Prince William was seen erupting into cheers and wildly celebrating as his beloved Aston Villa won the Europa League final in Istanbul, marking their first European trophy in 44 years
Prince William celebrates after Aston Villa’s goal in the UEFA Europa League final (Image: Anadolu via Getty Images)
Prince William enjoyed being a part of the Aston Villa celebrations as the future king found himself drinking beers as part of the dressing room party after they secured Europa League glory.
The Prince of Wales, 43, is a lifelong Villa fan and has been seen at some of their most momentous occasions. He travelled to Istanbul for the game and was seen erupting into cheers and celebrating as the Birmingham-based side beat Freiburg 3-0 on Wednesday, 20 May.
It is also their first European success since 1982 with Youri Tielemans and Emi Buendia scoring first-half goals, before Morgan Rogers scored in the second-half as William cut an emotional figure in the stands. He was invited to be part of the post-game celebrations and Villa player Matty Cash admitted that he was enjoying beers with the players in the dressing room. “He deserves moments like these and hopefully he can let his hair down,” said the full-back.
Prince William was crying tears of joy after his beloved Aston Villa won the Europa League final
William was pictured alongside Unai Emery, who won his fifth Europa League, and Villa director Damian Vidagany with the massive trophy(Image: https://x.com/AVFCOfficial)
William was later pictured alongside Unai Emery, who won his fifth Europa League, and Villa director Damian Vidagany as the trio shared a picture with the massive trophy.
Villa captain John McGinn said that William, who has followed the club since he was a schoolboy, met the players before kick-off and joked that he was welcome to join them for celebratory drink as long as he picked up the bill.
McGinn said on TNT Sports: “He’s a classy guy, he was in the dressing room before the game. He’s a massive Villa fan so was never going to miss it, its great to have his support, he’s just a normal guy. Hopefully he can have a couple of drinks with us and get his credit card out at the end of the night.”
Prince William has previously brought his son Prince George to games and after the match, Kensington Palace published the Prince of Wales’ message to the team.
The wife of Victor Lindelof posted a picture of William at the afterparty with the caption ‘off the rails'(Image: Instagram/majanilssonlindelof)
William travelled to Istanbul to watch Aston Villa lift the trophy(Image: Aston Villa FC via Getty Images)
It read: “Amazing night!! Huge congratulations to all the players, team, staff and everyone connected to the club! 44 years since the last taste of European silverware! Special shout out to Boubacar Kamara who has been out injured but is such an integral part of our team and helped lay the foundations of this success…UTV (Up the Villa), VTID (Villa till I die).”
The party didn’t stop there either, with the wife of Villa defender Victor Lindelof sharing an image of William partying with the team’s family and friends. Maja Lindelof posted the image on her social media story along with a caption that translates to ‘off the rails’.