |
| League Cup | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 16 | +2 |
| Total | 173 | 79 | 39 | 55 | 271 | 233 | +24 |
Status corrected as of November 2025
| Aston Villa | Competition | West Bromwich | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic | |||
| 7 | First Division /Premier League | 1 | |
| 2 | Second Division /EFL Championship | 3 | |
| 1 | Third Division /EFL League One | 0 | |
| 7 | FA Cup | 5 | |
| 5 | League Cup | 1 | |
| 1 | FA Community Shield | 2 | |
| 23 | Aggregate | 12 | |
| European and International | |||
| 1 | UEFA Champions League | 0 | |
| 1 | UEFA Super Cup | 0 | |
| 1 | UEFA Intertoto Cup (Defuncted in 2008) | 0 | |
| 3 | Aggregate | 0 | |
| 26 | Overall | 12 | |