Aston Villa U19

The Second City Derby against Birmingham City and the West Midlands rivalry with West Bromwich Albion sit in the background of everything Aston Villa's academy sides do, and the U19s inherit both. The UEFA Youth League, where in October 2024 the group faced Bologna's under-19 side and won 3-1, part of a run that has also brought Barcelona, Juventus, Bayern München and RB Leipzig to Bodymoor Heath age-group football.

Jack Grealish came through this system before leaving for Manchester City, and his route — years in the claret and blue youth setup before a first-team breakthrough at Villa Park — is the one the academy still points to when it talks about what the age groups are for. Jacob Ramsey took a similar path and stayed at the senior club rather than moving on.

The gap between the U19s and the top of English football closed further in 2026: Aston Villa's senior side beat SC Freiburg 3-0 in Istanbul to win the UEFA Europa League, a European trophy the club had not added since the European Super Cup in 1982. For a youth system built to feed that first team, a run like that changes what graduating into it means.

Marc Albrighton went through the same academy before his career took him to West Bromwich Albion, one of the names still mentioned around Bodymoor Heath when the talk turns to who the U19s are meant to produce next.