Village In Ghana To Celebrate Villa Win With Parade

A village in Ghana is preparing to hold its own victory parade in celebration of Aston Villa’s Europa League triumph, joining fans in Birmingham and around the world in marking the club’s first major trophy success in 30 years.

Villa secured a historic 3-0 victory over Freiburg on Wednesday night at Besiktas Park in Istanbul, with goals from Youri Tielemans, Emi Buendia and Morgan Rogers sealing the Europa League title for Unai Emery’s side.

As the Aston Villa squad prepares for an open-top bus parade through the streets of Birmingham on Thursday, supporters in Juaben, a village in Ghana located more than 5,000 kilometres away, are also planning elaborate celebrations.

Juaben is home to about 1,000 Aston Villa supporters and the Ghana Lions supporters’ club, headed by lifelong fan Owusu Boakye.

To mark the club’s long-awaited triumph, the community has organised a makeshift parade involving a minibus and 30 motorcycles that will move through the village as fans celebrate the victory.

“At the same time an open-top bus rolls through Birmingham with Unai Emery’s Europa League-winning side on board, a minibus full of Aston Villa fans will be cruising through a village in Ghana to celebrate,” Boakye said while speaking to BBC Newsday.

“Yesterday was one of our best moments in life and what a time to support Aston Villa,” he added.

“We have hired 30 motorcycles so we can go around the whole community. We will go there to see how everybody is chanting, how everybody is feeling.

“Today we are going to use our minibus like what Aston Villa will be doing today.”

Boakye explained that Juaben’s deep attachment to Aston Villa dates back generations and was inspired by his grandfather, Daniel, who once lived with a Villa-supporting family from Birmingham.

According to him, his grandfather’s stories about the English club sparked a passion that has now spread across the community.

“When we were kids he used to tell us stories and history about Aston Villa,” Boakye said.

“He used to talk about a certain player called ‘God’.”

The player referred to as “God” was former Republic of Ireland defender Paul McGrath, one of Aston Villa’s most beloved legends, who made more than 250 appearances for the club between 1989 and 1996.

McGrath was also part of the Villa squad that won the 1996 League Cup — the club’s last major trophy before their Europa League success in Istanbul.

For many supporters in Juaben, Wednesday’s triumph represented a once-in-a-generation moment after years of waiting to see the club return to the top.

“It was amazing. What a time to be alive – the whole community coming together to support Aston Villa,” Boakye said.

“During 1982, when we won our first European Cup, most of the fans here yesterday, we were not born.

“We were waiting for our own history yesterday.”