{"id":755,"date":"2026-05-21T10:58:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T07:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/aston-villa-secure-europa-league-glory-to-end-30-year-wait-for-a-trophy\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T10:58:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T07:58:12","slug":"aston-villa-secure-europa-league-glory-to-end-30-year-wait-for-a-trophy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/aston-villa-secure-europa-league-glory-to-end-30-year-wait-for-a-trophy\/","title":{"rendered":"Aston Villa Secure Europa League Glory to End 30-Year Wait for a Trophy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Several Aston Villa players soaked up the celebrations after Unai Emery\u2019s team delivered a commanding performance to win the UEFA Europa League final, beating Freiburg 3-0 in Istanbul.<\/p>\n<p>Villa struck twice in rapid fashion just before the break, with goals from Youri Tielemans and Emi Buendia that left the match effectively decided at halftime. Morgan Rogers then put the contest beyond doubt after the restart, firing home to complete the three-goal margin.<\/p>\n<p>The triumph marks Villa\u2019s first major piece of silverware of any kind since they lifted the League Cup. It also represents the club\u2019s second European trophy, following their success in the then-European Cup in 1982.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Several Aston Villa players soaked up the celebrations after Unai Emery\u2019s team delivered a commanding performance to win the UEFA Europa League final, beating Freiburg 3-0 in Istanbul. Villa struck twice in rapid fashion just before the break, with goals from Youri Tielemans and Emi Buendia that left the match effectively decided at halftime. Morgan [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":754,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_title":"Aston Villa vs Freiburg: Europa League Final Win","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Aston Villa crowned Europa League champions in Istanbul, crushing Freiburg 3-0 as Tielemans, Buendia and Rogers sealed a trophy af","mma_seo_breadcrumb_text":"","mma_seo_breadcrumb_url":"","mma_seo_breadcrumb_hide_ui":"","mma_seo_breadcrumb_labels":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Aston Villa vs Freiburg: Europa League Final Win<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Aston Villa crowned Europa League champions in Istanbul, crushing Freiburg 3-0 as Tielemans, Buendia and Rogers sealed a trophy af\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/aston-villa-secure-europa-league-glory-to-end-30-year-wait-for-a-trophy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Aston Villa vs Freiburg: Europa League Final Win\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Aston Villa crowned Europa League champions in Istanbul, crushing Freiburg 3-0 as Tielemans, Buendia and Rogers sealed a trophy af\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/aston-villa-secure-europa-league-glory-to-end-30-year-wait-for-a-trophy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Zalebs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-21T07:58:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/aston-villa-end-year-trophy-7020.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"591\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"297\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Zibuyile Dladla\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Zibuyile Dladla\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/aston-villa-secure-europa-league-glory-to-end-30-year-wait-for-a-trophy\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/aston-villa-secure-europa-league-glory-to-end-30-year-wait-for-a-trophy\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Zibuyile Dladla\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6da1a9a659a2b9fb37587bf050637d1e\"},\"headline\":\"Aston Villa Secure Europa League Glory to End 30-Year Wait for a Trophy\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-21T07:58:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/aston-villa-secure-europa-league-glory-to-end-30-year-wait-for-a-trophy\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":122,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/aston-villa-secure-europa-league-glory-to-end-30-year-wait-for-a-trophy\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/aston-villa-end-year-trophy-7020.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Sports\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-ZA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/aston-villa-secure-europa-league-glory-to-end-30-year-wait-for-a-trophy\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/aston-villa-secure-europa-league-glory-to-end-30-year-wait-for-a-trophy\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/aston-villa-secure-europa-league-glory-to-end-30-year-wait-for-a-trophy\\\/\",\"name\":\"Aston Villa vs Freiburg: Europa League Final Win\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/aston-villa-secure-europa-league-glory-to-end-30-year-wait-for-a-trophy\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/aston-villa-secure-europa-league-glory-to-end-30-year-wait-for-a-trophy\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/aston-villa-end-year-trophy-7020.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-21T07:58:12+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6da1a9a659a2b9fb37587bf050637d1e\"},\"description\":\"Aston Villa crowned Europa League champions in Istanbul, crushing Freiburg 3-0 as Tielemans, Buendia and Rogers sealed a trophy af\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/aston-villa-secure-europa-league-glory-to-end-30-year-wait-for-a-trophy\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-ZA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/aston-villa-secure-europa-league-glory-to-end-30-year-wait-for-a-trophy\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-ZA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/aston-villa-secure-europa-league-glory-to-end-30-year-wait-for-a-trophy\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/aston-villa-end-year-trophy-7020.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/aston-villa-end-year-trophy-7020.webp\",\"width\":591,\"height\":297},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/aston-villa-secure-europa-league-glory-to-end-30-year-wait-for-a-trophy\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Aston Villa Secure Europa League Glory to End 30-Year Wait for a Trophy\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Zalebs\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-ZA\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6da1a9a659a2b9fb37587bf050637d1e\",\"name\":\"Zibuyile Dladla\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-ZA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1f581f0bb57ed4fd97eeb8353242d5a3c12548c2ff26373e9e5be1e00d4fad05?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1f581f0bb57ed4fd97eeb8353242d5a3c12548c2ff26373e9e5be1e00d4fad05?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1f581f0bb57ed4fd97eeb8353242d5a3c12548c2ff26373e9e5be1e00d4fad05?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Zibuyile Dladla\"},\"description\":\"Zibuyile began her media journey as a sales intern at Mediamark (Kagiso Media) before moving into digital content creation for ZAlebs.com. Over four years, she helped evolve the platform from a simple blog into one of South Africa\u2019s leading independent entertainment news sites. Following ZAlebs\u2019 transition to Celebrity Worx in 2016, Zibuyile was promoted to Executive Editor, recognized for her sharp audience insight and ability to match editorial with branded content. Highlights of her time include a Bookmark Award nomination, judging TLC\u2019s Next Great Presenter, reporting from the MTV EMAs, and building partnerships with radio stations like YFM, Cliff Central, and Good Hope FM. Her editorial work also expanded to include fast-growing digital verticals\u2014such as lifestyle tech, online entertainment, and gambling-related content\u2014tailored to evolving reader interests and brand opportunities.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/za.linkedin.com\\\/in\\\/zibuyile-dladla-9a26628a\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/author\\\/zibuyile-dladla\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Aston Villa vs Freiburg: Europa League Final Win","description":"Aston Villa crowned Europa League champions in Istanbul, crushing Freiburg 3-0 as Tielemans, Buendia and Rogers sealed a trophy af","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/aston-villa-secure-europa-league-glory-to-end-30-year-wait-for-a-trophy\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Aston Villa vs Freiburg: Europa League Final Win","og_description":"Aston Villa crowned Europa League champions in Istanbul, crushing Freiburg 3-0 as Tielemans, Buendia and Rogers sealed a trophy af","og_url":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/aston-villa-secure-europa-league-glory-to-end-30-year-wait-for-a-trophy\/","og_site_name":"Zalebs","article_published_time":"2026-05-21T07:58:12+00:00","og_image":[{"width":591,"height":297,"url":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/aston-villa-end-year-trophy-7020.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"Zibuyile Dladla","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Zibuyile Dladla","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/aston-villa-secure-europa-league-glory-to-end-30-year-wait-for-a-trophy\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/aston-villa-secure-europa-league-glory-to-end-30-year-wait-for-a-trophy\/"},"author":{"name":"Zibuyile Dladla","@id":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/6da1a9a659a2b9fb37587bf050637d1e"},"headline":"Aston Villa Secure Europa League Glory to End 30-Year Wait for a Trophy","datePublished":"2026-05-21T07:58:12+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/aston-villa-secure-europa-league-glory-to-end-30-year-wait-for-a-trophy\/"},"wordCount":122,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/aston-villa-secure-europa-league-glory-to-end-30-year-wait-for-a-trophy\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/aston-villa-end-year-trophy-7020.webp","articleSection":["Sports"],"inLanguage":"en-ZA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/aston-villa-secure-europa-league-glory-to-end-30-year-wait-for-a-trophy\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/aston-villa-secure-europa-league-glory-to-end-30-year-wait-for-a-trophy\/","url":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/aston-villa-secure-europa-league-glory-to-end-30-year-wait-for-a-trophy\/","name":"Aston Villa vs Freiburg: Europa League Final Win","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/aston-villa-secure-europa-league-glory-to-end-30-year-wait-for-a-trophy\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/aston-villa-secure-europa-league-glory-to-end-30-year-wait-for-a-trophy\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/aston-villa-end-year-trophy-7020.webp","datePublished":"2026-05-21T07:58:12+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/6da1a9a659a2b9fb37587bf050637d1e"},"description":"Aston Villa crowned Europa League champions in Istanbul, crushing Freiburg 3-0 as Tielemans, Buendia and Rogers sealed a trophy af","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/aston-villa-secure-europa-league-glory-to-end-30-year-wait-for-a-trophy\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-ZA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/aston-villa-secure-europa-league-glory-to-end-30-year-wait-for-a-trophy\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-ZA","@id":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/aston-villa-secure-europa-league-glory-to-end-30-year-wait-for-a-trophy\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/aston-villa-end-year-trophy-7020.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/aston-villa-end-year-trophy-7020.webp","width":591,"height":297},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/aston-villa-secure-europa-league-glory-to-end-30-year-wait-for-a-trophy\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Aston Villa Secure Europa League Glory to End 30-Year Wait for a Trophy"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/","name":"Zalebs","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-ZA"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/6da1a9a659a2b9fb37587bf050637d1e","name":"Zibuyile Dladla","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-ZA","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1f581f0bb57ed4fd97eeb8353242d5a3c12548c2ff26373e9e5be1e00d4fad05?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1f581f0bb57ed4fd97eeb8353242d5a3c12548c2ff26373e9e5be1e00d4fad05?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1f581f0bb57ed4fd97eeb8353242d5a3c12548c2ff26373e9e5be1e00d4fad05?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Zibuyile Dladla"},"description":"Zibuyile began her media journey as a sales intern at Mediamark (Kagiso Media) before moving into digital content creation for ZAlebs.com. Over four years, she helped evolve the platform from a simple blog into one of South Africa\u2019s leading independent entertainment news sites. Following ZAlebs\u2019 transition to Celebrity Worx in 2016, Zibuyile was promoted to Executive Editor, recognized for her sharp audience insight and ability to match editorial with branded content. Highlights of her time include a Bookmark Award nomination, judging TLC\u2019s Next Great Presenter, reporting from the MTV EMAs, and building partnerships with radio stations like YFM, Cliff Central, and Good Hope FM. Her editorial work also expanded to include fast-growing digital verticals\u2014such as lifestyle tech, online entertainment, and gambling-related content\u2014tailored to evolving reader interests and brand opportunities.","sameAs":["https:\/\/za.linkedin.com\/in\/zibuyile-dladla-9a26628a"],"url":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/author\/zibuyile-dladla\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}