FA Premier League

The FA Premier League (which, for sponsorship/legal reasons, is often referred to as the Barclays Premiership in the UK and the Barclays English Premier League internationally) is a league competiton for English Football clubs located at the top of the English football league system (above The Football League), making it England's main football competition.

Overview

The FA Premier League comprises the top 20 football clubs in the league system of English football. It was created in 1992, when the top division football clubs broke away from the Football League after securing a greatly improved TV rights deal with the then fledgling satellite television company Sky Television. 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. The Premiership boasts some of the best players in the world, many of them not English.

Related Topics:
Football - League system - English football - 1992 - The Football League - Satellite television - Sky Television

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The Premier League is the most lucrative football league in the world, with total club revenues of over £1.3 billion in 2003–04 according to Deloitte, more than 50 percent above its nearest competitor, Italy's Serie A {{ref|revenue}}. It is currently second 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 was the best performing league in 2004–05{{ref|performance}}.

Related Topics:
Deloitte - Serie A - UEFA - La Liga

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The competition

There are 20 clubs in the Premier League. During the course of a season 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 Premier League play. At the end of each season 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 3rd to 6th placed clubs, are promoted in their place.

Related Topics:
Relegated - Football League Championship

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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 5 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 with the FA Cup spot, it is never transferred to the losing finalist).

Related Topics:
UEFA Champions League - UEFA Cup - FA Cup

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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:

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• 1993–2001: Carling (FA Carling Premiership)
• 2001–08: Barclays (Barclays Premiership; from 2001-2004, it was known as the Barclaycard Premiership)

Worldwide reach

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{{ref|popular}}. Over 260 foreign players compete in the league, and 101 stars from England's domestic leagues competed in the {{Wc|2002}} in Korea and Japan. It is widely watched overseas, with matches being shown in over 150 countries. Premier League teams such as Manchester United and star players such as Thierry Henry, Steven Gerrard or Ruud van Nistelrooy have become worldwide sporting icons. The Premier League is particularly popular in Scandinavia, with ferry operators offering "football ferries" to Norwegian football fans wishing to see their favourite teams in action.

Related Topics:
Korea - Japan - Manchester United - Thierry Henry - Steven Gerrard - Ruud van Nistelrooy - Scandinavia - Norwegian

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Number of foreigners

In 2000–01, the number of foreign players (players hailing from outside of the United Kingdom) participating in the Premiership was 36%. In the 2004–05 season the figure had increased to 45%. Arsenal's 85% figure (rising from 64% in 2000–01) is the highest of any club over the period. Chelsea, who were purchased in 2003 by Roman Abramovich, have been overtaken in terms of the number of foreign born players by Liverpool (72%).

Related Topics:
United Kingdom - Arsenal - Chelsea - 2003 - Roman Abramovich - Liverpool

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