Derek McInnes was announced as the successor to Craig Brown in March 2013. In McInnes' first season as manager, Aberdeen won the 2013–14 Scottish League Cup after defeating Inverness 4–2 on penalties, their first trophy in 19 years. Aberdeen finished third in the Scottish Premiership, and began the next season by coming through the early rounds of the Europa League, beating Dutch club FC Groningen before eventually being eliminated by Spanish side Real Sociedad. The club ended the season in second place—their best league position since 1993–94—in 2015, 2016, and 2017. In recent seasons' Europa League competitions, they were defeated in the third qualifying round four times: In 2015–16 by FC Kairat,in 2016–17 by NK Maribor, in 2017–18 by Apollon Limassol, and in 2019–20 by HNK Rijeka.
Aberdeen were league runners-up once more in 2016–17 and reached both cup finals, but were beaten 3–0 by Celtic in the League Cup and 2–1 by the same opponents in the Scottish Cup, echoing the outcome in 1992–93 when Aberdeen had finished second to Rangers in all competitions. They were again second the following season, earning a first league win against Celtic away from home for fourteen years in the final game of the season. This qualified them for the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League, where they were defeated after extra time by Premier League side Burnley in the second qualifying round.
In November 2019, Major League Soccer side Atlanta United FC acquired a less than 10% stake in Aberdeen for £2 million (US$2.57 million) as part of a strategic alliance between the two clubs. As part of this deal, vice-chairman Dave Cormack became chairman of the club, replacing Stewart Milne. Atlanta United president Darren Eales also took a seat on Aberdeen's board of directors. McInnes left the post of manager in March 2021 after almost 8 years in charge, and was replaced by Atlanta United 2 manager and former Aberdeen player Stephen Glass.
(Wikipedia)