By Aston Villa FC

As actor David Bradley famously observed, footballers are like actors, performing on the theatrical stage, striving to delight their audience.

Some footballers are more obviously successful than others. Some play hundreds of games for a club; many make only a handful of appearances.

Part of the club's 150th anniversary celebrations, the Aston Villa Legacy Numbers initiative celebrates every single player who has represented the club in a competitive first-team fixture – from record appearance-maker Charlie Aitken to numerous players who have played just one game.

Our Legacy Numbers list begins in 1879, with the line-up from Villa’s first official match, an FA Cup tie against Stafford Road of Wolverhampton. Every player has been assigned his own unique number, denoting his place in the club’s long and illustrious history.

And with the club's 1,000th player likely to feature in the opening weeks, possibly even the opening weekend, of the upcoming Premier League season, the list takes on even more significance. 

Players are allotted a number following their debut, and those making debuts in the same match are listed alphabetically. Players making debuts as substitutes in the same game are listed in the order in which they went on.

Matches which have been expunged from the records, including those which were abandoned and the first three fixtures of 1939-40 before the outbreak of the Second World War, are not included. Neither are the unofficial games which were played during the war years before the FA Cup resumed in 1946.

View the complete list of Villans below... 

UTV

Archie Hunter.

Legacy Numbers 1-200

1-200
Johnny Dixon.

Legacy Numbers 201-400

201-400
Charlie Aitken

Legacy Numbers 401-600

401-600
Aston Villa beat Bayern Munich 1-0 to win the 1982 European Cup final.

Legacy Numbers 601-800

601-800
John McGinn

Legacy Numbers 801-997

801-997
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