Why Aston Villa won’t show Europa League final at Villa Park – and where fans could watch instead

Aston Villa supporters hoping to watch the Europa League final at Villa Park are set to be disappointed after the club confirmed the stadium will not host a large-scale screening of the match.

Villa face Freiburg in Istanbul later this month as Unai Emery’s side bid to win European silverware, but ongoing redevelopment work means supporters will have to look elsewhere to watch the final together.

Aston Villa won't be able to show Europa League final at Villa Park

Aston Villa will not screen the Europa League final inside Villa Park because construction work on the stadium’s North Stand redevelopment is due to begin immediately after the final home game of the season against Liverpool.

The club are working to an accelerated construction schedule, with the North Stand set to close for the entirety of the 2026/27 campaign as part of a major expansion project that will eventually increase Villa Park’s capacity beyond 50,000.

The redevelopment will add around 5,500 seats to the stadium and includes wider seating optimisation works across the ground this summer. Because of the tight turnaround, Villa are unable to delay the construction programme to stage a final screening event at the stadium itself.

Although nothing has been officially confirmed yet, fans who can’t make the trip to Turkey will almost certainly have options. The Warehouse, which hosted the club’s official watch party for the semi‑final against Nottingham Forest, is the most likely venue again.

Toca Social in Birmingham is also already advertising tickets for a screening event, while London‑based Villans could head to Boxpark for what should be a memorable night.

Meanwhile, former Villa striker Stan Collymore has also revealed he has been in talks with Birmingham mayoral officials and Acorns Children’s Hospice over the possibility of organising a wider city-based fan event ahead of the final.

FGG says: Not ideal but Villa will still have a plan for fans

Given the scale of the occasion, it is obviously disappointing that Villa Park itself cannot host a massive screening for supporters.

European finals are the kind of nights fans want to experience together inside their home stadium.

But with work on the North Stand redevelopment starting immediately after the Liverpool match, the club’s hands are fairly tied if they want to keep the project on schedule.

The positive is that Villa are still putting on an official watch party elsewhere, rather than leaving supporters completely on their own, and there is clearly demand for even bigger fan events around Birmingham if logistics can be sorted in time.