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1981–82 Aston Villa F.C. season

English football club season

Field	Value
image	FC Bayern Munchen tegen Aston Villa 0-1 Europa Cup I blijde Aston Villa spelers , Bestanddeelnr 932-1808.jpg
caption	Aston Villa celebrating their historic European Cup victory
club	Aston Villa
season	1981–82
manager	(1) Ron Saunders
(2) Tony Barton
chairman	Ron Bendall
stadium	Villa Park
league	First Division
league result	11th
cup1	FA Cup
cup1 result	Fifth round
cup2	League Cup
cup2 result	Fifth round
cup3	European Cup
cup3 result	Winners
league topscorer
Peter Withe (10 goals)
season topscorer
Peter Withe (13 goals)
prevseason	1980–81
nextseason	1982–83

Main article: History of Aston Villa F.C. (1961–present)

(2) Tony Barton Peter Withe (10 goals) Peter Withe (13 goals) The 1981–82 English football season was Aston Villa's 3rd season in Europe and 83rd season in the Football League. In May 1982, just three months after being appointed manager, Tony Barton guided Villa to a 1–0 victory over Bayern Munich in the European Cup final in Rotterdam. As of December 2023, Villa remain one of only six English teams to have won the European Cup, along with Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Nottingham Forest. They were the underdogs in the final and were expected to lose.

As defending First Division champions for the first time in 71 years, they qualified for the European Cup for the first time in their history. Their first game in the competition was against Valur of Iceland, following by a second round clash with BFC Dynamo of East Germany, Dynamo Kiev of the Soviet Union in the quarter-finals and then Anderlecht of Belgium in the semi-finals before beating Bayern Munich of West Germany 1–0 in the final in Rotterdam, with Peter Withe scoring the winning goal.

The season began with Ron Saunders, who had been the club's manager since 1974, still in charge, but he resigned on 9 February 1982 following a disagreement with the board over his contract. He had been in charge for nearly eight years, winning a league title and two League Cups in the process. His successor was his assistant manager Tony Barton, who had been in charge for three months by the time Villa won the European Cup.

First-team squad

:Squad at end of season

First Division

Main article: 1981–82 Football League#First Division

League table

Matches

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Note	Scorers
29 Aug 1981	Notts County	H	0–1	—	—
2 Sep 1981	Sunderland	A	1–2	—	Terry Donovan 23'
5 Sep 1981	Tottenham Hotspur	A	3–1	—	Terry Donovan 25', 45'; Dennis Mortimer 33'
12 Sep 1981	Manchester United	H	1–1	—	Gordon Cowans 16'
19 Sep 1981	Liverpool	A	0–0	—	—
23 Sep 1981	Stoke City	H	2–2	—	Peter Withe 38', 46'
26 Sep 1981	Birmingham City	H	0–0	—	—
3 Oct 1981	Leeds United	A	1–1	—	Gary Shaw 8'
10 Oct 1981	Coventry City	A	1–1	—	Gary Shaw 21'
17 Oct 1981	West Ham United	H	3–2	—	Tony Morley 25', David Geddis 26', Dennis Mortimer 40'
24 Oct 1981	Wolves	A	3–0	—	Gary Shaw 30', 46'; OG 44'
31 Oct 1981	Ipswich Town	H	0–1	—	—
7 Nov 1981	Arsenal	H	0–2	—	—
21 Nov 1981	Middlesbrough	A	3–3	—	Peter Withe 6', Gordon Cowans 61', Gary Shaw 65'
28 Nov 1981	Nottingham Forest	H	3–1	—	Des Bremner 6', 38'; Peter Withe 77'
5 Dec 1981	Manchester City	A	0–1	—	—
15 Dec 1981	Swansea City	A	1–2	—	OG 14'
19 Dec 1981	Everton	A	0–2	—	—
28 Dec 1981	Brighton	A	1–0	—	Tony Morley 62'
16 Jan 1982	Notts County	A	0–1	—	—
30 Jan 1982	Liverpool	H	0–3	—	—
2 Feb 1982	Sunderland	H	1–0	—	David Geddis 52'
6 Feb 1982	Manchester United	A	1–4	—	David Geddis 21'
10 Feb 1982	Southampton	H	1–1	—	Peter Withe 66'
17 Feb 1982	Tottenham Hotspur	H	1–1	—	Peter Withe 73'
20 Feb 1982	Birmingham City	A	1–0	—	Peter Withe 57'
27 Feb 1982	Coventry City	H	2–1	—	Gordon Cowans (pen) 5', Gary Shaw 19'
6 Mar 1982	West Ham United	A	2–2	—	Gordon Cowans 18', Peter Withe 60'
13 Mar 1982	Wolves	H	3–1	—	Terry Donovan 26', Tony Morley 35', Gary Shaw 85'
20 Mar 1982	Ipswich Town	A	1–3	—	Ken McNaught 77'
27 Mar 1982	Arsenal	A	3–4	—	Gary Shaw 19', Tony Morley 38', Pat Heard 65'
30 Mar 1982	West Bromwich Albion	H	2–1	—	Gary Shaw 49', Peter Withe 70'
10 Apr 1982	Southampton	A	3–0	—	OG 50', Ken McNaught 68', Tony Morley 90'
12 Apr 1982	Brighton	H	3–0	—	David Geddis 53', 86'; Allan Evans 88'
17 Apr 1982	Middlesbrough	H	1–0	—	Allan Evans 27'
24 Apr 1982	Nottingham Forest	A	1–1	—	Gordon Cowans (pen) 58'
28 Apr 1982	Leeds United	H	1–4	—	David Geddis 11'
1 May 1982	Manchester City	H	0–0	—	—
5 May 1982	Stoke City	A	0–1	—	—
8 May 1982	West Bromwich Albion	A	1–0	—	Pat Heard 89'
15 May 1982	Everton	H	1–2	—	Gordon Cowans 42'
21 May 1982	Swansea City	H	3–0	—	Tony Morley 38', Des Bremner 44', Peter Withe 63'

Source: avfchistory.co.uk

European Cup

Main article: European Cup 1981–82, Villa in Europe

First round

First leg

Withe Donovan

England Ron Saunders

Second leg

England Ron Saunders

Villa won 7–0 on aggregate.

Second round

First leg

East Germany Jürgen Bogs

England Ron Saunders

Second leg

England Ron Saunders

East Germany Jürgen Bogs

2–2 on aggregate. Villa won on away goals rule.

Quarter final

First leg

Soviet Union Valeri Lobanovsky

England Tony Barton

Second leg

McNaught

England Tony Barton

Soviet Union Valeri Lobanovsky

Villa won 2–0 on aggregate.

Semi-final

First leg

England Tony Barton

SFR Yugoslavia Tomislav Ivić

Second leg

SFR Yugoslavia Tomislav Ivić

England Tony Barton

Villa won 1–0 on aggregate.

Final

Main article: 1982 European Cup final

FA Cup

Main article: 1981–82 FA Cup

League Cup

Main article: 1981–82 League Cup

References

Ward, Adam, p. 124
(2021-09-16). "40 years on: Villa begin European Cup campaign v Valur".
Donovan was born in [[Liverpool]], [[England]], but qualified to represent the [[Republic of Ireland]] internationally and made his international debut for the [[Republic of Ireland national football team. Republic of Ireland]] in 1979.
https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/game/3643
https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/game/3644
https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/game/3645
https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/game/3646
https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/game/3700
"Berliner FC Dynamo 1-2 Aston Villa, 1981-82 European Cup, 21 Oct 1981".
"FC Dynamo Kyiv 0-0 Aston Villa, 1981-82 European Cup, 3 Mar 1982".

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