The match between Aston Villa and Hibernian was an exhibition football match that took place in the city of

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

between the Aston Villa and Hibernian. It was a return match from a friendly played between the sides in January 1887. The match was advertised in the '' Birmingham Daily Mail'' in their 7 April 1887 edition as a "Great International Match". Aston Villa won the match 3–0.

Overview

On 9 April 1887,

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

, took on

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

winners Aston Villa in an exhibition match at the

club's

Perry Barr Perry Barr is a suburban area in north Birmingham, England. It is also the name of a council constituency, managed by its own district committee. Birmingham Perry Barr is also a parliamentary constituency; its Member of Parliament is Khali ...

ground. The sides had both recently won their respective national cups at a time before national football leagues were considered the best side of each country, with The Sportsman describing them as "''powerful clubs''". Aston Villa won the match 3–0 and were regarded by many as the best footballing side in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

in 1887, being described as having the "''right and claim to be the champions of the football world for the year''" by the ''Preston Herald'' in May 1887. The advert Villa placed in the Birmingham Daily Mail in their 7 April 1887 edition described the game as a ''great international match''; however, the Scottish newspapers

The Glasgow Herald ''The Herald'' is a Scottish broadsheet newspaper founded in 1783. ''The Herald'' is the longest running national newspaper in the world and is the eighth oldest daily paper in the world. The title was simplified from ''The Glasgow Herald'' in ...

and

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its pare ...

reported on it in similar detail to several other cross-border challenge matches of that weekend, though they did acknowledge the participants' cup-winning statuses. and other newspapers covered other matches on Hibernians' tour of England (which saw them beaten by Stoke and

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

) in similar fashion. The

Dundee Evening Telegraph The ''Evening Telegraph'' is a local newspaper in Dundee, Scotland. Known locally as the ''Tele'' (usually pronounced ''Tully or Tilly''), it is the sister paper of '' The Courier'', also published by Dundee firm D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd. It w ...

noted that the match was "''the most important''" of the Scottish clubs' 1887 tour of England as it was between the cup holders and again re-affirmed the matches billing as a "''great international match''" that "''caused immense excitement at Perry Bar ic some 10,000 persons looking on''". Aston Villa v Hibs - April 1887

Subsequent match

Later in 1887, Hibernian won a friendly against 1887 FA Cup semi-finalists Preston North End that was billed as 'The Association Football Championship of the World'.

Participant teams

Match details

References

* * *''Birmingham Daily Mail'', 7 & 9 April 1887 {{Aston Villa F.C. matches 1886–87 in English football 1886–87 in Scottish football World Championship 1887 World Championship 1887 April 1887 sports events International association football competitions hosted by England