Aston Villa has played 34 seasons in the divisions covered here since 1992/93: 31 in the Premier League and 3 in the Championship. It has been in the Premier League since 2019/20 (7 seasons), after 3 seasons in the Championship. Its best finish was 2nd in the Premier League, in 1992/93. Its biggest climb took five seasons: from 5th in the Championship in 2018/19 to 4th in the Premier League in 2023/24. It has been promoted once and relegated once.
Aston Villa
2025/26: 4th in the Premier League · 2026/27: Premier League
How high can Aston Villa realistically go?
Based on finishing 4th in the Premier League in 2025/26
About 4 in 10
Of the 36 times a club finished 2nd to 4th in the Premier League between 2004/05 and 2015/16, 16 won the league within ten seasons.
16 of 36 (44%); likely range 16%–83%, 7 different clubs.
| Finished in the top four again the next season | about 7 in 10 45 of 63; range 51%–84% |
Aston Villa itself: 7 of the last 10 seasons in the Premier League; 2 top-four finishes.
How do we know?
We took every season since 2004/05 in which a club finished in the same part of the same league, and followed each club forward. The figure is the share that reached each goal. Ten-year goals use finishes from 2004/05 to 2015/16, five-year goals from 2004/05 to 2020/21, so every case has had the full time to play out; results run to the end of 2025/26.
It describes what happened to clubs in this position, not a forecast for one club. A club with much more money or history than is usual for its position has better chances than the figure suggests, which is why the club's own record is shown underneath.
The likely range is a 95% interval worked out by resampling clubs rather than seasons, because the same club often appears several times. It is wide where only a few clubs have been in a position, and two leagues whose ranges overlap may not really differ. Reserve teams such as Barcelona B or Real Madrid Castilla are left out of these counts, because they cannot be promoted into their first team's division.
Counts: won the league within ten seasons: 16 of 36; finished in the top four again the next season: 45 of 63.
The story so far
Final position each seasonRinged dots are titles
How to read this chart
Every club in the divisions covered is placed on one ladder each season: the champions are 1st, and the top club of the second division comes straight after the bottom club of the first. Shaded bands are the divisions. Hover over or tap a dot for the season.
34seasons since 1992/93
31seasons in the Premier League
0league titles
4top-four finishes
1promotions
1relegations
Against the money
Finished 4 places below its money
Over 13 seasons, Aston Villa finished on average 3.5 places lower than clubs with the same wage bill usually finish. The gap is too large to be put down to chance. It finished above its money in 4 of 13 seasons with published figures.
3 seasons followed relegation and came with parachute payments; they are included.
Wage bill from the group accounts of the club's parent company (NSWE Sports Ltd), where football is the whole business.
£273mwage bill, 2024/25
6thhighest of 36 clubs with published accounts
6thfinish in the Premier League, 2024/25
Where Aston Villa finishedWhere its wage bill normally finishes
Season by season
| Season | Finish | Wage bill | Wage rank | Places above its money |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024/25 | 6th, Premier League | £273m | 6th of 36 | +0.4 |
| 2023/24 | 4th, Premier League | £252m | 6th of 36 | +2.3 |
| 2022/23 | 7th, Premier League | £194m | 8th of 39 | +0.8 |
| 2021/22 | 14th, Premier League | £137m | 10th of 38 | -2.8 |
| 2020/21 | 11th, Premier League | £138m | 10th of 37 | +0.7 |
| 2018/19 | 5th, Championship | £95m | 15th of 37 | -10.2 |
| 2017/18 | 4th, Championship | £73m | 18th of 35 | -6.5 |
| 2016/17 | 13th, Championship | £61m | 18th of 33 | -13.5 |
| 2015/16 | 20th, Premier League | £93m | 7th of 36 | -7.0 |
| 2014/15 | 17th, Premier League | £84m | 8th of 38 | -0.0 |
| 2013/14 | 15th, Premier League | £69m | 9th of 36 | -2.4 |
| 2012/13 | 15th, Premier League | £72m | 8th of 34 | -1.8 |
| 2011/12 | 16th, Premier League | £70m | 6th of 24 | -5.7 |
How do we know?
For every season, we compare each club's wage bill with the average in the top two divisions, and work out the finish that wage bill usually brings, allowing for differences between seasons and assuming a bigger wage bill never lowers the expected finish. The gap between that and the actual finish, averaged over the seasons, is the figure above. An overall verdict needs at least eight seasons, and a signed number is given only when the gap is clearly larger than chance.
Wage bills are the staff costs in each club's statutory accounts at Companies House (all staff, not only players), read without any language model and checked against the note's own components and the next year's accounts. Seasons where two readings disagree by more than 2% are left out.
On average, most of a big over-performance fades: clubs that finished at least four places above their money (on average 6.4 places) were +2.0 places the next season, so about 69% of it disappeared and the rest persisted. Some clubs beat their money season after season. It mixes good management, luck and resources the measure cannot see, so it is not a score for how well a club is run.
Clubs with a similar path
Clubs whose finishing positions over the last 15 seasons were closest to Aston Villa's, with recent seasons counting more.
In England
Newcastle UnitedEngland · 12th in the Premier League, 2025/26Brighton & Hove AlbionEngland · 8th in the Premier League, 2025/26FulhamEngland · 11th in the Premier League, 2025/26Crystal PalaceEngland · 15th in the Premier League, 2025/26
Elsewhere in Europe
VfB StuttgartGermany · 4th in the Bundesliga, 2025/26BolognaItaly · 8th in Serie A, 2025/26BrestFrance · 12th in Ligue 1, 2025/26
Compare Aston Villa with another club
Sources
- Final tables to 2025/26. Top-flight positions follow the official classification, including head-to-head tie-breaks and point deductions. Lower-division positions before 2025/26 are worked out from match results and can differ from official tables where points were deducted.
- Relegations include dropping out of the divisions covered.
- All figures can be downloaded on the data page. Spotted a mistake? Report it with a source.