Second City Derby

Aston Villa Birmingham City
Other names	Birmingham derby
Location	Birmingham, England
Teams	Aston Villa Birmingham City
Latest meeting	Birmingham City 0–1 Aston Villa 2018–19 EFL Championship (10 March 2019)
Statistics
Meetings total	126
Most wins	Aston Villa (57)
Top scorer	Billy Walker (11)
All-time series	Aston Villa: 57 Drawn: 31 Birmingham City: 38
Largest victory	Aston Villa 6–0 Birmingham (1988)
Aston Villa Birmingham City

InEnglish football, theSecond City derby^[1] orBirmingham derby is thelocal derby between the two major clubs in the city ofBirmingham—Aston Villa F.C. andBirmingham City F.C.—first contested in 1879. Villa play atVilla Park while Birmingham play atSt Andrew's, the two grounds separated by roughly 2.4 miles (3.9 km). It is known as theSecond City Derby based on Birmingham being referred to as thesecond city of the United Kingdom. The two clubs are generally regarded as each other's most fierce rivals. In addition both sides have affiliated women's sides,Aston Villa W.F.C. andBirmingham City W.F.C.

On 10 March 2019,Jack Grealish was "punched from behind by a pitch invader"^[2] during the derby match at St Andrew's. Later in the second half, Grealish scored to give Villa a 1–0 victory.^[3] Following Villa's promotion to thePremier League, the teams have not met since.

The clubs first meton 27 September 1879, when Birmingham City were called Small Heath Alliance. The game, on a pitch at Small Heath'sMuntz Street ground described by the Villa players as "only suitable for pot-holing",^[4] finished 1–0 – recorded as "one goal and a disputed goal to nil"^[5] – to the home side.^[6] Villa won the first competitive game between the clubs, in the Second Round of theFA Cup atWellington Road in 1887, by four goals to nil,^[7]

The last pre-league FA Cup campaign saw the first competitive "Second City derby" occuron Saturday, 5 November 1887. Villa beat Small Heath 4–0 in the fifth round.Tommy Green scored a brace before half-time withAlbert Brown andAlbert Allen adding to the score in the second half. This was their first meeting with modern rivalsBirmingham City.^[8]

The first league encounter, in theFirst Division in the1894–95 season, saw Villa win 2–1^[9] after Birmingham had been promoted to the first division for a two year stint.

Second Division Small Heath F.C. took part in the1900–01 FA Cup, losing in the third round to First division Aston Villa after a replay, Villa's Billy Garraty being the sole scorer over the two fixtures. That seasonSmall Heath finished runners-up inSecond Division, so werepromoted to theFirst Divisionfor 1901–02.^[10] Villa won 2–0 atCoventry Road Muntz Street with goals byJack Devey andJoe Bache.^[11] In the 1901Boxing Day fixture, Villa'sJasper McLuckie was the only scorer.^[12] At the end of the season Birmingham wererelegated back to the Second Division.

Birmingham were promoted to the First Division in 1903–04 and Second City derbies were played up to 1907–08 when they were relegated. The teams would not meet again in top flight competition until fifteen years later when Birmingham were again promoted to the first division for 1921–22. The derbies continued untilAston Villa were relegatedin 1935–36. The two teams have engaged in several hotly contested matches. In the 1925 league game atVilla Park, with the home side 3–0 ahead with eleven minutes to go, Blues scored three times in a dramatic final spell to draw the match.^[13] The following year, Aston Villa made headlines with the signing ofTom 'Pongo' Waring, and his first appearance was forthe reserves against Birmingham City's reserves, which famously drew a crowd of 23,000. Waring scored three times in the match.^[14]

Villa were promoted for the1938–39 season. Both teams won their home games.^[15] Following Birmingham's relegation there would be no further derbies until their promotion for the1948–49 season.

The most significant clash was the final of the1963 League Cup, which was staged not long after Aston Villa had beaten Birmingham City 4–0 in the league. Blues won 3–1 on aggregate over the two-legged final to claim their first major domestic honour.^[16]

During the late 1970s to early 1980s both Villa and Blues met regularly in the First Division and both teams had some memorable successes in the fixture. In 1980–81 Villa did the double over Blues and went on to win the First Division title. Blues scored a memorable 3–0 victory atSt Andrew's in the first meeting following Villa's European Cup triumph in 1982. Both teams promptly went into decline. Blues racked up a 3–0 win in a relegation battle at Villa Park in March 1986 but were relegated at the end of that season. Villa would be demoted the following campaign. The next time Villa met Blues in a league fixture at Villa Park again was in the Second Division and saw a 2–0 Blues victory. The reverse fixture at St Andrew's was a 2–1 Villa victory with both goals coming fromGarry Thompson. The two sides would only meet again in the 1980s in cup competitions. Villa won 7–0 on aggregate when they clashed twice in the 1988–89 League Cup. The same season Villa also won aFull Members Cup clash 6–0.

Following the creation of thePremier League, Aston Villa and Birmingham City met twice in the second round of the 1993–94League Cup. Villa won both matches 1–0. The game at St Andrew's was settled by aKevin Richardson goal after his keeperMark Bosnich had saved a penalty fromJohn Frain to keep the game at 0–0. The second leg at Villa Park was notable for a winning goal from Villa'sDean Saunders and a red card for Blues'Paul Tait. Villa went on to win the trophy.

Blues' promotion to the Premier League in 2002 saw fans eagerly anticipating the first league derbies in 15 years. Blues won both derbies 3–0 and 2–0, respectively. Both matches saw goalkeeping errors by Villa goalkeeperPeter Enckelman, including a goal scored directly from anOlof Mellberg throw-in; Blues supporters would later sarcastically name Enckelman runner-up in their player of the year vote. Violence between both sets of fans occurred before both matches as evening kick-off times had allowedfans to get drunk over the course of the day. In March 2003, during the game at Villa Park, two Villa players were sent off,Dion Dublin for a head-butt on Blues'Robbie Savage andJoey Guðjónsson for a reckless two-footed tackle onMatthew Upson. Trouble also took place following the game on Witton Lane outside Villa Park, where missiles were hurled at police who were attempting to keep both sets of fans apart.

The 2003–04 Premiership season saw games ending in 0–0 and 2–2 draws. The 2–2 draw saw Blues recover a two-goal deficit thanks to a 90th-minute equaliser fromStern John. Both games were lunchtime kick-offs to avoid drunken behaviour, which was achieved although the games lost none of their passionate edge. The following season Blues got back to winning ways, with 2–1 victory at Villa Park just before Christmas and 2–0 at home in March, Villa keeperThomas Sørensen making mistakes in both matches, though it's debatable if his errors directly affected the respective results. In the 2005–06 Premiership Season, Villa finally beat Blues in the Premiership, thanks to aKevin Phillips goal. This was followed up by another Villa victory on 16 April 2006, Easter Sunday, with Aston Villa winning 3–1 thanks to two goals fromMilan Baroš and a bicycle kick fromGary Cahill. Blues were relegated in 2006 but subsequently promoted in 2007.

In November 2007, Villa won their third consecutive derby match with a 2–1 victory at St Andrew's. Former Villa defenderLiam Ridgewell scored an own goal to put Villa 1–0 up, Blues equalised throughMikael Forssell only forGabriel Agbonlahor to clinch it with a late header for Villa, having cleared off his own line seconds before. Violent clashes took place outside the ground after the game in which over 20 police officers were hurt.^[17][18] The derby on 20 April 2008 between the two sides ended in a 5–1 win for Aston Villa at Villa Park, the biggest winning margin for either side in a league match for 40 years.

Villa continued their winning ways in the derby, when they won both of the meetings between the clubs in the 2009–10 Premier League season. The first took place on 13 September 2009 at St Andrew's, and ended 1–0 to Aston Villa, with Agbonlahor scoring the winner in the 85th minute, once again there was trouble with 14 arrests.^[19] Villa then went on to beat Blues 1–0 at Villa Park thanks to a disputed penalty fromJames Milner in the 82nd minute. This was the 3rd time in 4 derbies that Villa had scored the winning goal in the final 10 minutes of the game. Villa also possess the record of six straight wins from 1987 to 1993, including five cup matches. This record was then achieved in the Premier League after Villa beat Blues 1–0 on 25 April 2010, setting a record of six straight league wins from 2005 to 2010. The record was finally ended at the next derby match on 31 October 2010, which resulted in a 0–0 draw at Villa Park. The return match at St Andrew's also ended in a draw, with it finishing 1–1.

In those games in October and December 2010 where Aston Villa played Birmingham City, at Villa Park (Premier League, 31 October) and St Andrew's (League Cup, 1 December, which was the first mid-week game between the two sides since 2003) violence between the two sets of supporters and hooligan firms occurred, with many fans being arrested. In the first game, there were scenes of violence outside Villa Park and there were a small amount of arrests including a Birmingham City club chef.^[20] In the second of the two games (and larger scale violence) after Blues had beaten Villa 2–1, Blues supporters came onto the pitch and confronted the visiting Villa fans, this resulted in flares, ripped out seats and other missiles being hurled by Villa fans into the Blues supporters, there were also flash points before and after the game including the attack on a Blues supporters pub by Villa hooligans, the events were described as a "warzone" by a supporter who attended the game.^[21] Birmingham City were later fined £40,000 by the Football Association for failing to control their fans.^[22]

On 10 April 2011, an episode of Police Academy UK, a TV show aired onBBC Three which documents overseas police officers' introduction to British crime and policing, was set in Birmingham and covered the violence that occurred at the game between Birmingham City and Aston Villa on 1 December 2010.^[23]

On 17 June 2011, Birmingham City managerAlex McLeish swapped Blues for Villa in a move that shocked the football world.^[24] The reaction from both sets of supporters was one of anger. Blues supporters were angry at McLeish, who guided them to only their second ever major trophy win in February 2011, for betraying them to join bitter rivals Villa, and Villa fans were unhappy with the appointment of a manager that had got Blues relegated twice in four seasons, and was perceived to play a negative style of football; that he came from Blues only served to rub salt into the wound of the board making such an unambitious and negative appointment.^[25] Several hundred Villa supporters protested at Villa Park when it emerged that Villa ownerRandy Lerner has begun talks with McLeish. McLeish received death threats from followers of both teams following his appointment as Aston Villa manager.^[26] This controversial move only increased tension and hostility between the players, supporters and owners of both clubs even more as Blues directors threatened legal action against Villa for allegedly "tapping up" McLeish, who resigned as Blues manager on 12 June 2011, while he was still under contract at Birmingham City.^[27] McLeish's appointment marked the first time in history that a manager had moved directly from Birmingham City to Aston Villa.^[24] On 14 May 2012, one day after the2011–12 Premier League season ended, McLeish was sacked as Villa manager after a massively disappointing one season in charge.^[28]

After being relegated in 2011, Birmingham are still yet to gain promotion back to the top flight of English football. However, since Alex McLeish was sacked as Villa manager, Villa's poor form continued. Despite several manager changes over the next few years, after several close calls they were finally relegated at the end of the 2015/16 season. Earlier on in the 2015/16 season, the two teams were drawn to play each other in the third round of the League Cup. Aston Villa ran out 1–0 winners thanks to a goal from Rudy Gestede. In the2016–17 season the two teams faced off in the second tier of English football for the first time since 1987. The first game at St Andrew's ended in a 1–1 draw. Villa won the second match 1–0 with a 69th-minute goal scored by Agbonlahor. The two sides faced each other again in the league during the 2017/18 season, producing a dismal 0–0 draw at St. Andrews marred by Birmingham fans throwing clappers at the Villa players all throughout the game,^[29] before Villa emphatically fortified their second city superiority with a 2–0 victory in front of 41,232 spectators at Villa Park. Some fans believed this game to be a coming of age for lifelong Villa fan and local Jack Grealish, who produced a match-winning man-of-the-match display. The teams next met on 25 November in one of the most exciting derby games in recent times, Villa ran out 4-2 winners after goals from Jonathan Kodjia, Jack Grealish, a Tammy Abraham penalty and Alan Hutton who ran half the length of the pitch to score, Pedersen and Lukas Jutkiewicz scored for Birmingham.^[30]

On 10 March 2019, a Birmingham City fan invaded the pitch during the return fixture at St. Andrew's and assaulted Aston Villa captain Jack Grealish on the pitch by punching him from behind in the head, which was labelled as "disgraceful and cowardly" by supporters of both teams. The man was arrested and charged byWest Midlands Police. St Andrew's' security was criticised as a result. The game ended in an ironic twist with a 1–0 win for Aston Villa with Grealish scoring the winning goal.^[31][32] At the end of the same season, Villa were promoted as they won ten in a row including that game. Since then, this fiercely contested fixture hasn't been played between the two rivals.

Birmingham City W.F.C. were founded in 1968, whilstAston Villa W.F.C. were founded in 1973 as Solihull F.C., and took on their current Aston Villa guise in 1996. During the2000-01 and2001-02 seasons both teams competed in the second tier FA Women's Premier League North. Birmingham were then promoted to the Women's Premier League National with Villa joining them for one season in2003-04 before being relegated. Then followed 18 years of the teams being in different divisions, Birmingham being in the top tier and Villa elsewhere, until the2020–21 Women's Super League season when Villa were promoted up to join Blues. In the first ever WSL match between the two sides Birmingham beat Villa 1–0 at an empty Villa Park (due to restrictions related to theCOVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom),^[33] while the Birmingham's home match which was also played behind closed doors atDamson Park, Solihull was a 1–1 draw.^[34] In the2021–22 season, Aston Villa won 1–0 at St. Andrew's.^[35] Birmingham returned the favour and won 1–0 at Villa Park on 8 May 2022, the final day of the season, as they were relegated to theFA Women's Championship.^[36]

As of the 2021–22 season, Birmingham currently play atSt Andrew's, home of the men's team, having played atRedditch Utd,Stratford Town andSolihull Moors in the 21st century. Villa play atWalsall'sBescot Stadium, having moved fromBoldmere St Michaels - although important games such as the Second City Derby will often take place atVilla Park.

As of the end of the2018–19 season, there have been 126 meetings in major competition between the two teams since the first FA Cup meeting in 1887, of which Aston Villa have won 57 and Birmingham City 38.^[37] The most goals in one game were scored in a league game on 7 July 1895, in theFirst Division, as Small Heath lost to Aston Villa 7–3.^[37][38] The biggest winning margin was 6–0 to Aston Villa on 9 November 1988, in aFull Members Cup fixture.^[37][39] The last Birmingham City league victory over Aston Villa was on 20 March 2005, when Blues won 2–0 at St Andrew's. Villa won six encounters in a row following this and have remained unbeaten in 14 league encounters. The two teams drew for the first time in over six years in the next match (the first of three in the2010–11 season), with the match finishing 0–0 (the other Premier League match of the season also finished as a draw). The second match of the season resulted in the first Blues derby win since 2005, as they beat Villa 2–1 in the2010–11 League Cup Quarter Final on 1 December 2010.

Stats correct as of 10 March 2019.

• First competitive meeting: Aston Villa 4–0 Small Heath Alliance (FA Cup), 5 November 1887.
• First league meeting: Aston Villa 2–1 Small Heath, 1 September 1894.
• First away victory for Aston Villa: Small Heath 1–4 Aston Villa, 26 October 1895.
• First away victory for Birmingham City: Aston Villa 1–3 Birmingham, 20 January 1906.

• Highest scoring game: Aston Villa 7–3 Small Heath, 7 September 1895.
• Largest winning margin (Aston Villa): 6 goals – 6–0, 9 November 1988.
• Largest winning margin (Birmingham City): 4 goals – 4–0, 21 September 1968.

• Most goals in a match (Aston Villa):
• Most goals in a match (Birmingham City):

• Most games won in a row (Aston Villa): 6, 16 October 2005 to 25 April 2010.
• Most games won in a row (Birmingham City): 5, 3 April 1976 – 25 February 1978.
• Most games without defeat (Aston Villa): 13, 1 September 1894 – 20 January 1906.
• Most games without defeat (Birmingham City): 6, 8 March 1933 – 23 November 1935 and 16 September 2002 – 20 March 2005.
• Most drawn games in a row: 4, 10 December 1949 – 21 September 1955.
• Whenever the clubs have met in the Premier League the result has always been the same during that particular season: 2002/2003– 2 Blues wins, 2003/2004– 2 draws, 2004/2005– 2 Blues wins, 2005/2006– 2 Villa Wins, 2007/2008– 2 Villa wins, 2009/2010– 2 Villa wins, 2010/11- 2 draws.

The following is a list of the top goal scorers for each team in the fixture. Only players who have scored 4 or more goals feature.

Aston Villa [edit] Player Goals Billy Walker 11 Tom Waring 7 John Campbell 5 John Devey 5 Gabriel Agbonlahor 5 Eric Houghton 4 Gerry Hitchens 4 Andy Gray 4

Birmingham City [edit] Player Goals Joe Bradford 8 Johnny Crosbie 5 Ken Leek 5 Barry Bridges 4 George Briggs 4 Trevor Francis 4 Arthur Mounteney 4

Unlike, for example, theOld Firm derby, there is no shortage of players who have appeared for both clubs. Villa legendHarry Hampton transferred to Blues after the First World War and helped the club to the Second Division title. The last established first-team player to make this move wasDes Bremner in 1984, though there had been loan signings and movement of youth players during this period. The most recent permanent transfer from Aston Villa to Birmingham City was that of Ireland internationalScott Hogan, who moved for an undisclosed fee in September 2020. The last player to move directly in the other direction was Spanish wingerJota in the summer of 2019.

Notable players who have been transferred directly between the clubs are listed below.

• The players listed above made adirect transfer from Villa to Blues. In addition, there are several players who have "crossed the divide" but done so via another league club.
• European Cup winnerDennis Mortimer – regarded by Villa fans as one of their greatest ever players – also played for Birmingham City in the 1986/7 season.
• Kevin Phillips played for Villa in the 2005/06 season before moving to Blues in 2008 viaWest Bromwich Albion.

• The players listed above made adirect transfer from Blues to Villa. In addition, there are several high-profile players who have "crossed the divide" but done so via another league club. Notable examples include former England internationalEmile Heskey andEuropean Cup winnerPeter Withe.
• Chris Sutton was released by Birmingham City at the end of the2005–06 season. His next club was Aston Villa, for whom he signed for in October2006.
• Scott Sinclair has played on loan at both clubs. He was on loan atBirmingham City while he was playing forChelsea during the 2008–09 season and he was on loan atAston Villa during the 2014–15 season before signing permanently fromManchester City.

Former Aston Villa ManagerRon Saunders, who managed Villa toLeague Cup success in 1975 and again in 1977 before taking the club to its first Championship success for 70 years in 1981, also moved across to Birmingham City following his resignation in 1982.

Alex McLeish's appointment as Aston Villa manager in June 2011 after resigning from Birmingham City five days before was the first time in history a manager has moved from Birmingham City to Aston Villa. The move shocked the football world and increased tension between the two clubs even more.^[24]

Former Birmingham City ManagerSteve Bruce was appointed Villa manager in 2016.

Name	Aston Villa		Birmingham City
	Career	Honours	Career	Honours
Ron Saunders	1974–1982	1974–75 League Cup 1976–77 League Cup 1980–81 First Division	1982–1986

Name	Birmingham City		Aston Villa
	Career	Honours	Career	Honours
Alex McLeish	2007–2011	2010–11 League Cup	2011–2012

Doug Ellis was a director of Birmingham City in the late 1960s before becoming part of a consortium which took over at Aston Villa in 1968.

Status updated as of November 2025

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