Who are West Brom's biggest rivals? Wolves or Aston Villa?

For those outside of the West Midlands, it might surprise some to know that there's a bit of a divide among West Bromwich Albion fans regarding who are the club's biggest rivals.

This week, that divide is less prominent, however, as West Brom prepare to play against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the league for the first time in front of fans since 2014.

The last time the two Black Country rivals faced off against one another was in 2024, when Wolves came out on top in an FA Cup fourth round tie at The Hawthorns.

Images of the crowd disruption that day - plus the fact the game kicked off in the morning - showed just how big and hostile that derby is, reminding armchair experts and London/Manchester-obsessed pundits just how much hatred is shown between the two sets of fans.

However, there are a good portion of Baggies fans who don't see Wolves as their biggest rivals - instead, they think it's Aston Villa.

But why is that?

Why do some West Brom fans think Aston Villa are the biggest rival?

There are several arguments in favour of saying that Aston Villa are the 'big one' for the Baggies.

One of the things that works in favour of that argument is that historically, West Brom versus Aston Villa has more significance.

Albion and Villa met in three FA Cup finals between 1887 and 1895 and have played a whopping 173 times against one another, as opposed to 163 matches against Wolves.

Admittedly, Villa are the biggest club in the West Midlands, too, so there was always that factor of trying to best them and achieve the bragging rights of, 'so what if you're the biggest, we're the best'.

It also depended on when you grew up, because the Baggies had large spells of playing Villa in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, before a fairly long pause in the fixture with only sporadic meetings in the 1990s and early 2000s.

The derby picked up a fair bit then in the 2010s but since losing in the Championship play-offs to Villa in 2019, West Brom have only played Aston Villa twice.

Geographically, The Hawthorns is also a lot closer to Villa Park (four miles away) than it is to Molineux (11 miles away).

However, many will say that the argument in favour of the derby against Wolves being bigger trumps all of that.

Why Wolves are West Brom's biggest rivals

Aston Villa fans look down their noses at West Brom, saying that Albion supporters are "obsessed" with them and that their true rivals at Birmingham City

That's fair enough, they're both in the same city - but at the same time, I've always suspected Villa fans say that because there's no competition between them and Blues, whereas there's a lot more between Villa and Albion.

But with Wolves, it's already been mentioned just how big that derby is that it's been made to kick-off prior to midday and had major crowd disturbances recently.

The Black Country Derby is iconic and for those educated enough about football outside of the relatively tame Merseyside and North London match-ups, it regularly ranks high on the list of fierce rivalries.

For fans who are maybe in their 30s or 40s, they would have watched West Brom and Wolves go toe-to-toe throughout the 1990s, they'd have left Tesco carrier bags in the South Bank, they'd have sung about Steve Bull, they'd have witnessed the 5-1 demolition job at Molineux.

Albion's historic meetings with Villa were mentioned earlier but no one is still alive from those days, whereas the Black Country Derby has been an almost regular twice-yearly event for the majority of the last three and a half decades.

Also, it might suit West Brom fans to say Wolves are their biggest rivals because they've won 65 of those games, as oppose to Wanderers winning 54. Against Villa, they've won a lot more times.

One final thing

Essentially, the younger West Brom fans might see Wolves as their biggest rivals and, no offence, the elder generations may see it as Aston Villa.

Age, however, isn't the only defining factor because it also depends on where you might live and who you grew up with.

If you live in Dudley, Oldbury or West Bromwich itself then you'll probably see Wolves as the biggest rivals without a question because you, unlike the natives in the Wolverhampton, live in the historic boundaries of the Black Country.

But West Brom's history and impact over the years means that there are supporters in Worcestershire, Warwickshire, Shropshire, Birmingham and Staffordshire.

If you're a Baggies fan in Lichfield, for example, you'll likely have grown up with most of your mates supporting Aston Villa and, as a result, see that as a bigger derby.

Ultimately, both are massive matches and deserve a lot more respect from those outside of the West Midlands.