 Historically, Albion's greatest rivals have always been Aston Villa from nearby Birmingham. The two clubs contested three FA Cup Finals between 1887 and 1895 (Villa winning two and Albion one). More recently however, most Albion fans have begun to see Wolverhampton Wanderers as their main rivals – particularly between 1989 and 2002 when Albion and Villa were never in the same division but Albion were in the same division as Wolves for 11 out of 14 seasons. However, with Albion and Villa being in different divisions for so many years, the rivalry is less heated as Aston Villa supporters consider Birmingham City as their main local rivals and not Albion despite geographical distance between the two clubs.
