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Football in Birmingham

Birmingham — the United Kingdom's second-largest city with around 1.15 million residents and a 4.3 million metropolitan footprint across the wider West Midlands — has been at the heart of English football since the formation of the Football League itself, with Aston Villa among the twelve original 1888 founders. Aston Villa play at the 42,749-capacity Villa Park in the Aston district north of the centre, a ground that has hosted FA Cup semi-finals continuously since the 1900s and matches at Euro 96. Birmingham City play at the 29,409-capacity St Andrew's @ Knighthead Park in the Bordesley district to the south-east. The Second City Derby has been contested since 1879. Aston Villa lifted the European Cup in 1982 — among only five English clubs to have done so — and have won seven league titles. Beyond football, the Utilita Arena Birmingham (16,000) and the Resorts World Arena (15,800) host the city's biggest concert tours, the Symphony Hall covers classical programming, and Birmingham hosts the annual British Grand Prix at nearby Silverstone in July. New Street, Moor Street and Snow Hill stations connect the city to London in around eighty minutes.

Birmingham — the second-largest city in England with a population of around 1.15 million in the city and 2.9 million across the West Midlands metro area — is home to two clubs from the upper tiers of English football: Aston Villa (founded 1874, one of only five English clubs to have won the European Cup, in 1982) and Birmingham City (founded 1875, the older but historically less-decorated of the two).

Aston Villa play at Villa Park in the Aston district — capacity 42,640, with planned expansion to over 50,000 in late-decade redevelopment of the North Stand. The ground is reached by Aston station (West Midlands Railway, two stops from Birmingham New Street) or Witton, both around a 10-minute walk. Birmingham City play at St Andrew's @ Knighthead Park (formerly St Andrew's) in the Bordesley district — capacity 29,409, with new American ownership under Knighthead Capital and former NFL quarterback Tom Brady investing in 2023 driving major redevelopment plans.

The Second City Derby between Aston Villa and Birmingham City — first contested in 1879 and one of the most fiercely contested derbies in English football — has been on hiatus during Birmingham's recent spells in the Championship and League One but resumes whenever both share a division. Villa's Holte End — a 13,500-capacity single-tier stand behind the goal — is one of the largest single stands in English football. The 1982 European Cup final win over Bayern Munich in Rotterdam remains Villa's high-water mark.

Birmingham also hosts Edgbaston Cricket Ground (one of England's six Test cricket venues, home of Warwickshire CCC), the Utilita Arena (capacity 15,800) and the bp pulse LIVE arena (formerly Resorts World Arena, capacity 16,000) at the NEC complex by Birmingham Airport — both running year-round arena tour calendars. The annual British Open Squash Championships at the University of Birmingham and the city's Christmas market — the largest authentic German market outside Germany or Austria — are the busiest annual visitor windows.