Aston Villa’s trophy shines far away — village in Ghana organizes parade to celebrate UEL triumph
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Reading Time: 2min | Fri. 22.05.26. | 23:05
This Birmingham supporters’ group, well known across Africa, knows how to celebrate their beloved club’s title triumph
At the same time that an open-top bus carried Unai Emery’s Europa League-winning squad through Birmingham, a minibus packed with Aston Villa supporters cruised through a village in Ghana in celebration.
Villa had ended a 30-year wait for silverware on Wednesday after beating Freiburg 3-0 at Besiktas Park in Istanbul. Their triumph was marked on Thursday with a victory parade through the streets of Birmingham as the team returned from Turkey.
Aston Villa's parade for their Europa League win 🤩🏆 pic.twitter.com/EYWOCceOXJ
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) May 21, 2026
More than 5,000km away, around 30 motorcycles and a minibus formed a homemade procession through the Ghanaian village of Juaben. The village was home to roughly 1,000 Villa supporters and the Ghana Lions fan club, which was led by Owusu Boakye.
Ahead of their own parade, members of this supporters’ club had this to say: "Yesterday was one of our best moments in life and what a time to support Aston Villa," Boakye, a lifelong Villa fan, told BBC Newsday.
"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."
A minibus full of Aston Villa fans will be cruising through a village in Ghana to celebrate the club's Europa League success 🇬🇭 pic.twitter.com/TBtVTocTee
— Planet Football (@planetfutebol) May 21, 2026
Juaben’s connection with Villa dated back to Boakye’s grandfather Daniel, who had once lived with a Villa-supporting family from Birmingham.
"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 football “god” was Paul McGrath, who played more than 250 matches for Villa between 1989 and 1996. McGrath had also been part of the side that lifted Villa’s previous trophy, the League Cup in 1996.
Owusu Boakye Amando’s passion for Aston Villa has taken him far beyond his hometown of Ejisu Juaben.
— therealone_kay (@therealone_kay) March 5, 2026
The die hard Villa supporter has now been officially appointed as Aston Villa’s fanbase ambassador for Africa. 🇬🇭🦁
Delegates from the UK visited him in Ghana and presented him… pic.twitter.com/zpLYbco9Ce
Since then, a younger generation of Villa supporters in Juaben had been patiently waiting for the club to create another historic moment.
That finally happened after goals from Youri Tielemans, Emi Buendia and Morgan Rogers against Freiburg.
"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."