Premier League
| File:FA Premier League.png | |
| Sport | Football |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1992 |
| No. of teams | 20 |
| Country |  England |
| Most recent champion(s) | Chelsea F.C. |
The FA Premier League (often referred to as the (Barclays) Premiership in the UK and as the Barclays English Premier League, the English Premier League, or simply the EPL internationally) is a league competition for football clubs located at the top of the English football league system (above The Football League), making it England's most prosperous football competition.
The Premier League is presently contested by twenty clubs each season, but in a total of fourteen seasons, the title has been won by only four teams: Arsenal, Blackburn Rovers, Chelsea and Manchester United. Of these, the most successful is Manchester United, who have won the title eight times. The current Premier League champions are Chelsea, who won their second consecutive title in the 2005-06 season.
History
Origins
- For more details on this topic, see History of English football
The 1980s had marked a low point for English football. Stadiums were crumbling, supporters were faced with poor facilities, hooliganism was rife and English clubs were banned from European competition following the events at Heysel in 1985.[1] The Football League First Division, which had been the top level of English football since 1888, was well behind foreign leagues such as Italy's Serie A and Spain's La Liga in attendances and revenues, and several top British players had moved abroad.[2] However, by the turn of the 1990s the downward trend was starting to reverse; England had been relatively successful in the 1990 FIFA World Cup, reaching the semi-finals. UEFA, European football's governing body, lifted the ban on English clubs playing in European competitions in 1990 and the Taylor Report on stadium safety standards, which proposed expensive upgrades to all-seater stadiums, was published in January of that year.
Television money had also become much more important; the Football League had received only £6.3 million for a two-year agreement in 1986, but when that deal was renewed in 1988, the price had risen to £44m over four years.[3] The 1988 negotiations were the first signs of a breakaway league; ten clubs threatened to leave and form a "super league" but were eventually persuaded to stay.[4] As stadiums improved and match attendance and revenues rose, the country's top teams again considered leaving the Football League in order to capitalise on the growing influx of money being pumped into the sport.
Foundation
In the 1991 close season, a proposal for the establishment of a new league was tabled that would bring more money into the game overall. The Founder Members Agreement, signed on 17 July 1991 by the game's top-flight clubs, established the basic principles for setting up the FA Premier League.[5] The newly formed top division would have commercial independence from the Football Association (the FA) and the Football League, giving the FA Premier League license to negotiate its own broadcast and sponsorship agreements. This was seen to be necessary so that English clubs could once again compete with and beat the best of Europe, while attracting the best talent in the world, something which in 1991 seemed practically unthinkable.
In 1992 the First Division clubs resigned from the Football League en masse and on 27 May 1992 the FA Premier League was formed as a limited company working out of an office at the Football Association's then headquarters in Lancaster Gate. This meant a break-up of the 104-year-old Football League that had operated until then with four divisions; the Premier League would operate with a single division and the Football League with three. There was no real change in competition format; the same number of teams competed in the top flight, and promotion and relegation between the Premier League and the new First Division remained on the same terms as between the old First and Second Divisions.
Establishment
The league held its first season in 1992–93 and originally comprised twenty-two clubs. The first ever Premiership goal was scored by Brian Deane against Manchester United in a 2-1 win for Sheffield United. Due to insistence by FIFA, the international governing body of football, that domestic leagues reduce the number of games clubs played, the number of clubs was reduced to twenty in 1995 when four teams were relegated from the league and only two teams were promoted. On 8 June, 2006, FIFA requested that all major European leagues, including Italy's Serie A and Spain's La Liga be reduced to eighteen teams by the start of the 2007-08 season. The Premier League responded by announcing their intention to resist such a reduction.[6]
Structure
The Premier League is operated as a corporation that is owned by the 20 member clubs. Each club is considered a shareholder with one vote each on such issues as rule changes and contracts. The clubs elect a Chairman, Chief Executive, and Board of Directors to oversee the daily operations of the league.[7] The Football Association is not directly involved in the day-to-day operations of the Premier League, but has veto power as a special shareholder during the election of the Chairman and Chief Executive and when new rules are adopted by the league.[8]
The Premier League sends representatives to UEFA's European Club Forum, the number of clubs and the clubs themselves chosen according to UEFA coefficients. The European Club Forum is responsible for electing three members to UEFA's Club Competitions Committee, which is involved in the operations of UEFA competitions such as the Champions League and UEFA Cup.[9]
Competition format and sponsorship
Competition
There are twenty clubs in the Premier League. During the course of a season (which lasts from August to May) each club plays the others twice, once at their home stadium and once at that of their opponents for a total of 38 games for each club, and a total of 380 games in a Premier League season. Teams receive three points for a win and one point for a draw. No points are awarded for a loss. Teams are ranked by total points, then goal difference, goals scored, and then head to head records used to separate teams on equal points. At the end of each season, the club with the most points is crowned as champion. The three lowest placed teams are relegated into the Football League Championship and the top two teams from the Championship, together with the winner of play-offs involving the third to sixth placed Championship clubs, are promoted in their place.
The top four teams in the Premiership qualify for the UEFA Champions League, with the top two teams directly entering the group phase. The third and fourth placed teams enter the competition at the third qualifying round and must win a two-legged knockout tie in order to enter the group phase. The fifth placed team automatically qualifies for the UEFA Cup, and the sixth and seventh placed teams can also qualify, depending on what happens in the two domestic cup competitions. If the FA Cup champions and runners-up both finish in the top five of the Premier League, the FA Cup's UEFA Cup spot goes to the sixth placed team in the League. If the League Cup is won by a team that has already qualified for Europe, the League Cup's UEFA Cup spot also goes to the next highest placed team in the League (unlike the FA Cup spot, it is never transferred to the losing finalist). The highest placed team that has not qualified for the UEFA Cup is allowed the opportunity to compete in the UEFA Intertoto Cup. The Premiership is third in the UEFA rankings of European leagues based on their performances in European competitions over a five year period, behind Spain's La Liga and Serie A.[10]
Sponsorship
Since 1993, the FA Premier League has been sponsored. The sponsor has been able to determine the league's sponsorship name. So far, all the sponsors have referred to the competition as the 'Premiership'. The list below details who the sponsors have been and what they called the competition:
- 1993–2001: Carling (FA Carling Premiership)
- 2001–2004: Barclaycard (Barclaycard Premiership)
- 2004–2010: Barclays (Barclays Premiership)
Finances
The Premiership boasts some of the best players in the world, including many from outside England. The Premier League is the most lucrative football league in the world, with total club revenues of over £1.3 billion in 2004–05 according to Deloitte, more than 40% above its nearest competitor, Italy's Serie A.[11] Revenues will increase substantially by the 2007–08 season, when new media rights deals start (see below). Based on May 2006 exchange rates, £1.3 billion converts to annual league revenue of about US$2.44 billion. This figure is the fourth highest for any sports league worldwide, behind the annual revenues of the three most popular North American major sports leagues (the National Football League, Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association), but ahead of the National Hockey League.
The 2005–06 average attendance of 33,875 for league matches is the fourth highest of any domestic professional sports league in the world. This represents an increase of over 60% from the average attendance of 21,126 recorded in the league's first season (1992-93).[12] However, during the 1992-93 season the capacities of most stadiums were reduced as clubs replaced terraces with seats in order to meet the Taylor Report's 1994-95 deadline for all-seater stadiums.[13][14] The 2005-06 figure is lower than the Premier League's record average attendance of 35,464, set during the 2002-03 season.[15]
Media coverage
England
Television has played a major role in the history of the FA Premier League. The money from television rights has been vital in helping to create excellence both on and off the field. The League's decision to assign broadcasting rights to BSkyB in 1992 was at the time a radical decision, but one that has paid off. At the time pay television was an almost untested proposition in the UK market, as was charging fans to watch live televised football. However a combination of Sky’s marketing strategy, the quality of the FA Premier League football and the public’s appetite for the game has seen the value of the FA Premier League’s TV rights soar.
The Premier League sells its television rights on a collective basis. This is in contrast to some European Leagues, including Serie A and La Liga, which each club sells its rights individually, which leads to a much higher share of the total income going to the top few clubs. The money is divided into three parts:[16] half is divided equally between the clubs; one quarter is awarded on a merit basis based on final league position, the top club getting twenty times as much as the bottom club, and equal steps all the way down the table; the final quarter is paid out as facilities fees for games that are shown on television, with the top clubs receiving the largest shares of this. The income from overseas rights is divided equally between the twenty clubs.
The first Sky television rights agreement was worth £191 million over five seasons.[17] The next contract, negotiated to start from the 1997–98 season, rose to £670 million over four seasons.[18] The Premier League’s current £1.024 billion deal with BSkyB runs over the course of three seasons from August 2004. Sky's monopoly was broken from August 2007 when Setanta Sports was awarded rights to show two out of the six packages of matches available. This occurred following an insistence by the European Commission that exclusive rights should not be sold to one television company. Sky and Setanta paid a total of £1.7 billion, a two-thirds increase which took many commentators by surprise as it had been widely assumed that the value of the rights had levelled off following many years of rapid growth. The BBC has retained the rights to show highlights for the same three seasons (on Match of the Day) for £171.6 million, a 63% increase on the £105 million it paid for the previous three year period.[19] Sky and BT have will jointly pay £84.3 million for delayed television rights to 242 games (that is the right to broadcast them in full on television and over the internet) in most cases for a period of 50 hours after 10pm on matchday.[20] Overseas and mobile phone rights are expected to fetch several hundred million pounds.
The TV rights agreement between the Premier League and Sky has faced accusations of being a cartel, and a number of court cases have arisen as a result. An investigation by the Office of Fair Trading in 2002 found BSkyB to be dominant within the pay TV sports market, but concluded that there were insufficient grounds for the claim that BSkyB had abused its dominant position.[21] In July 1999 the Premier League's method of selling rights collectively for all member clubs was investigated by the UK Restrictive Practices Court, who concluded that the agreement was not contrary to the public interest.[22]
Worldwide
Promoted as "The Greatest Show On Earth", the FA Premier League is the world's most popular and most watched sporting league, followed worldwide by over a billion people.[23] It is widely watched overseas, with matches being shown in 195 countries,[24] generally on networks owned and/or controlled by NewsCorp, which owns the primary UK and Ireland TV rights. The Premier League is particularly popular in Asia, where it is the most widely distributed sports programme.[25] In China, matches attract television audiences between 100 million and 360 million, more than any other foreign sport.[26] Due to this popularity, the league has held two pre-season tournaments in Asia, the only Premier League affiliated tournaments ever to have been held outside England. In July 2003 the Asia Cup was held in Malaysia, featuring three Premiership clubs and the Malaysia national team.[27] In 2005 the Asia Trophy featured a similar format, held in Thailand and featuring the Thailand national team competing against three English clubs - Everton, Manchester City and Bolton Wanderers, the latter of whom won the trophy.[28] Radio coverage of the Premier League can also be heard in the United States on Sirius Satellite Radio.
Players
At the inception of the Premier League in 1992-93, just eleven players named in the starting line-ups for the first round of matches were 'foreign' (players hailing from outside of the United Kingdom or Republic of Ireland).[29] By 2000-01, the number of foreign players participating in the Premiership was 36%. In the 2004-5 season the figure had increased to 45%. On 26 December 1999, Chelsea became the first Premier League side to field an entirely foreign starting line-up,[30] and on 14 February 2005 Arsenal were the first to name a completely foreign 16-man squad for a match.[31]
Despite being an English competition, no English manager has ever actually won the Premier League. Only four different managers have won the title as of 2006: two Scots (Sir Alex Ferguson, Manchester United and Kenny Dalglish, Blackburn Rovers), a Frenchman (Arsène Wenger, Arsenal) and a Portuguese (José Mourinho, Chelsea). Two English managers have achieved second place in the Premiership. They are Ron Atkinson (Aston Villa in 1993) and Kevin Keegan (Newcastle United in 1996).
Over 260 foreign players compete in the league, and 101 players from England's domestic leagues competed in the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Korea and Japan. At the 2006 World Cup, the Premier League was the most represented league with more than eighty players in the competition, including 21 of the 23 players in England's squad.
As a result of the increasingly lucrative television deals, player wages rose sharply following the formation of the Premier League. In the first Premier League season the average player wage was £75,000 per year,[32] but subsequently rose by an average 20% per year for a decade,[33] peaking in the 2003-04 season, when the annual salary of the average Premier League player was £900,000.[34]
The first few seasons of the Premier League saw the record transfer fee paid by English clubs broken almost every season, a practise that resumed in the first few years of the twenty-first century. The record rose to £3.75million in June 1993 (Roy Keane, Nottingham Forest to Manchester United), £5million in July 1994 (Chris Sutton, Norwich City to Blackburn Rovers), £7million in January 1995 (Andy Cole, Newcastle United to Manchester United), £7.5million in June 1995 (Dennis Bergkamp, Inter Milan to Arsenal), £8.5million in July 1995 (Stan Collymore, Nottingham Forest to Liverpool), £15million - world record - in July 1996 (Alan Shearer, Blackburn Rovers to Newcastle United), £19million in May 2001 (Ruud van Nistelrooy, PSV Eindhoven to Manchester United), and £28.1million in July 2001 (Juan Sebastian Veron, Lazio to Manchester United). The record since July 2002 was the £29million that Manchester United paid Leeds United for Rio Ferdinand. Alan Shearer's £15million record lasted nearly five years in England, although his worldwide record was broken within a year. Rio Ferdinand's record lasted nearly four years, before it was broken in 2006 by the summer transfer of Andriy Shevchenko from A.C. Milan to Chelsea for £30 million. The creation of the Premier League, therefore, has seen the record fee paid by English clubs broken 10 times in its first 10 seasons.
Premiership-Football League gulf
Since its split with the Football League, many established clubs in the Premier League have managed to distance themselves from their counterparts in lower leagues. Owing in large part to the disparity in revenue from television rights between the leagues,[35] many newly promoted teams have found it difficult to avoid relegation in their first season in the Premier League. In every season except 2001-02 at least one Premier League newcomer has been relegated back to the Football League. In 1997-98 all three promoted clubs were relegated at the end of the season.
The Premier League distributes a small portion of its television revenue to clubs that are relegated from the league in the form of "parachute payments". Starting with the 2006-07 season, these payments are in the amount of £6.5 million over the club's first two seasons in lower leagues.[36] Though designed to help teams adjust to the loss of television revenues (the average Premier League team receives £28 million while the average Football League Championship club receives £1 million),[37] critics maintain that the payments actually widen the gap between teams that have reached the Premiership and those that have not,[38] leading to the common occurrence of teams "bouncing back" soon after their relegation.
Premier League clubs
Premier League champions
For a list of winners and runners-up of the Premier League since its inception, and top scorers for each season, see English football champions.
Current Premier League members
The following twenty clubs will compete in the FA Premier League during the 2006-07 season.
| Club |
Finishing position in 2005-06 |
First season in top division |
First season of current spell in top division |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arsenal [39][40] | 4th | 1904–05 | 1919–20 |
| Aston Villa [39][40] | 16th | 1888–89 | 1988–89 |
| Blackburn Rovers [40] | 6th | 1888–89 | 2001–02 |
| Bolton Wanderers | 8th | 1888–89 | 2001–02 |
| Charlton Athletic | 13th | 1936–37 | 2000–01 |
| Chelsea [39][40] | 1st | 1907–08 | 1989–90 |
| Everton [39][40] | 11th | 1888–89 | 1954–55 |
| Fulham | 12th | 1949–50 | 2001–02 |
| Liverpool [39][40] | 3rd | 1894–95 | 1962–63 |
| Manchester City [40] | 15th | 1899–1900 | 2002–03 |
| Manchester United [39][40] | 2nd | 1892–93 | 1975–76 |
| Middlesbrough [40] | 14th | 1902–03 | 1998–99 |
| Newcastle United | 7th | 1898–99 | 1993–94 |
| Portsmouth | 17th | 1927–28 | 2003–04 |
| Reading | 1st in the Championship | 2006–07 | 2006–07 |
| Sheffield United [40] | 2nd in the Championship | 1893–94 | 2006–07 |
| Tottenham Hotspur [39][40] | 5th | 1909–10 | 1978–79 |
| Watford | 3rd in the Championship | 1982–83 | 2006-07 |
| West Ham United | 9th | 1923–24 | 2005–06 |
| Wigan Athletic | 10th | 2005–06 | 2005–06 |
Former Premier League members
A total of forty clubs have played in the Premier League between 1992 and 2006, for a list of all clubs past and present see List of FA Premier League clubs.
Seven clubs have been members at the Premiership for every season (15) since its inception. This elite group includes Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United, and Tottenham Hotspur. Newcastle United has next longest streak at 14 seasons, since being promoted to the Premier League in 1993.
Top scorers
| Rank | Player | Goals |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alan Shearer | 260 |
| 2 | Andy Cole [41] | 185 |
| 3 | Thierry Henry [41] | 166 |
| 4 | Robbie Fowler [41] | 160 |
| 5 | Les Ferdinand | 149 |
| 6 | Teddy Sheringham [41] | 145 |
| 7 | Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink [41] | 127 |
| 8 | Michael Owen [41] | 125 |
| 9 | Dwight Yorke | 122 |
| 10 | Ian Wright | 113 |
| As of 10 September 2006.[42] | ||
Former Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United striker Alan Shearer holds the record for most Premiership goals with 260. Shearer finished among the top ten goal scorers in 10 out of his 14 seasons in the Premier League and won the top scorer title three times.
Since the first Premier League season in 1992-93, eleven different players have won or shared the top scorers title. Thierry Henry won his third consecutive and fourth overall scoring title by scoring 27 goals in the 2005-06 season. This surpassed Shearer's mark of three titles which he won consecutively from 1994-95 through 1996-97. Other multiple winners include Michael Owen and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink who have won two titles each. Shearer and Andy Cole hold the record for most goals in a season (34) which they scored in seasons that lasted 42 rather than 38 games. Shearer's mark of 31 goals in 1995-96 is the highest total in a 38 game season.
Manchester United became the first team to have scored 1000 goals in this league in the 2005-06 season, having been (ironically) the first team to have conceded a Premiership goal following the League's inception.
See also
- All-Time FA Premier League Table
- FA Premier League curse of Christmas
- FA Premier League Manager of the Year
- FA Premier League records
- List of FA Premier League stadiums
Notes
- ^ "1985: English teams banned after Heysel". BBC. Retrieved 2006-08-08.
- ^ "The History of the F.A. Premier League". Archived from the original on 2005-03-09. Retrieved 2006-08-05.
- ^ "Fact Sheet 8: British Football on Television". University of Leicester Centre for the Sociology of Sport. Retrieved August 10.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ "The History Of The Football League". Football League official website. Retrieved August 10.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ "In the matter of an agreement between the Football Association Premier League Limited and the Football Association Limited and the Football League Limited and their respective member clubs". HM Courts Service. 2006. Retrieved 2006-08-08.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Fifa wants 18-team Premier League". BBC. Retrieved 2006-08-08.
- ^ "Our relationship with the clubs". Premier League. Retrieved 2006-08-08.
- ^ "The Premier League and Other Football Bodies". Retrieved 2006-08-08.
- ^ "European Club Forum". Retrieved 2006-08-08.
- ^ "UEFA Country Ranking 2006". Retrieved 2006-08-10.
- ^ "First fall in Premiership wages". BBC News. 31 May 2006. Retrieved 2006-08-08.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Football Stats Results for 1992 - 1993 Premiership". Retrieved 2006-08-10.
- ^ "Fact Sheet 2: Football Stadia After Taylor". Retrieved 2006-08-10.
- ^ "Shifting stands". Retrieved 2006-08-10.
- ^ "Premiership Attendance - 2002/03". Retrieved 2006-08-10.
- ^ "Frequently asked questions about the F.A. Premier League". premierleague.com. Retrieved 2006-08-08.
- ^ Martin Cave. "Football rights and competition in broadcasting". Football Governance Research Centre, University of London. Retrieved 2006-08-08.
- ^ Ibid.
- ^ "BBC keeps Premiership highlights". BBC News. 8 June 2006. Retrieved 2006-08-08.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "TV deal pays another £84m". Daily Telegraph. 26 May 2006. Retrieved 2006-08-08.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "BSkyB investigation: alleged infringement of the Chapter II prohibition" (PDF). Office of Fair Trading. 17 December, 2002. Retrieved 2006-08-08.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) (pdf) - ^ "Sport and European Competition Policy" (PDF). European Commission. 1999. Retrieved 2006-08-08.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) (pdf) - ^ Campbell, Dennis (January 6 2002). "United (versus Liverpool) Nations". The Observer. Retrieved 2006-08-08.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "About Us FAQs". Premier League. 15 July 2006. Retrieved 2006-08-08.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "ESPN-Star extends pact with FA Premier League". The Hindu Business Line. March 21 2004. Retrieved 2006-08-09.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Chinese phone maker's fancy footwork". BBC News. 27 October 2003. Retrieved 2006-08-09.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Premiership trio launch Asia Cup". Retrieved 2006-08-09.
- ^ "English Premier League Launch Asia Trophy". Retrieved 2006-08-09.
- ^ Ron Atkinson (2002-08-23). "England need to stem the foreign tide". The Guardian. Retrieved 2006-08-10.
- ^ "Phil Neal: King of Europe?". Guardian Unlimited. Retrieved August 10.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ "Wenger backs non-English line-up". BBC Sport. Retrieved August 10.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ "Forty factors fuelling football inflation". The Guardian. 31 July, 2003. Retrieved 2006-08-08.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Wages fall, but Premier League still spend big". ESPN Soccernet. 1 June, 2006. Retrieved 2006-08-08.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "The billion-pound revolution". The Times. 8 June, 2005. Retrieved 2006-08-08.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Rich clubs forced to give up a sliver of the TV pie". Retrieved 2006-08-08.
- ^ Ibid.
- ^ Ibid.
- ^ "Why clubs may risk millions for riches at the end of the rainbow". Retrieved 2006-08-13.
- ^ a b c d e f g Played in every Premier League season
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Founding member of Premier League.
- ^ a b c d e f Currently active in Premier League team's squad
- ^ "FA Premier League - Actim Station". Retrieved 2006-08-08.
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