Aston Villa to celebrate European Cup heroes

Aston Villa will celebrate the 40^th anniversary of our historic 1982 European Cup success at Villa Park on Sunday.

The club enjoyed the most memorable night in its history on May 26, 1982 as Villa triumphed 1-0 over Bayern Munich in Rotterdam to be crowned champions of Europe and lift the most prestigious trophy in club football.

We’ve been marking the occasion throughout the 2021/22 anniversary season and this Sunday sees us join together at Villa Park to celebrate our remarkable success, which came 12 months after securing the First Division title.

Villa supporters are invited to join the squad of ’82 ahead of kick-off for our Premier League encounter against Crystal Palace (ko 2pm), with fans asked to get to their seats early to take part and join in.

Supporters will each have a special edition souvenir flag in their seat when they arrive, which will form part of a whole stadium display – you won’t want to miss it!

We are calling upon all fans to start waving your flags at approximately 1.52pm, when AVFC staff lift their flags into position pitchside, and continue waving them through until kick-off.

Members of Villa’s history-making ‘82 squad will be pitchside for the pre-match celebrations as well as returning at half-time for a lap of appreciation.

The following players/representatives will be in attendance:

Chris & Gary Barton (representing Tony Barton), Andy Blair, Des Bremner, Gordon Cowans, Allan Evans, Colin Gibson, Pat Heard, Ivor Linton, Jessica MacLaren (representing Roy MacLaren), Ken McNaught, Dennis Mortimer, Brendon Ormsby, Genevieve Saunders (representing Ron Saunders), Gary Shaw, Nigel Spink, Kenny Swain, Gary Williams, Jim Williams, Peter Withe.

Supporters can also pick up a special commemorative matchday programme for the Palace fixture, marking the 40^th anniversary of our incredible achievement.