FA Premier league
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- "Premier League" redirects here. See List of professional sports leagues for other sports leagues which (maybe unofficially) are referred to by this name.
The Premier League formed in 1992, following the decision of clubs in the Football League First Division to break away from the Football League to take advantage of a lucrative television rights deal.
The Premier League is presently contested by 20 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 are Manchester United and Arsenal, who have won the title eight and three times respectively. The current Premier League champions are Chelsea, who won their second consecutive title in the 2005-06 season.
History
TimeAxis = orientation:vertical format:yyyy
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id:Arsenal value:yellow id:Manchester value:red id:Chelsea value:blue id:Blackburn value:whitePlotData=
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from:14/08/1992 till:13/08/1994 shift:(20,-8) text:"Manchester United" color:Manchester from:14/08/1994 till:13/08/1995 shift:(20,-6) text:"Blackburn Rovers" color:Blackburn from:14/08/1995 till:13/08/1997 shift:(20,-3) text:"Manchester United" color:Manchester from:14/08/1997 till:13/08/1998 shift:(20,-3) text:"Arsenal" color:Arsenal from:14/08/1998 till:13/08/2001 shift:(20,-5) text:"Manchester United" color:Manchester from:14/08/2001 till:13/08/2002 shift:(20,-2) text:"Arsenal" color:Arsenal from:14/08/2002 till:13/08/2003 shift:(20,0) text:"Manchester United" color:Manchester from:14/08/2003 till:13/08/2004 shift:(20,0) text:"Arsenal" color:Arsenal from:14/08/2004 till:end shift:(20,0) text:"Chelsea" color:Chelsea
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. The newly formed top division would have commercial independence from the Football Association 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, which worked out of an office at the then Football Association's headquarters, Lancaster Gate. This meant a break-up of the 104-year-old Football League that had operated until then with four divisions.
The league held its first season in 1992–93 and originally comprised twenty-two clubs. The new name was simply a commercial restructuring and a rebranding exercise as there was no innovation in competitive terms; an identical first tier league had existed the previous season. Due to FIFA's insistence on domestic leagues reducing the number of games clubs played, the number 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, which has put the Premier League at war with football's biggest governing body.[Fifa wants 18-team Premier League], BBC Sport, 8 June 2006
Competition and structure
The FA Premier League comprises the top twenty football clubs in the league system of English football. It was created in 1992, when the First Division football clubs broke away from the Football League after securing a greatly improved TV rights deal with the then fledgling satellite television company, BSkyB. The first season's twenty-two clubs were reduced to twenty for the 1995–96 season.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 forty per cent above its nearest competitor, Italy's Serie A.[First fall in Premiership wages], BBC News, 31 May 2006, reporting on Deloitte's review of football finance in 2004–05. Revenues will increase substantially by the 2007–08 season, when new media rights deals start (see below). The Premership is currently 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 Italy's Serie A.[UEFA Country Ranking 2006]
The 2005–06 average attendance of 33,875 for league matches is the fourth highest of any domestic professional sports league in the world. Based on May 2006 exchange rates, £1.3 billion converts to annual league revenue of about US$2.44 billion. This figure is also 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 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. At the end of each season, the club with the most points is crowned as champion. Additionally, 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 a play-off involving the third to sixth placed 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).
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)
- 2004–2008: Barclays (Barclays Premiership)
Media coverage
England
Television has played a major role in the history of the FA Premier League. The money from TV deals has been vital in helping to create excellence both on and off the field. The initial decision to go with BSkyB was, again, 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 broadcast rights soar and delivered huge benefits to the game.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: half is divided equally between the clubs; one quarter is awarded on a merit basis based on final league position, with 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 BSkyB television agreement was worth £191 million over five seasons. The next contract, negotiated to start from the 1997–98 season, rose to £670 million over four seasons. The Premier League’s current £1.024 billion deal with BSkyB runs over the course of three seasons from August 2004. BSkyB's monopoly was finally 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 Union that exclusive rights should not be sold to any 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.[BBC keeps Premiership highlights], bbc.co.uk, 8 June 2006. Sky and BT have will jointly pay £84.3 million for delayed broadcast 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.[TV deal pays another £84m], Daily Telegraph, 26 May, 2006. Overseas and mobile phone rights are expected to fetch a further several hundred million pounds.
The decision to go with pay TV is still criticised by many, particularly with reference to the cost when compared with other pay TV platforms around Europe that offer coverage of live top flight domestic football.
The FA Premier League is unique in domestic football in Europe in its agreement over kick off times. In an agreement with the Football Association, it does not allow live broadcasts at the traditional English kick off time (Saturday 3pm). This is designed to ensure that fans still attend lower league games. These broadcasting restrictions can be circumvented either by subscribing to overseas satellite broadcasters (thus creating somewhat of a grey market), or through various streaming networks on the internet.
The Premier League and Sky maintain that whilst this is not illegal on the part of the viewer, it is illegal for anyone (such as a public house) to make such services available. This has in the past lead to heavy fines for public houses in the United Kingdom which have shown these games in their establishments. More recently, the legality of such fines has been disputed, and a number of Crown Court cases have been reported in which publicans successfully challenged the Premier League's position.Barrie Clement, [Pubs win the right to show football on Saturday afternoons], The Independent, 12 April 2006
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. 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. It is widely watched overseas, with matches being shown in 195 countries, generally on networks owned and/or controlled by NewsCorp, which owns the primary UK and Ireland TV rights.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).Ron Atkinson, [England need to stem the foreign tide], The Guardian, August 23 2002 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, while on 14 February 2005 Arsenal were the first to name a completely foreign 16-man squad for a match. Arsenal's 85% foreign player figure (rising from 64% in 2000–01) is the highest of any club over the period. Chelsea have since been overtaken in terms of the number of foreign-born players by Liverpool (72%).
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).
The Premier League is the most represented league at the 2006 World Cup, with more than eighty players in the competition.
Premier League clubs
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. For a list of all clubs to have played in the Premier League, see List of FA Premier League clubs.Current Premier League members, 2006–07
| Club | Finishing position last season | First season in top division | First season of current spell in top division |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arsenal Played in every Premier League seasonFounding member of Premier League. | 4th | 1904–05 | 1919–20 |
| Aston Villa | 16th | 1888–89 | 1988–89 |
| Blackburn Rovers | 6th | 1888–89 | 2001–02 |
| Bolton Wanderers | 8th | 1888–89 | 2001–02 |
| Charlton Athletic | 13th | 1936–37 | 2000–01 |
| Chelsea | 1st | 1907–08 | 1989–90 |
| Everton | 11th | 1888–89 | 1954–55 |
| Fulham | 12th | 1949-50 | 2001–02 |
| Liverpool | 3rd | 1894–95 | 1962–63 |
| Manchester City | 15th | 1899–1900 | 2002–03 |
| Manchester United | 2nd | 1892–93 | 1975–76 |
| Middlesbrough | 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 | 2nd in the Championship | 1893–94 | 2006–07 |
| Tottenham Hotspur | 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 |
Team movements for 2006-07 season
- Relegated
- On 14 April, Sunderland were assured of an immediate return to the Championship. A scoreless draw at Manchester United left them on 12 points; they stood 17 points from safety with only five matches left.
- On 29 April, both Birmingham City and West Bromwich Albion were assured of relegation after Portsmouth defeated Wigan Athletic 2–1, making it impossible for either Birmingham (who had a chance of surviving if they beat Newcastle, but drew 0–0) or West Brom to reach safety.
- On 25 March, Reading clinched a place in the Premiership for 2006-07, securing promotion to the top flight earlier than any other side in the post-war era. One week later (1 April), they secured the Championship crown. Reading will be playing in the top flight for the first time ever in their 135-year history.
- On 15 April, Sheffield United were promoted to the Premiership for the first time since the 1993-94 season, after Leeds United were held to a draw against Reading.
- On 21 May, Watford gained promotion to the Premiership by defeating Leeds United 3-0 in the Championship play-off final. They had previously defeated Crystal Palace in the semi-final by an aggregate scoreline of 3-0, after winning 3-0 at Selhurst Park and a 0-0 at Vicarage Road.
All Time FA Premier League Table
'''By total points from 1992-93 to 2005-2006 inclusive.
| Position | Club | Seasons in Premier League | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals for | Goals against | Goal difference | Total points | Titles won | Runners-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manchester United | 14 | 544 | 339 | 126 | 79 | 1057 | 489 | 568 | 1143 | 8 | 3 |
| 2 | Arsenal | 14 | 544 | 289 | 146 | 109 | 911 | 481 | 430 | 1030 | 3 | 5 |
| 3 | Liverpool | 14 | 544 | 265 | 136 | 143 | 868 | 552 | 316 | 931 | 1 | |
| 4 | Chelsea | 14 | 544 | 261 | 147 | 136 | 848 | 556 | 292 | 930 | 2 | 1 |
| 5 | Newcastle United | 13 | 502 | 218 | 132 | 152 | 761 | 606 | 155 | 786 | 2 | |
| 6 | Aston Villa | 14 | 544 | 203 | 158 | 183 | 668 | 632 | 36 | 767 | 1 | |
| 7 | Tottenham Hotspur | 14 | 544 | 195 | 143 | 206 | 716 | 732 | ||||
| 728 | ||||||||||||
| 8 | Blackburn Rovers | 12 | 468 | 190 | 125 | 153 | 650 | 553 | 97 | 695 | 1 | 1 |
| 9 | Leeds United | 12 | 468 | 189 | 125 | 154 | 641 | 573 | 68 | 692 | ||
| 10 | Everton | 14 | 544 | 177 | 146 | 221 | 651 | 739 | ||||
| 677 | ||||||||||||
| 11 | Southampton | 13 | 506 | 150 | 137 | 219 | 598 | 738 | ||||
| 587 | ||||||||||||
| 12 | West Ham United | 11 | 426 | 148 | 111 | 167 | 514 | 590 | ||||
| 555 | ||||||||||||
| 13 | Middlesbrough Middlesbrough deducted 3 points for failure to fulfill fixture at Blackburn Rovers on 21 December 1996 | 11 | 422 | 131 | 123 | 168 | 506 | 582 | ||||
| 513 | ||||||||||||
| 14 | Manchester City | 9 | 354 | 103 | 101 | 150 | 413 | 482 | ||||
| 410 | ||||||||||||
| 15 | Coventry City | 9 | 354 | 99 | 112 | 143 | 387 | 490 | ||||
| 409 | ||||||||||||
| 16 | Sheffield Wednesday | 8 | 316 | 101 | 89 | 126 | 409 | 453 | ||||
| 392 | ||||||||||||
| 17 | Wimbledon Now known as Milton Keynes Dons F.C. | 8 | 316 | 99 | 94 | 123 | 384 | 472 | ||||
| 391 | ||||||||||||
| 18 | Leicester City | 8 | 308 | 84 | 90 | 134 | 354 | 456 | ||||
| 342 | ||||||||||||
| 19 | Charlton Atheltic | 7 | 266 | 85 | 72 | 109 | 308 | 382 | ||||
| 327 | ||||||||||||
| 20 | Bolton Wanderers | 7 | 266 | 81 | 77 | 108 | 311 | 386 | ||||
| 320 | ||||||||||||
| 21 | Derby County | 6 | 228 | 67 | 62 | 99 | 251 | 331 | ||||
| 263 | ||||||||||||
| 22 | Nottingham Forest | 5 | 198 | 60 | 59 | 79 | 229 | 287 | ||||
| 239 | ||||||||||||
| 23 | Fulham | 5 | 190 | 63 | 47 | 80 | 229 | 258 | ||||
| 236 | ||||||||||||
| 24 | Sunderland | 6 | 228 | 58 | 55 | 115 | 214 | 335 | ||||
| 229 | ||||||||||||
| 25 | Ipswich Town | 5 | 202 | 57 | 53 | 92 | 219 | 312 | ||||
| 224 | ||||||||||||
| 26 | Queens Park Rangers | 4 | 164 | 59 | 39 | 66 | 224 | 232 | ||||
| 216 | ||||||||||||
| 27 | Norwich City | 4 | 164 | 50 | 51 | 63 | 205 | 257 | ||||
| 201 | ||||||||||||
| 28 | Birmingham City | 4 | 152 | 44 | 45 | 43 | 152 | 193 | ||||
| 177 | ||||||||||||
| 29 | Crystal Palace | 4 | 160 | 37 | 49 | 74 | 160 | 243 | ||||
| 160 | ||||||||||||
| 30 | Portsmouth | 3 | 114 | 37 | 26 | 56 | 127 | 175 | ||||
| 122 | ||||||||||||
| 31 | Sheffield United | 2 | 84 | 22 | 28 | 34 | 96 | 113 | ||||
| 94 | ||||||||||||
| 32 | West Bromwich Albion | 3 | 114 | 19 | 33 | 62 | 96 | 184 | ||||
| 90 | ||||||||||||
| 33 | Oldham Athletic | 2 | 84 | 22 | 23 | 39 | 105 | 142 | ||||
| 89 | ||||||||||||
| 34 | Bradford City | 2 | 76 | 14 | 20 | 42 | 68 | 138 | ||||
| 62 | ||||||||||||
| 35 | Wigan Athletic | 1 | 38 | 15 | 6 | 17 | 45 | 52 | ||||
| 51 | ||||||||||||
| 36 | Barnsley | 1 | 38 | 10 | 5 | 23 | 37 | 82 | ||||
| 35 | ||||||||||||
| 37 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 1 | 38 | 7 | 12 | 19 | 38 | 77 | ||||
| 33 | ||||||||||||
| 38 | Swindon Town | 1 | 42 | 5 | 15 | 22 | 47 | 100 | ||||
| 30 | ||||||||||||
| 39 | Watford | 1 | 38 | 6 | 6 | 26 | 35 | 77 | ||||
| 24 |
Top scorers
All-time
As of the end of the 2005–06 season on 7 May 2006. The 2006–07 season will commence on 19 August 2006.
| Rank | Player | Goals |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alan Shearer | 260 |
| 2 | Andy Cole Currently active in Premier league team's roster | 185 |
| 3 | Thierry Henry | 164 |
| 4 | Robbie Fowler | 159 |
| 5 | Les Ferdinand | 149 |
| 6 | Teddy Sheringham | 145 |
| 7 | Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink | 126 |
| 8 | Michael Owen | 125 |
| 9 | Dwight Yorke | 122 |
| 10 | Ian Wright | 113 |
By season
The season top scorer is listed on the English football champions page along with the winners of each season.
See also
- Premier League Records
- List of Premier League stadiums
- Premiership-Football League gulf
- Premier League Curse of Christmas
- Sports league attendances
- Dubious Goals Panel
Notes
External links
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