Ozzy Osbourne takes it sportfully
Aston Villa returns to the Champions League after three decades. The British club promotes its new football kits with two Heavy-Metal icons from Birmingham and football fans.
Excitement for the Champions League is high at Aston Villa. The English Premier League club announces this with a funny promotional clip featuring two Heavy-Metal icons from Birmingham. In the entertaining ad for the new Villa football kits, singers Ozzy Osbourne and his former Black Sabbath bandmate Geezer Butler participate. The upcoming Champions League participation of the football club from Birmingham is also part of the joke.
At the beginning of the nearly 1.5-minute clip, Osbourne calls his former bandmate and suggests playing in Villa Park. "But only if I can play on the left wing," answers Butler, who has been a Villa fan since childhood. While the Black Sabbath hit "Paranoid" plays, current and former Villa professionals, as well as coach Unai Emery, are shown in not entirely serious scenes during season preparation.
Butler eventually stops the music and puts on a record with George Frideric Handel's "Zadok The Priest," the official hymn of the Champions League. Ozzy Osbourne, whose dog also wears an Aston Villa kit, is announced as the new number 11. "Who's that?", asks Villa pro John McGinn, to which Osbourne replies: "The biggest frontman who ever came from Birmingham." At the end of the ad, the musicians call out with players and fans the rallying cry "Up the Villa!"
Born in Birmingham
The 75-year-olds Osbourne and Butler are both from Birmingham, where Black Sabbath was founded in 1968 with guitarist Tony Iommi and drummer Bill Ward. The band is considered the most influential in Heavy Metal. In 2017, Black Sabbath played their last concerts in the city and only performed a short set at the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham since then.
Even as a solo artist, Osbourne wanted to retire from the stage. His final tour had to be canceled due to health reasons. In early 2020, the singer made his Parkinson's disease public. At the beginning of the year, he expressed the hope of giving a final concert in his hometown, preferably at Villa Park. Geezer Butler recently announced his support.
The promotional clip for Aston Villa's new football kits features Rock music icons Ozzy Osbourne and Geezer Butler, both natives of Birmingham, who humorously discuss playing soccer in Villa Park. Following their participation, Butler switches the music to "Zadok The Priest," the Champions League's official hymn, acknowledging Aston Villa's upcoming entry into the Champions League.
