The English Premier League
The league formerly known as the ‘First Division’ of the football league was rebranded in 1992 to ‘The Premier League’ as we know it today and as a result split away from the football league which was formed in 1888.
The Premier League sits atop the football pyramid of English Football. The English football league system, also known as the football pyramid, is made up of 10 tiers, with the next three tiers making up the EFL (English Football League).
The Premier League is the most watched sports league in the world which makes it the richest league in the world from the most lucrative TV rights deals. Between 2019 and 2020 the PL accumulated TV rights deals were worth around £3.1 billion a year! The commercial revenue of the Premier League is in excess of £ 1.5 billion.
Matches from the Premier League are broadcast in 212 territories to 643 million homes with a potential TV audience of nearly 5 billion people.
The top 5 football leagues in the world are ranked; 1. The Premier League (England & Wales) 2. La Liga (Spain) 3. Serie A (Italy) 4. Bundesliga (Germany) 5. Ligue 1 (France)
The Premier League, the king of the football leagues, is made up of 20 teams, but there has been for some time an emergence of the ‘Big 6’ clubs largely as a result of the wealth of the club owners but also reflective of club revenues, the size of their fanbase, club history and successes, dominance and consistency.
The ‘Big 6’ is currently made up of Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspurs, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United and Manchester City. These 6 clubs are among the richest and most popular clubs in the world.
Could we now see the addition of Newcastle United to this list in the coming years following their acquisition by the Saudi Public Investment Fund. They clearly have very deep pockets so could 6 become 7 in time?
The most successful club in the history of the Premier League is Manchester United having won 13 championship titles. The current champions are Manchester City (2021-22) having won their 6th title.
The top goal scorer in the relatively short Premier League history is still held by Alan Shearer having scored an impressive record of 260 goals.
Only 11 managers have won the Premier League since it was formed 30 years ago, the short list of the Premier League’s most successful managers past and present are Sir Alex Ferguson having led Manchester United to 13 titles, Pep Guardiola with 4 titles won, Arsene Wenger who holds the record for most games managed in the Premier League and with 3 titles won followed jointly by Jose Mourinho also with 3 titles won.
The English Premier League is clearly and quite literally a league of their own!