The Aston Villa Under-21s, formerly known as Aston Villa Reserves and Aston Villa Under-23s, are the most senior youth development team of Aston Villa and compete in Premier League 2, the EFL Trophy and the Birmingham Senior Cup in the 2024–25 season. The team plays its home games at Aston Villa's training ground, Bodymoor Heath and occasionally Villa Park. Aston Villa also have an academy side that competes in the Under-18 division of the Professional Development League, the U18 Premier League Cup, and the FA Youth Cup annually. They will also field an under-19 side in the 2024–25 UEFA Youth League following Aston Villa's senior side qualifying for the UEFA Champion's League.
Aston Villa have fielded reserve or 'A' sides since their formation in 1874 and the team were part of the FA Premier Reserve League at its foundation in 1999 and were winners of the 2011-12 Premier Reserve League South title, the last in that format. The side has been successful in recent decades, as well as becoming national champions in the 2003–04 and 2009–10 seasons, the team also won four out of five Southern Championships between 2007 and 2012, before the format changed to the Professional Development League. The side also won the NextGen Series in 2013, a Europe-wide tournament for elite academies.
Reserve sides of Aston Villa had played unofficial matches since the formation of the club in 1874, while formal competition for a reserve side began in 1892, when Aston Villa Reserves joined the Birmingham & District League.[citation needed] After finishing in the runners-up position twice in the first 2 seasons of the competition, Villa finally won their first trophy in the 1894–95 season, winning 26 out of 30 league games and losing just once all season. Several titles followed after this achievement, including a run of 8 consecutive titles between 1902 and 1910. When Villa finally left the Birmingham & District League in 1915, they had accumulated a total of 12 league titles and 6 runners-up finishes.[citation needed]
During the Second World War, TIME Magazine reported that the Villa reserve team, all captured at Dunkirk, thrashed their captor SS guards.[4] TIME issued an apology for erroneously placing Aston in the city of Liverpool: "TIME hastily restores Aston Villa (soccer) to Birmingham where it belongs".[5]
After that, the reserve team played in the Central League for many years, becoming champions in 1929–30, 1963–64 and 1992–93.
In 1999–2000, the FA Premier Reserve League was set up, Villa were one of the founding members, and were split into the Northern section of the league. Three disappointing seasons followed, however in the 2003–04 season, inspired by brothers Stefan Moore and Luke Moore, Villa eased to their first title. In the two seasons which followed (2004–05 and 2005–06), Villa agonisingly finished both campaigns as runners-up, both times to Manchester United. In the 2006–07 season, for the first time since its introduction, the FA Premier Reserve League excluded Coca-Cola Championship teams from playing in the league, with the 20 senior English Premiership teams parallelling the teams involved in the FA Premier League. This also meant that due to geographical circumstances, Aston Villa Reserves were switched from the Northern Division, to the Southern equivalent, for the first time since the start of the original format in 1999. Villa eventually finished 4th - winning 9 out of their 18 games, with Luke Moore the top goalscorer, with 7. The season saw the impressive development of several youngsters, most notably including Zoltán Stieber, Shane Lowry and Stephen O'Halloran, all of which were rewarded with first-team opportunities in the pre-season fixtures, prior to the 2007–08 season.
Inspired by Swedish striker Tobias Mikaelsson, Aston Villa Reserves clinched the 2007–08 Southern title, their second regional success since the inception of the league in 1999. However, they were beaten 3–0 in the Play-Off Final by Northern champions Liverpool.
In the 2008–09 season, the team went one better by securing their second consecutive Southern title, and then defeating Sunderland to claim their first ever national title, with goals from Nathan Delfouneso, James Collins and Shane Lowry.
Andreas Weimann netted nine goals, to help Villa keep up their trend of securing the Southern title - their third consecutively - in the 2009–10 season. This included a remarkable 15-game unbeaten streak, running from the opening game of the campaign, all the way through to the last game of the season against Portsmouth. However, the club were denied a second consecutive national title, as they were beaten on penalties by Manchester United, after a 3–3 draw at Old Trafford.
The 2010–11 season saw changes to the standard format of the league. Only 16 clubs competed, which meant a split between the top heavy Northern league. Undoubtedly the highlight of the season, was a 10–1 home victory over Arsenal at the Greene King Stadium, en route to finishing third in the league.
Following changes arrived in the 2011–12 season. Three leagues were abolished, returning to two, whilst each team played the teams in their own league home and away. They also played each team in the regional league once, with home and away games split evenly. More success followed however, as Villa picked up another Southern title, with Andreas Weimann scoring nine times during the course of the season. It was a case of deja vu however, as they were again beaten on penalties by Manchester United at Old Trafford.
The Premier Reserve League was abolished during the summer of 2012, to make way for the Professional Development League 1. Aston Villa were one of 22 clubs to take part in the inaugural season, participating in Group 2 of the competition.
During the 13-year tenure of the original Reserve system, Aston Villa were the second most successful club - behind Manchester United - with five regional titles and one national title. The youth sides currently play their home matches at Villa Park and Bodymoor Heath. From 2019, having been promoted back to the Premier League, Aston Villa began fielding an under-21 side in the EFL Trophy against League One and League Two opposition.
In January 2021, after a COVID-19 outbreak in the first team, the youth team was used for a first team game against Liverpool in the FA cup 3rd round.[6]
After a successful 2022–23 season with the senior side, Jacob Ramsey was recognised by the Premier League with the 2022/23 Premier League Academy Graduate award.[7]
Aston Villa Under-21s
Squad
As of 6 September 2024.Players under 21 who have made their senior league debut, or are named in the official senior squad list, are listed in the senior squad.[8]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
In the 2009/10 season Villa clinched top spot in Group B of the Premier Academy League, impressively notching the most wins (22), most points (68) and most goals (84) of all 41 clubs involved. Villa's youngsters were drawn against Group A winners Arsenal in the semi-final, which they won 1-0. This subsequently meant a final against FA Youth Cup winners Manchester City, which was comprehensively won 2–0, with goals from James Collins and Chris Herd. The top scorers for the season were Austrian striker Andreas Weimann (16) and English striker Nathan Delfouneso (15).The 2008/09 season was less fruitful for Villa's youngsters, as they finished 3rd in Group B, and were knocked out of the FA Youth Cup at the first hurdle, losing in the Third Round to eventual champions Arsenal.[citation needed]
Villa's youth team has a strong history in the FA Youth Cup with wins in 1972, 1980, 2002 and 2021. Villa also reached the semi-finals of the FA Youth Cup in 2004, eventually being knocked out by eventual runners-up Chelsea.[citation needed]
The annual invitational seven-a-side Hong Kong Soccer Sevens tournament brings together academy sides from around the world, and has brought notable success to Aston Villa's academy between since 1999. Villa have won the main tournament seven times, more than any other team.
Villa won the third HK Soccer Sevens tournament in 2002, defeating Arsenal in the final, they went on to defend their title in 2004 (as the 2003 competition was cancelled due to the SARS outbreak), inspired by Stephen Cooke and Steven Foley they clinched the trophy in the final against Manchester United. Striker Gabriel Agbonlahor captained Villa to the semi-final in 2006 - losing to the eventual winners Urawa Red Diamonds - and also received the 'Player of the Tournament' accolade. Villa won the competition again in May 2010, beating Central Coast Mariners of Australia in the final.[11] In the in 2019 tournament, Villa won the secondary 'plate' trophy; players including Akos Onodi, Lewis Brunt and Cameron Archer featured.[12] After a four year hiatus due to COVID-19 and the Hong Kong protests the tournament returned in May 2023. At the tournament Villa extended their record of victories to seven, defeating Tai Po FC in the final, Omari Kellyman was named player of the tournament and was also topscorer with five goals overall.[13]
NextGen Series
The Aston Villa Academy played in both seasons of the now defunct NextGen Series, a tournament for Europe's elite football academies between 2011 and 2013. The team was composed of under-18s with up to three under-19s in each matchday squad. Having made the quarter-finals in the 2011-12 Series, the academy side captained by Samir Carruthers won the final of the 2012-13 tournament on 1 April 2013 beating Chelsea 2–0, at the Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia, in Como, Italy.[14]
CEE Cup
Aston Villa sent an under-19 side to the invitational CEE Cup in the Czech Republic for the first time in 2022, competing against the youth sides of elite sides from around the world including Palmeiras, Tigres UANL and Dynamo Kyiv.[15] Villa narrowly lost all three of their matches, finishing 6th in the overall rankings, Kerr Smith and Todd Alcock scored for Villa during the competition.[16]
Academy squad
As of 6 September 2024.[17][18]Players not listed in the official squad are referenced individually, some players under-18 have been promoted to the under-21 and senior sides.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
The following players have all been members of the Aston Villa academy before their professional debut and have either made at least one appearance for the Villa first team in professional competition, have gone on to play in a fully professional league, or have represented their national team. Players in bold are still contracted to the club.
