Aston Villa are the 2025/26 Europa League champions after defeating Freiburg 3-0 in the final on Wednesday in Istanbul.
For the first time since their 1982 European Cup triumph, Villa have returned to European glory under manager Unai Emery, who also secured his fifth Europa League title with the victory.
The final at the Tupras Stadium in Istanbul saw Villa dominate Freiburg with an impressive display from start to finish.
Villa opened the scoring just before half-time through Youri Tielemans, who fired home a brilliant volley after a perfect setup from Morgan Rogers.
Emery’s men doubled the lead in the second half as Emiliano Buendía produced a brilliant strike to make it 2-0, thanks to a fine assist from Villa’s captain John McGinn.
Freiburg defended strongly but was unable to stop Villa’s quick attacking build-up and sharp movement going forward.
Morgan Rogers added the third goal in the 58th minute, with Buendía this time providing the assist as Villa sealed a dominant victory over the German side.
The 3-0 win crowned Aston Villa their first European trophy in 44 years after famously defeating Bayern Munich to win the European Cup in 1982.
The result also saw Manchester United’s loan player Jadon Sancho reach his third consecutive European final.
The winger finished runner-up with Borussia Dortmund after losing the 2024 Champions League final to Real Madrid, before winning the Conference League with Chelsea in 2025, where he scored in the final, and now lifting the Europa League title with Aston Villa.
Emery previously won the competition back-to-back in 2014, 2015 and 2016, before lifting it again in 2021 and now in 2026, extending his record as the most successful manager in the history of the competition.
