The ground is less than a mile from both Witton and Aston railway stations and has hosted sixteen England internationals at senior level, the first in 1899 and the most recent in 2005.

Villa Park also hosted the 2012 FA Community Shield, as Wembley Stadium was in use for the final of the Olympic football tournament.

Their previous venue, Wellington Road, faced increasing problems including an uneven pitch, poor spectator facilities, a lack of access and exorbitant rents.

[15] The committee immediately engaged an architect who began preparing plans for the site, which included construction of a new 440 yards (400 metres) cement cycle track to replace the existing cinder one.

[16] Several months behind schedule, the almost-complete stadium opened with a friendly against Blackburn Rovers on 17 April 1897, which ended as a 3–0 win, one week after Aston Villa had completed the League and FA Cup 'Double'.

[12] After winning the league championship in 1899, Villa's record-breaking average crowd of 21,000[18] allowed the club to invest in a two-stage ground improvement programme.

In 1911, Villa bought the freehold of the ground for £8,250, the office buildings in the old aquarium and car park area for £1,500 and the carriage drive and bowling green for £2,000.

[23] Several commentators including Simon Inglis consider it to be Leitch's masterpiece; a Sunday Times reporter described it in 1960 as the "St Pancras of football.

Unusually, given the austerity measures in place at the time, Villa acquired a special permit to continue construction of the Holte End; Simon Inglis notes "How they achieved this is not recorded".

[26] Work on the ground was completed by April 1940, and the stand was immediately mothballed as Villa Park switched to its wartime role.

The old Bowling Green pavilion on the Trinity Road became a medical centre, the basement of the aquarium building was converted into a gym, four large floodlight pylons were installed, and a training ground was purchased 500 yards (460 metres) from Villa Park.

[12] Villa Park was chosen by FIFA to host three matches for the 1966 World Cup on the condition that the Witton Lane Stand became all-seater.

[31] Regular ground developments and innovations began from 1969 under the direction of the new chairman, Doug Ellis, who set about redeveloping Villa Park for the modern era.

The stand's design and fittings were impressive for the time, including novelties such as an 'AV' logo spelled out in coloured seats and a double row of executive boxes.

[30] A later report by accountants Deloitte Haskins & Sells found that the bills were inflated by only 10% but that there were "serious breaches of recommended codes of practice and poor site supervision".

[33] In response to the Hillsborough disaster which resulted in 96 fatalities, the Taylor Report of January 1990 recommended that all major grounds be converted to become all-seater as a safety measure by August 1994.

[30] The Holte End was the only remaining stand that did not meet the Taylor Report requirements, and a structural survey revealed that putting seats onto the existing terracing would be uneconomical.

The demolition of the old stand began after the last game of the 1999–2000 season, an event met with an element of sadness from observers such as Simon Inglis who stated that "the landscape of English football will never be the same.

Originally a large terraced banking with accommodation for more than 20,000 spectators, the current stand was constructed in 1994–1995 and consists of two tiers with no executive boxes.

[41] Two large staircases, pediments, Dutch gables and a mosaic introduced in the 2007 season in the style of the old Trinity Road Stand make up the facade, itself inspired by Aston Hall.

[42] Built in 2000, the main Trinity Road Stand is the most recently completed at Villa Park and houses the dressing rooms, club offices and director's boxes.

Under the current ownership of Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens, there has been concrete support for a long-term redevelopment of Villa Park.

[58] However, in December 2023, President of Football Operations Chris Heck announced that plans to redevelop Villa Park had been paused.

[69] Great Britain secured the first ever rugby league test series at the ground when they defeated the touring Australian Kangaroos side 6–5 on 14 February 1909 in front of a crowd of 9,000.

The second game took place on 30 December 1953 when Midlands Counties played another New Zealand side on their 1953–1954 tour of United Kingdom, Ireland, France and North America.

The game was played between the London Ravens and the Streatham Olympians, and the low attendance of 8,000 meant that the Summerbowl was not repeated in subsequent years.

Though Villa Park was originally chosen to host the Rugby Sevens competition,[75] the event was moved to the Ricoh Arena in Coventry.

[76] This was because the Premier League began in July while the games were on, in order to accommodate the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar at the end of the year.

[80] The highest attendance recorded at Villa Park was 76,588, on 2 March 1946 in an FA Cup 6th round tie against Derby County.

Aston Villa's former CEO, Bruce Langham, has said that the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive (Centro) are amenable to the idea as long as it is done at the expense of the club.