Unai Emery Turns 55 With Five Europa League Titles to His Name
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery turns 55 today, marking his milestone birthday on November 3, 2026, with five Europa League titles to his name.
Born in Hondarribia in 1971, the manager treated his anniversary with familiar restraint. At his October 23 press conference, Emery recalled working through his birthday when he first arrived at the club and made clear that his daily focus remains entirely on the pitch.
That relentless preparation defines a career built across vastly different football environments. Villarreal’s 2020 appointment announcement traced his early coaching steps through Lorca Deportiva and Almería, guiding both clubs upward before he reached the European stage.
Four seasons with Valencia yielded three third-place finishes in LaLiga and consistent Champions League qualification. Yet his most famous continental landmarks arrived during his tenure at Sevilla.
Sevilla supplied his first three Europa League titles in 2014, 2015, and 2016. That sequence demanded resilience through distinct finals, featuring a penalty shoot-out against Benfica, a 3-2 victory over Dnipro, and a dramatic comeback against Liverpool.
UEFA records six Europa League finals for Emery overall, with his sole defeat coming when Arsenal fell 4-1 to Chelsea in 2019. At Aston Villa, the Premier League noted a steady continental progression that moved from the Conference League semi-finals in 2024 to the Champions League quarter-finals in 2025.
That climb culminated in May with a 3-0 victory over Freiburg in Istanbul. Youri Tielemans opened the scoring, Emiliano Buendía added a second before half-time, and Morgan Rogers sealed the result after the break.
May’s triumph ended a thirty-year wait for major silverware at Villa Park. Still, Emery used his recent press conference to emphasize the granular details of positioning, pressing, and penalty area defending that require constant improvement.
Senior figures like John McGinn and Tyrone Mings support the group through the daily demands of the squad. Turning 55 adds another marker to a storied managerial record, leaving the celebrations in the past as the next training session approaches.