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Premier League

March 19, 2023

This article is about the English association football league. For other uses, see Premier League (disambiguation).

The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football League (EFL). Seasons typically run from August to May with each team playing 38 matches (playing all other teams both home and away).[1] Most games are played on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, with occasional weekday evening fixtures.[2]

Premier League
Founded20 February 1992; 31 years ago (1992-02-20)
CountryEngland
ConfederationUEFA
Number of teams20 (since 1995–96)
Level on pyramid1
Relegation toEFL Championship
Domestic cup(s)
League cup(s)EFL Cup
International cup(s)
Current championsManchester City (6th title)
(2021–22)
Most championshipsManchester United (13 titles)
Most appearancesGareth Barry (653)
Top goalscorerAlan Shearer (260)
TV partners
Websitepremierleague.com
Current: 2022–23 Premier League

The competition was founded as the FA Premier League on 20 February 1992 following the decision of clubs in the Football League First Division to break away from the Football League founded in 1888; however, teams may still be relegated into and promoted from the EFL Championship. The Premier League takes advantage of a lucrative television rights sale to Sky:[3] from 2019 to 2020, the league's accumulated television rights deals were worth around £3.1 billion a year, with Sky and BT Group securing the domestic rights to broadcast 128 and 32 games respectively.[4][5] The Premier League is a corporation where chief executive Richard Masters is responsible for its management, whilst the member clubs act as shareholders.[6] Clubs were apportioned central payment revenues of £2.4 billion in 2016–17, with a further £343 million in solidarity payments to English Football League (EFL) clubs.[7]

The Premier League is the most-watched sports league in the world, broadcast in 212 territories to 643 million homes and a potential TV audience of 4.7 billion people.[8][9] For the 2018–19 season, the average Premier League match attendance was at 38,181,[10] second to the German Bundesliga's 43,500,[11] while aggregated attendance across all matches is the highest of any association football league at 14,508,981.[12] Most stadium occupancies are near capacity.[13] The Premier League ranks first in the UEFA coefficients of leagues based on performances in European competitions over the past five seasons as of 2021.[14] The English top-flight has produced the second-highest number of UEFA Champions League/European Cup titles, with five English clubs having won fourteen European trophies in total.[15]

Fifty clubs have competed since the inception of the Premier League in 1992: forty-eight English and two Welsh clubs. Seven of them have won the title: Manchester United (13), Manchester City (6), Chelsea (5), Arsenal (3), Blackburn Rovers (1), Leicester City (1) and Liverpool (1).[16]

History

See also: List of Premier League seasons

Origins

Despite significant European success in the 1970s and early 1980s, the late 1980s marked a low point for English football. Stadiums were deteriorating and supporters endured poor facilities, hooliganism was rife, and English clubs had been banned from European competition for five years following the Heysel Stadium disaster in 1985.[17] The Football League First Division, the top level of English football since 1888, was behind leagues such as Italy's Serie A and Spain's La Liga in attendances and revenues, and several top English players had moved abroad.[18]

By the turn of the 1990s, the downward trend was starting to reverse. At the 1990 FIFA World Cup, England reached the semi-finals; UEFA, European football's governing body, lifted the five-year ban on English clubs playing in European competitions in 1990, resulting in Manchester United lifting the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1991. The Taylor Report on stadium safety standards, which proposed expensive upgrades to create all-seater stadiums in the aftermath of the Hillsborough disaster, was published in January 1990.[19]

During the 1980s, major English clubs had begun to transform into business ventures, applying commercial principles to club administration to maximise revenue. Martin Edwards of Manchester United, Irving Scholar of Tottenham Hotspur, and David Dein of Arsenal were among the leaders in this transformation.[20] The commercial imperative led to the top clubs seeking to increase their power and revenue: the clubs in Division One threatened to break away from the Football League, and in so doing they managed to increase their voting power and gain a more favourable financial arrangement, taking a 50% share of all television and sponsorship income in 1986.[20] They demanded that television companies should pay more for their coverage of football matches,[21] and revenue from television grew in importance. The Football League received £6.3 million for a two-year agreement in 1986, but by 1988, in a deal agreed with ITV, the price rose to £44 million over four years with the leading clubs taking 75% of the cash.[22][23] According to Scholar, who was involved in the negotiations of television deals, each of the First Division clubs received only around £25,000 per year from television rights before 1986, this increased to around £50,000 in the 1986 negotiation, then to £600,000 in 1988.[24] The 1988 negotiations were conducted under the threat of ten clubs leaving to form a "super league", but they were eventually persuaded to stay, with the top clubs taking the lion's share of the deal.[22][25][26] The negotiations also convinced the bigger clubs that in order to receive enough votes, they needed to take the whole of First Division with them instead of a smaller "super league".[27] By the beginning of the 1990s, the big clubs again considered breaking away, especially now that they had to fund the cost of stadium upgrade as proposed by the Taylor Report.[28]

In 1990, the managing director of London Weekend Television (LWT), Greg Dyke, met with the representatives of the "big five" football clubs in England (Manchester United, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, Everton and Arsenal) over a dinner.[29] The meeting was to pave the way for a breakaway from The Football League.[30] Dyke believed that it would be more lucrative for LWT if only the larger clubs in the country were featured on national television and wanted to establish whether the clubs would be interested in a larger share of television rights money.[31] The five clubs agreed with the suggestion and decided to press ahead with it; however, the league would have no credibility without the backing of The Football Association, and so David Dein of Arsenal held talks to see whether the FA were receptive to the idea. The FA did not have an amicable relationship with the Football League at the time and considered it as a way to weaken the Football League's position.[32] The FA released a report in June 1991, Blueprint for the Future of Football, that supported the plan for the Premier League with the FA as the ultimate authority that would oversee the breakaway league.[27]

Foundation (1990s)

See also: Foundation of the Premier League
1990s, foundations and early Manchester United dominance
Season Champions Runners-up
1992–93 Manchester United Aston Villa
1993–94 Manchester United Blackburn Rovers
1994–95 Blackburn Rovers Manchester United
1995–96 Manchester United Newcastle United
1996–97 Manchester United Newcastle United
1997–98 Arsenal Manchester United
1998–99 Manchester United Arsenal
1999–2000 Manchester United Arsenal
  Double winners
  Treble winners

At the close of the 1990–1991 season, a proposal was tabled for the establishment of a new league 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.[33] The newly formed top division was to have commercial independence from The Football Association and the Football League, giving the FA Premier League licence to negotiate its own broadcast and sponsorship agreements. The argument given at the time was that the extra income would allow English clubs to compete with teams across Europe.[18] Although Dyke played a significant role in the creation of the Premier League, he and ITV (of which LWT was part) lost out in the bidding for broadcast rights: BSkyB won with a bid of £304 million over five years, with the BBC awarded the highlights package broadcast on Match of the Day.[29][31]

The First Division clubs resigned en masse from the Football League in 1992, and on 27 May that year 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.[18] The 22 inaugural members of the new Premier League were:[34]

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 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 the same as the old First and Second Divisions with three teams relegated from the league and three promoted.[26]

The league held its first season in 1992–93. It was composed of 22 clubs for that season (reduced to 20 in the 1995–96 season). The first Premier League goal was scored by Brian Deane of Sheffield United in a 2–1 win against Manchester United.[35]Luton Town, Notts County, and West Ham United were the three teams relegated from the old First Division at the end of the 1991–92 season, and did not take part in the inaugural Premier League season.[36]

Manchester United won the inaugural edition of the new league, ending a twenty-six year wait to be crown champions of England. Bolstered by this breakthrough, United immediately became the competitions dominant team, winning seven of the first nine trophies, two League and FA-Cup 'doubles' and a European treble, initially under a team of hardened veterans such as Bryan Robson, Steve Bruce, Paul Ince, Mark Hughes and Eric Cantona, before Cantona, Bruce and Roy Keane led a young dynamic new team filled with the Class of 92, a group of young players including David Beckham who came through the Manchester United Academy. As the decade closed, United's first persistent Premier League rival, Arsenal F.C. won the League and F.A. Cup double themselves, and the Big 2 would form a duopoly for the next 5 years.

"Top Four" dominance (2000s)

Results of the 'Top Four' during the 2000s
Season ARS CHE LIV MUN
2000–01 2 6 3 1
2001–02 1 6 2 3
2002–03 2 4 5 1
2003–04 1 2 4 3
2004–05 2 1 5 3
2005–06 4 1 3 2
2006–07 4 2 3 1
2007–08 3 2 4 1
2008–09 4 3 2 1
2009–10 3 1 7 2
Top four 10 8 7 10
out of 10
  League champions
  Champions League group stage
  Champions League third qualifying / play-off round
  Champions League first qualifying round
  UEFA Cup / Europa League

The 2000s saw the rise of first Liverpool, and then Arsenal to real competitiveness, Chelsea finally breaking the duopoly by winning in 2004-05. The dominance of the so-called "Top Four" clubs. Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United[37][38] saw them finish at the top of the table for the bulk of the decade, thereby guaranteeing qualification for the UEFA Champions League. Only three other clubs managed to qualify for the competition during this period: Newcastle United (2001–02 and 2002–03), Everton (2004–05) and Tottenham Hotspur (2009–10) – each occupying the final Champions League spot, with the exception of Newcastle in the 2002–03 season, who finished third.

Following the 2003–04 season, Arsenal acquired the nickname "The Invincibles" as it became the first, and to date, only club to complete a Premier League campaign without losing a single game.[39][40]

In May 2008, Kevin Keegan stated that "Top Four" dominance threatened the division: "This league is in danger of becoming one of the most boring but great leagues in the world."[41] Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore said in defence: "There are a lot of different tussles that go on in the Premier League depending on whether you're at the top, in the middle or at the bottom that make it interesting."[42]

Between 2005 and 2012 there was a Premier League representative in seven of the eight Champions League finals, with only "Top Four" clubs reaching that stage. Liverpool (2005), Manchester United (2008) and Chelsea (2012) won the competition during this period, with Arsenal (2006), Liverpool (2007), Chelsea (2008) and Manchester United (2009 and 2011) all losing Champions League finals.[43] Leeds United were the only non-"Top Four" side to reach the semi-finals of the Champions League, in the 2000–01 season. There were three Premier League teams in the Champions League semi-finals in 2006–07, 2007–08, and 2008–09, a feat only ever achieved five times (along with Serie A in 2002–03 and La Liga in 1999–2000).

Additionally, between the 1999–2000 and 2009–10 seasons, four Premier League sides reached UEFA Cup or Europa League finals, with only Liverpool managing to win the competition in 2001. Arsenal (2000), Middlesbrough (2006) and Fulham (2010) all lost their finals.[44]

Although the group's dominance was reduced to a degree after this period with the emergence of Manchester City and Tottenham, in terms of all-time Premier League points won they remain clear by some margin. As of the end of the 2021–22 season – the 27th season of the Premier League – Liverpool, in fourth place in the all-time points table, were over 300 points ahead of the next team, Tottenham Hotspur. They are also the only teams to maintain a winning average of over 50% throughout their entire Premier League tenures.[45]

Emergence of the "Big Six" (2010s)

Results of the 'Big Six' during the 2010s
Season ARS CHE LIV MCI MUN TOT
2010–11 4 2 6 3 1 5
2011–12 3 6 8 1 2 4
2012–13 4 3 7 2 1 5
2013–14 4 3 2 1 7 6
2014–15 3 1 6 2 4 5
2015–16 2 10 8 4 5 3
2016–17 5 1 4 3 6 2
2017–18 6 5 4 1 2 3
2018–19 5 3 2 1 6 4
2019–20 8 4 1 2 3 6
Top four 6 7 5 10 6 5
Top six 9 9 7 10 9 10
out of 10
  League champions
  Champions League group stage
  Champions League play-off round
  Europa League

The years following 2009 marked a shift in the structure of the "Top Four" with Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City both breaking into the top four places on a regular basis, turning the "Top Four" into the "Big Six".[46] In the 2009–10 season, Tottenham finished fourth and became the first team to break the top four since Everton five years prior.[47] Criticism of the gap between an elite group of "super clubs" and the majority of the Premier League has continued, nevertheless, due to their increasing ability to spend more than the other Premier League clubs.[48] Manchester City won the title in the 2011–12 season, becoming the first club outside the "Big Four" to win since Blackburn Rovers in the 1994–95 season. That season also saw two of the "Big Four" (Chelsea and Liverpool) finish outside the top four places for the first time since that season.[46]

With only four UEFA Champions League qualifying places available in the league, greater competition for qualification now exists, albeit from a narrow base of six clubs. In the five seasons following the 2011–12 campaign, Manchester United and Liverpool both found themselves outside of the top four three times, while Chelsea finished 10th in the 2015–16 season. Arsenal finished 5th in 2016–17, ending their record run of 20 consecutive top-four finishes.[49]

In the 2015–16 season, the top four was breached by a non-Big Six side for the first time since Everton in 2005. Leicester City were the surprise winners of the league, qualifying for the Champions League as a result.[50]

Number of top 6 finishes during 2010s
Club Top 6 finishes
Manchester City 10
Tottenham Hotspur 10
Chelsea 9
Arsenal 9
Manchester United 9
Liverpool 7
Leicester City 2
Everton 2
Southampton 1
Newcastle United 1

Off the pitch, the "Big Six" wield significant financial power and influence, with these clubs arguing that they should be entitled to a greater share of revenue due to the greater stature of their clubs globally and the attractive football they aim to play.[51] Objectors argue that the egalitarian revenue structure in the Premier League helps to maintain a competitive league which is vital for its future success.[52] The 2016–17 Deloitte Football Money League report showed the financial disparity between the "Big Six" and the rest of the division. All of the "Big Six" had revenues greater than €350 million, with Manchester United having the largest revenue in the league at €676.3 million. Leicester City was the closest club to the "Big Six" in terms of revenue, recording a figure of €271.1 million for that season – helped by participation in the Champions League. The eighth-largest revenue generator, West Ham – who did not play in European competition – had revenues of €213.3 million, less than half of those of the club with the fifth-largest revenue, Liverpool (€424.2 million).[53] A substantial part of the clubs' revenue by then came from television broadcast deals, with the biggest clubs each taking from around £150 million to nearly £200 million in the 2016–17 season from such deals.[54] In Deloitte's 2019 report, all the "Big Six" were in the top ten of the world's richest clubs.[55]

2020s

Results of the 'Big Six' during the 2020s
Season ARS CHE LIV MCI MUN TOT
2020–21 8 4 3 1 2 7
2021–22 5 3 2 1 6 4
Top four 0 2 2 2 1 1
Top six 1 2 2 2 2 1
out of 2
  League champions
  Champions League group stage
  Europa League
  Europa Conference League

From the 2019–20 season, video assistant referees were used in the league.[56]

Project Big Picture was announced in October 2020 that described a plan to reunite the top Premier League clubs with the English Football League, proposed by leading Premier League clubs Manchester United and Liverpool.[57] It has been criticised by the Premier League leadership and the UK government's Department of Culture, Media and Sport.[58]

On 26 April 2021, play was stopped during a match between Leicester City and Crystal Palace to allow players Wesley Fofana and Cheikhou Kouyaté to break Ramadan fast. It is believed to be the first time in Premier League history that a game was paused to allow Muslim players to eat and drink after the sun had set in accordance with the rules of the faith.[59]

The 2022–23 season will be the first to take a six-week break between November and December 2022 to allow for the first winter World Cup,[60] with a return for the Boxing Day fixtures.[61] The Premier League players decided to take the knee only at some selected "significant moments", instead of the routine before matches. However, they assured to "remain resolutely committed to eradicate racial prejudice".[62]

In February 2023, the Premier League concluded its four years of investigation into Manchester City, and alleged the club sitting second in its table of breaching the league’s financial rules from 2009-18. City was alleged of more than 100 violations during the first nine years under Abu Dhabi owners, Mansour bin Zayed and Khaldoon Al Mubarak. The charges included 80 alleged breaches of financial rules between 2009-18, and over 30 alleged violations concerning the failure to co-operate with Premier League’s investigation, which was opened in December 2018. The league’s allegations were referred to an independent commission, while the penalties that the club could face were unclear.[63] [64] [65]

Number of top 6 finishes during 2020s
Club Top 6 finishes
Manchester City 2
Chelsea 2
Manchester United 2
Liverpool 2
Leicester City 1
West Ham United 1
Arsenal 1
Tottenham Hotspur 1

Corporate structure

The Football Association Premier League Ltd (FAPL)[66][67][68] is operated as a corporation and is owned by the 20 member clubs. Each club is a shareholder, with one vote each on issues such as rule changes and contracts. The clubs elect a chairman, chief executive, and board of directors to oversee the daily operations of the league.[69] 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.[70]

The current chief executive is Richard Masters, who was appointed in December 2019.[71] The chair is due to be Alison Brittain, who will take over the role in early 2023.[72]

The Premier League sends representatives to UEFA's European Club Association, the number of clubs and the clubs themselves chosen according to UEFA coefficients. For the 2012–13 season the Premier League has 10 representatives in the Association: Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Everton, Fulham, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur.[73] The European Club Association 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 Europa League.[74]

Office holders
Office No. Name Tenure
Chief Executive 1 Rick Parry 1991–1997
2 Richard Scudamore 1999–2018
3 Richard Masters 2019–
Chair 1 Sir John Quinton 1991–1999
2 Dave Richards 1999–2013
3 Anthony Fry 2013–2014
4 Richard Scudamore 2014–2018
5 Gary Hoffman 2020–2022
6 Alison Brittain 2023–

Criticism of governance

The Premier League has faced criticism of its governance due to an alleged lack of transparency and accountability.

Following the Premier League's blocking of the attempted takeover of Newcastle United by a PIF-backed consortium through the league's Owners' and Directors' test, many MPs, Newcastle United fans and related parties to the deal denounced the Premier League for its perceived lack of transparency and accountability throughout the process.[75][76][77] On 6 July 2021, consortium member Amanda Staveley of PCP Capital Partners said that "fans surely deserve absolute transparency from the regulators across all their processes – to best ensure that they act responsibly. They (the Premier League) are performing a function like that of a government regulator – but without the same systems for accountability."[77]

On 22 July 2021, Tracey Crouch MP – chair of the fan-led review into the UK's football governance – announced in the review's interim findings that the Premier League had "lost the trust and confidence" of fans. The review also recommended that a new independent regulator be created to oversee matters such as club takeovers.[78][79]

Premier League chief executive Richard Masters had earlier spoken out against the implementation of an independent regulator, saying in May 2021, "I don't think that the independent regulator is the answer to the question. I would defend the Premier League's role as regulator of its clubs over the past 30 years."[80]

Competition format

[The Premier League] is very tough and is different. If you compare this league to another league, it's like playing another sport.

–Antonio Conte, on the competitiveness of the Premier League.[81]

In [The Premier League] you never really know what is going to happen, there is very little between the teams.

–Luis Suarez[82]

Competition

There are 20 clubs in the Premier League. During the course of a season (from August to May) each club plays the others twice (a double round-robin system), once at their home stadium and once at that of their opponents, for 38 games. 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, and then goals scored. If still equal, teams are deemed to occupy the same position. If there is a tie for the championship, for relegation, or for qualification to other competitions, the head-to-head record between the tied teams is taken into consideration (points scored in the matches between the teams, followed by away goals in those matches.) If two teams are still tied, a play-off match at a neutral venue decides rank.[83]

Promotion and relegation

A system of promotion and relegation exists between the Premier League and the EFL Championship. The three lowest placed teams in the Premier League are relegated to the Championship, and the top two teams from the Championship promoted to the Premier League,[84] with an additional team promoted after a series of play-offs involving the third, fourth, fifth and sixth placed clubs.[85] The number of clubs was reduced from 22 to 20 in 1995, when four teams were relegated from the league and only two teams promoted.[86][87] The top flight had only been expanded to 22 teams at the start of the 1991–92 season – the year prior to the formation of the Premier League.[87]

On 8 June 2006, FIFA requested that all major European leagues, including Italy's Serie A and Spain's La Liga, be reduced to 18 teams by the start of the 2007–08 season. The Premier League responded by announcing their intention to resist such a reduction.[88] Ultimately, the 2007–08 season kicked off again with 20 teams.[89]

Video Assistant Referee

Video assistant referee (VAR), was introduced to the Premier League at the beginning of the 2019-20 season. It uses technology and officials to assist the referee in making decisions on the pitch[90]. However, its use has been met with mixed receptions from fans and pundits, with some praising its accuracy while others criticise its impact on the flow of the game and consistency of decision-making.

The on-field referee still makes the final decision, but VAR can assist the referee in the decision-making process. VAR can only be used for four types of decisions: goals, penalty decisions, direct red card incidents, and cases of mistaken identity. VAR officials review the video footage and communicate with the on-field referee via a headset. The VAR officials are located in a central control room, which is equipped with multiple camera angles and the ability to replay footage at various speeds.

A study evaluating fan reception of VAR in the Premier League was made by Otto Kolbinger and Melanie Knopp and was done by analysing Twitter data.[91] The researchers used sentiment analysis to measure the overall positive or negative attitudes towards VAR, as well as topic modelling to identify specific issues that fans are discussing related to VAR. The study found that the reception of VAR on Twitter is largely negative, with fans expressing frustration and criticism of the technology's impact on the flow of the game and the inconsistency of decisions. The researchers also identified specific issues, such as handball and offside decisions, that fans are particularly critical of. The study concludes that VAR has not been well received by fans in the Premier League, and that efforts to improve the technology and increase transparency in decision-making are needed to address these concerns.

Clubs

Main article: List of Premier League clubs
See also: Performance record of clubs in the Premier League and All-time FA Premier League table

Fifty clubs have played in the Premier League from its inception in 1992, up to and including the 2022–23 season.[92]

Champions

See also: List of English football champions

Notably, one-time champions Blackburn Rovers are the only former champions currently out of the Premier League.

2022–23 season

Twenty clubs will compete in the 2022–23 Premier League, with three promoted from the Championship:

2022–23
Club 		2021–22
Position 		First season in
top division 		First season in
Premier League 		Seasons
in top
division 		Seasons
in Premier
League 		First season of
current spell in
top division 		No. of seasons
of current spell
in Premier League 		Top
division
titles 		Most
recent top
division title
Arsenal[a][b] 5th 1904–05 1992–93 106 31 1919–20[c] (104 seasons) 31 13 2003–04
Aston Villa[a][d] 14th 1888–89 1992–93 109 28 2019–20 (4 seasons) 4 7 1980–81
Bournemouth 2nd (CS) 2015–16 2015–16 6 6 2022–23 (1 season) 1 0 –
Brentford[b] 13th 1935–36 2021–22 7 2 2021–22 (2 seasons) 2 0 –
Brighton & Hove Albion[b] 9th 1979–80 2017–18 10 6 2017–18 (6 seasons) 6 0 –
Chelsea[a][b] 3rd 1907–08 1992–93 88 31 1989–90 (34 seasons} 31 6 2016–17
Crystal Palace[a] 12th 1969–70 1992–93 23 14 2013–14 (10 seasons) 10 0 –
Everton[a][b][d] 16th 1888–89 1992–93 120 31 1954–55 (69 seasons) 31 9 1986–87
Fulham 1st (CS) 1949–50 2001–02 28 16 2022–23 (1 season) 1 0 –
Leeds United[a] 17th 1924–25 1992–93 53 15 2020–21 (3 seasons) 3 3 1991–92
Leicester City 8th 1908–09 1994–95 54 17 2014–15 (9 seasons) 9 1 2015–16
Liverpool[a][b] 2nd 1894–95 1992–93 108 31 1962–63 (61 seasons) 31 19 2019–20
Manchester City[a] 1st 1899–1900 1992–93 94 26 2002–03 (21 seasons) 21 8 2021–22
Manchester United[a][b] 6th 1892–93 1992–93 98 31 1975–76 (48 seasons) 31 20 2012–13
Newcastle United 11th 1898–99 1993–94 91 28 2017–18 (6 seasons) 6 4 1926–27
Nottingham Forest[a] 4th (CS) 1892–93 1992–93 57 6 2022–23 (1 season) 1 1 1977–78
Southampton[a] 15th 1966–67 1992–93 46 24 2012–13 (11 seasons) 11 0 –
Tottenham Hotspur[a][b] 4th 1909–10 1992–93 88 31 1978–79 (45 seasons) 31 2 1960–61
West Ham United 7th 1923–24 1993–94 65 27 2012–13 (11 seasons) 11 0 –
Wolverhampton Wanderers[d] 10th 1888–89 2003–04 68 9 2018–19 (5 seasons) 5 3 1958–59
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Founding member of the Premier League
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Never been relegated from Premier League
  3. ^ Longest continuous run in the English top flight.[93]
  4. ^ a b c One of the original twelve Football League teams


Non-English clubs

See also: List of association football clubs playing in the league of another country

In 2011, after Swansea City gained promotion, a Welsh club participated in the Premier League for the first time.[94][95] The first Premier League match to be played outside England was Swansea City's home match at the Liberty Stadium against Wigan Athletic on 20 August 2011.[96] The number of Welsh clubs in the Premier League increased to two in 2013–14, as Cardiff City gained promotion,[97] but they were relegated after their maiden season.[98] Cardiff were promoted again in 2017–18 but the number of Welsh clubs remained the same for the 2018–19 Premier League season, as Swansea City had been relegated from the Premier League in 2017–18.[99] Following Cardiff City's relegation after the 2018–19 season, there are currently no Welsh clubs participating in the Premier League.[100]

Because they are members of the Football Association of Wales (FAW), the question of whether clubs like Swansea should represent England or Wales in European competitions has caused long-running discussions in UEFA. Swansea took one of England's three available places in the Europa League in 2013–14 by winning the League Cup in 2012–13.[101] The right of Welsh clubs to take up such English places was in doubt until UEFA clarified the matter in March 2012, allowing them to participate.[102]

Participation in the Premier League by some Scottish or Irish clubs has sometimes been discussed, but without result. The idea came closest to reality in 1998, when Wimbledon received Premier League approval to relocate to Dublin, Ireland, but the move was blocked by the Football Association of Ireland.[103][104][105][106] Additionally, the media occasionally discusses the idea that Scotland's two biggest teams, Celtic and Rangers, should or will take part in the Premier League, but nothing has come of these discussions.[107]

International competitions

Qualification for European competitions

See also: UEFA country coefficients

Qualification criteria for 2020–21

See also: 2020–21 UEFA Champions League§Association team allocation

The top four teams in the Premier League qualify automatically for the subsequent season's UEFA Champions League group stage. The winners of the Champions League and UEFA Europa League may earn an additional qualification for the subsequent season's Champions League group stage if they are not in the top four. If this means six Premier League teams qualify, then the fourth-placed team in the Premier League instead plays in the Europa League, as any single nation is limited to a maximum of five teams in the Champions League.

The fifth-placed team in the Premier League, as well as the winner of the FA Cup, qualifies for the subsequent season's Europa League group stage, but if the winner of the FA Cup also finished in the top five places in the Premier League or has won one of UEFA's major tournaments, then this place reverts to the team that finished sixth. The winner of the EFL Cup qualifies for the subsequent season's Europa Conference League, but if the winner already qualified for a UEFA competition via their performance in another competition, then this place reverts to the team that finished sixth in the Premier League, or seventh if the FA Cup result already caused the sixth-placed team to qualify.[108]

The number of places allocated to English clubs in UEFA competitions is dependent upon the position a country holds in the UEFA country coefficients, which are calculated based upon the performance of teams in UEFA competitions in the previous five years. Currently the ranking of England (and de facto the Premier League) is second, behind Spain.

Extracted from the 2020 ranking of nations by their UEFA coefficient[109]
Rank
2020 		Rank
2019 		Change League 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 Coefficient Places in UEFA Champions League Places in UEFA Europa League
GS PO Q3 Q2 Q1 PQ GS PO Q3 Q2 Q1 PQ
1 1 =   Spain 23.928 20.142 19.714 19.571 18.928 102.283 4 — — — — — 2 — — 1 — —
2 2 =   England 14.250 14.928 20.071 22.642 18.571 90.462 4 — — — — — 2 — — 1 — —
3 4 =   Germany 16.428 14.571 9.857 15.214 18.714 74.784 4 — — — — — 2 — — 1 — —
4 3 =   Italy 11.500 14.250 17.333 12.642 14.928 70.653 4 — — — — — 2 — — 1 — —
5 5 =   France 11.083 14.416 11.500 10.583 11.666 59.248 2 — 1 — — — 2 — — 1 — —
6 7 =   Portugal 10.500 8.083 9.666 10.900 10.300 49.449 2 — 1 — — — 1 — 1 1 — —
7 6 =   Russia 11.500 9.200 12.600 7.583 4.666 45.549 1 — 1 — — — 1 — 1 1 — —
8 9 =   Belgium 7.400 12.500 2.600 5.600 7.600 37.900 1 — 1 — — — 1 — 1 1 — —
9 8 =   Ukraine 9.800 5.500 8.000 7.800 7.200 36.100 1 — 1 — — — 1 — 1 1 — —
10 11 =   Netherlands 5.750 9.100 2.900 8.600 9.400 35.750 1 — — 1 — — 1 — 1 1 — —

Previous seasons

An exception to the usual European qualification system happened in 2005, after Liverpool won the Champions League the season before, but did not finish in a Champions League qualification place in the Premier League. UEFA gave special dispensation for Liverpool to enter the Champions League, giving England five qualifiers.[110] UEFA subsequently ruled that the defending champions qualify for the competition the following year regardless of their domestic league placing. However, for those leagues with four entrants in the Champions League, this meant that if the Champions League winner finished outside the top four in its domestic league, it would qualify at the expense of the fourth-placed team in the league. At that time, no association could have more than four entrants in the Champions League.[111] This occurred in 2012, when Chelsea – who had won the Champions League that summer, but finished sixth in the league – qualified for the Champions League in place of Tottenham Hotspur, who went into the Europa League.[112]

From 2015–16, the Europa League winners qualify for the Champions League, increasing the maximum number of participants per country to five.[113] This took effect in England in 2016–17, when Manchester United finished sixth in the Premier League and won the Europa League, giving England five Champions League entrants for 2017–18.[114] In these instances, any Europa League berth vacated will not be handed down to the next-best Premier League finisher outside a qualifying place and so the association's Europa League entrants for the following season will be reduced. If it happens that both Champions League and Europa League winners are of the same association and both finish outside the top four, then the fourth-placed team will be transferred to the Europa League.

Performance in international competition

Main article: English football clubs in international competitions

Between the 1992–93 and the 2021–22 seasons, Premier League clubs won the UEFA Champions League six times (and had eight runners-up), behind Spain's La Liga with twelve wins, and ahead of, among others, Italy's Serie A with five wins and Germany's Bundesliga with four wins.[43] The FIFA Club World Cup (originally called the FIFA Club World Championship) has been won three times by a Premier League club (Manchester United in 2008, Liverpool in 2019, and Chelsea in 2021),[115] with two runners-up (Liverpool in 2005 and Chelsea in 2012),[116][117] behind Spain's La Liga with seven wins[118] and Brazil's Brasileirão with four wins.[116][117][119][120]

Sponsorship

See also: English football sponsorship

The league changed its name from the FA Premier League to simply the Premier League in 2007.[121] From 1993 to 2016, the Premier League had title sponsorship rights sold to two companies, which were Carling brewery and Barclays Bank PLC; Barclays was the most recent title sponsor, having sponsored the Premier League from 2001 until 2016 (until 2004, the title sponsorship was held through its Barclaycard brand before shifting to its main banking brand in 2004).[122]

Period Sponsor Brand
1992–1993 No sponsor FA Premier League
1993–2001 Carling FA Carling Premiership[18]
2001–2004 Barclaycard FA Barclaycard Premiership[18]
2004–2007 Barclays FA Barclays Premiership
2007–2016 Barclays Premier League[18][123]
2016–present No sponsor Premier League

Barclays' deal with the Premier League expired at the end of the 2015–16 season. The FA announced on 4 June 2015 that it would not pursue any further title sponsorship deals for the Premier League, arguing that they wanted to build a "clean" brand for the competition more in line with those of major U.S. sports leagues.[124]

 
Nike "Maxim" ball used in the Premier League in 2012

As well as sponsorship for the league itself, the Premier League has a number of official partners and suppliers.[125] The official ball supplier for the league is Nike who have had the contract since the 2000–01 season when they took over from Mitre.[126] Under its Merlin brand, Topps held the licence to produce collectables for the Premier League between 1994 and 2019 including stickers (for their sticker album) and trading cards.[127] Launched in the 2007–08 season, Topps’ Match Attax, the official Premier League trading card game, is the best selling boys collectable in the UK, and is also the biggest selling sports trading card game in the world.[127][128] In October 2018, Panini were awarded the licence to produce collectables from the 2019–20 season.[129] The chocolate company Cadbury has been the official snack partner of the Premier League since 2017, and sponsored the Golden Boot, Golden Glove and Playmaker of the Season awards from the 2017–18 season to 2019–20 season.[130][131] The Coca-Cola Company (under its Coca-Cola Zero Sugar product line) sponsored these awards during the 2020–21 season with Castrol being the current sponsor as of the 2021–22 season.

Finances

See also: List of Premier League football club owners

The Premier League has the highest revenue of any association football league in the world, with total club revenues of €2.48 billion in 2009–10.[132][133] In 2013–14, due to improved television revenues and cost controls, the Premier League clubs collectively made a net profit in excess of £78 million, exceeding all other football leagues.[134] In 2010 the Premier League was awarded the Queen's Award for Enterprise in the International Trade category for its outstanding contribution to international trade and the value it brings to English football and the United Kingdom's broadcasting industry.[135]

The Premier League includes some of the richest football clubs in the world. Deloitte's "Football Money League" listed seven Premier League clubs in the top 20 for the 2009–10 season,[136] and all 20 clubs were in the top 40 globally by the end of the 2013–14 season, largely as a result of increased broadcasting revenue.[137] In 2019, the league generated around £3.1 billion per year in domestic and international television rights.[4]

Premier League clubs agreed in principle in December 2012, to radical new cost controls. The two proposals consist of a break-even rule and a cap on the amount clubs can increase their wage bill by each season. With the new television deals on the horizon, momentum has been growing to find ways of preventing the majority of the cash going straight to players and agents.[138]

Central payments for the 2016–17 season amounted to £2,398,515,773 across the 20 clubs, with each team receiving a flat participation fee of £35,301,989 and additional payments for TV broadcasts (£1,016,690 for general UK rights to match highlights, £1,136,083 for each live UK broadcast of their games and £39,090,596 for all overseas rights), commercial rights (a flat fee of £4,759,404) and a notional measure of "merit" which was based upon final league position.[7] The merit component was a nominal sum of £1,941,609 multiplied by each finishing place, counted from the foot of the table (e.g., Burnley finished 16th in May 2017, five places counting upwards, and received 5 × £1,941,609 = £9,708,045 merit payment).[7]

Relegation

See also: Premier League–Football League gulf and Premier League Parachute and Solidarity Payments

Since its split with the Football League, established clubs in the Premier League have a funding disparity from counterparts in lower leagues. Revenue from television rights between the leagues has played a part in this.[139]

Promoted teams have found it difficult to avoid relegation in their first Premier League season. One Premier League newcomer has been relegated back to the Football League every season, save the 2001–02, 2011–12 and 2017–18 seasons. In the 1997–98 season, all three promoted clubs were relegated by the season's end.[140]

The Premier League distributes a portion of its television revenue as "parachute payments" to relegated clubs for adjustment to television revenue loss. The average Premier League team receives £41 million[141] while the average Championship club receives £2 million.[142] Starting with the 2013–14 season, these payments are in excess of £60 million over four seasons.[143] Critics maintain that the payments widen the gap between teams that have reached the Premier League and those that have not,[144] leading to the common occurrence of teams "bouncing back" soon after their relegation.

Clubs which have failed to win immediate promotion back to the Premier League have seen financial problems, in some cases administration or liquidation. Further relegations down the footballing ladder have occurred for multiple clubs unable to cope with the gap.[145][146]

Media coverage

See also: English football on television, List of Premier League broadcasters, and Broadcasting and the foundation of the Premier League

United Kingdom and Ireland

Matches broadcast in the United Kingdom and Ireland
Seasons Sky Others Total
1992–2001 60 – 60
2001–2004 110 110
2004–2007 138 138
2007–2009 92 Setanta 46 – 138
2009–2010 92 ESPN 46 138
2010–2013 115 ESPN 23 138
2013–2016 116 BT 38 154
2016–2019 126 42 168
2019–2022 128 52 Amazon 20 200
 
Eden Hazard in possession of the ball during a 2012 match between Chelsea and Norwich City

Television has played a major role in the history of the Premier League. The League's decision to assign broadcasting rights to Sky in 1992 was at the time a radical decision, but one that has paid off. At the time, paid 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 strategy, the quality of Premier League football and the public's appetite for the game has seen the value of the Premier League's TV rights soar.[23]

The Premier League sells its television rights on a collective basis. This is in contrast to some other European leagues, including La Liga, in which each club sells its rights individually, leading to a much higher share of the total income going to the top few clubs.[147] The money is divided into three parts:[148] 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 generally receiving the largest shares of this. The income from overseas rights is divided equally between the twenty clubs.[149]

Not all Premier League matches are televised in the United Kingdom, as the league upholds the long-standing prohibition on telecasts of any association football match (domestic or otherwise) that kicks off between 2:45 p.m. and 5:15 p.m. on Saturday matchdays.[150][151][152]

The first Sky television rights agreement was worth £304 million over five seasons.[153] The next contract, negotiated to start from the 1997–98 season, rose to £670 million over four seasons.[153] The third contract was a £1.024 billion deal with BSkyB for the three seasons from 2001 to 2002 to 2003–04. The league brought in £320 million from the sale of its international rights for the three-year period from 2004 to 2005 to 2006–07. It sold the rights itself on a territory-by-territory basis.[154] Sky's monopoly was broken from August 2006 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 £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. Setanta also hold rights to a live 3 pm match solely for Irish viewers. The BBC retained the rights to show highlights for the same three seasons (on Match of the Day) for £171.6 million, a 63 per cent increase on the £105 million it paid for the previous three-year period.[155] Sky and BT agreed to 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 10 pm on matchday.[156] Overseas television rights fetched £625 million, nearly double the previous contract.[157] The total raised from those deals was more than £2.7 billion, giving Premier League clubs an average media income from league games of around £40 million-a-year from 2007 to 2010.[158]

 
Cristiano Ronaldo preparing to take a free kick in a 2009 match between Manchester United and Liverpool

The TV rights agreement between the Premier League and Sky faced accusations of being a cartel, and a number of court cases arose as a result.[159] 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.[160] In July 1999 the Premier League's method of selling rights collectively for all member clubs was investigated by the UK Restrictive Practices Court, which concluded that the agreement was not contrary to the public interest.[161]

The BBC's highlights package on Saturday and Sunday nights, as well as other evenings when fixtures justify, ran until 2016.[162] Television rights alone for the period 2010 to 2013 were purchased for £1.782 billion.[163] On 22 June 2009, due to troubles encountered by Setanta Sports after it failed to meet a final deadline over a £30 million payment to the Premier League, ESPN was awarded two packages of UK rights containing 46 matches that were available for the 2009–10 season as well as a package of 23 matches per season from 2010 to 2011 to 2012–13.[164] On 13 June 2012, the Premier League announced that BT had been awarded 38 games a season for the 2013–14, 2014–15 and 2015–16 seasons at £246 million-a-year. The remaining 116 games were retained by Sky, which paid £760 million-a-year. The total domestic rights raised £3.018 billion, an increase of 70.2% over the 2010–11 to 2012–13 rights.[165] The value of the licensing deal rose by another 70.2% in 2015, when Sky and BT paid £5.136 billion to renew their contracts with the Premier League for another three years up to the 2018–19 season.[166]

A new rights cycle began in the 2019–20 season, with the domestic package increasing to 200 matches overall; in February 2018, BT were awarded the package of 32 lunchtime fixtures on Saturdays, while Sky was awarded four of the seven packages, covering the majority of weekend fixtures (including eight new prime time fixtures on Saturdays), as well as Monday and Friday matches. Two remaining packages of 20 fixtures each were to be sold at a later date, including three rounds of mid-week fixtures and a bank holiday round. As Sky already owned the maximum number of matches it could hold without breaching a 148-match cap, it was speculated that at least one of the new packages could go to a new entrant, such as a streaming service. The five packages sold to BT and Sky were valued at £4.464 billion.[167] In June 2018, it was announced that Amazon Prime Video and BT had acquired the remaining two packages; Amazon acquired rights to 20 matches per-season, covering a mid-week round in December, and all Boxing Day fixtures.[168] The Amazon telecasts are produced in association with Sunset + Vine and BT Sport.[169]

With the resumption of play in the 2019–20 Premier League due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, the Premier League announced that all remaining matches would be carried on British television, split primarily across Sky, BT, and Amazon. A large number of these matches were also scheduled for free-to-air broadcasts, with Sky airing 25 on Pick, Amazon streaming its four matches on Twitch, and the BBC – for the first time in league history – carrying four live matches.[170][171][172][173]

As matches would continue to be played without spectators upon the start of the 2020–21 Premier League, its clubs voted on 8 September to continue broadcasting all matches through at least September (with the BBC and Amazon each holding one additional match), and "appropriate arrangements" being made for October.[174][175] It was later announced that matches not selected for broadcast would be carried on pay-per-view via BT Sport Box Office and Sky Box Office at a cost of £14.95 per-match. The PPV scheme was poorly received; the Football Supporters' Federation felt that the price was too high, and there were concerns that it could encourage piracy. There were calls from supporters to boycott the pay-per-views, and make donations to support charitable causes instead (with Newcastle's "Charity Not PPV" campaign raising £20,000 for a local food bank, and Arsenal fans raising £34,000 for Islington Giving). On 13 November, amid the reintroduction of measures across the UK, the Premier League officially announced that the non-televised matches would be assigned to its main broadcast partners, and again including additional matches for the BBC and Amazon Prime.[176][177][178][179]

UK highlights

Highlights programme Duration Channel
Match of the Day 1992–2001
2004–present 		BBC
The Premiership 2001–2004 ITV

In August 2016, it was announced the BBC would be creating a new magazine-style show for the Premier League entitled The Premier League Show.[180]

Worldwide

The Premier League is the most-watched football league in the world, broadcast in 212 territories to 643 million homes and a potential TV audience of 4.7 billion people,.[8] The Premier League's production arm, Premier League Productions, is operated by IMG Productions and produces content for its international television partners.[181]

The Premier League is the most widely distributed sports programme in Asia.[182] In Australia, Optus telecommunications holds exclusive rights to the Premier League, providing live broadcasts and online access (Fox Sports formerly held rights).[183] In India, the matches are broadcast live on STAR Sports. In China, the broadcast rights were awarded to Super Sports in a six-year agreement that began in the 2013–14 season.[184] As of the 2022–23 season, Canadian media rights to the Premier League are owned by FuboTV, after having been jointly owned by Sportsnet and TSN, and most recently DAZN.[185][186]

The Premier League is broadcast in the United States by NBC Sports, a division of Sky parent Comcast.[187] Acquiring the rights to the Premier League in 2013 (replacing Fox Soccer and ESPN), NBC Sports has been widely praised for its coverage.[188][189][190] NBC Sports reached a six-year extension with the Premier League in 2015 to broadcast the league until the end of the 2021–22 season in a deal valued at $1 billion (£640 million).[191][192] In November 2021, NBC reached another six-year extension through 2028 in a deal valued at $2.76 billion (£2 billion).[193][194]

The Premier League is broadcast by SuperSport across sub-Saharan Africa.[195] Broadcasters to continental Europe until 2025 include Canal+ for France,[196] Sky Sport for Germany and Austria,[197] Match TV for Russia,[198] Sky Sport for Italy,[199] Eleven Sports for Portugal,[200] DAZN for Spain,[201] beIN Sports to Turkey,[202] Digi Sport for Romania[203] and NENT to Nordic countries (Sweden, Denmark and Norway),[204] Poland and the Netherlands.[205] In South America, ESPN covers much of the continent,[206] with coverage in Brazil shared between ESPN Brasil and Fox Sports.[207][208] Sky México broadcasts the league in Central America.[209]

Stadiums

Main article: List of Premier League stadiums

As of the 2017–18 season, Premier League football has been played in 58 stadiums since the formation of the division.[210] The Hillsborough disaster in 1989 and the subsequent Taylor Report saw a recommendation that standing terraces should be abolished. As a result, all stadiums in the Premier League are all-seater.[211][212] Since the formation of the Premier League, football grounds in England have seen constant improvements to capacity and facilities, with some clubs moving to new-build stadiums.[213] Nine stadiums that have seen Premier League football have now been demolished. The stadiums for the 2017–18 season show a large disparity in capacity. For example, Wembley Stadium, the temporary home of Tottenham Hotspur, has a capacity of 90,000 while Dean Court, the home of AFC Bournemouth, has a capacity of 11,360.[214][215] The combined total capacity of the Premier League in the 2017–18 season is 806,033 with an average capacity of 40,302.[214]

Stadium attendances are a significant source of regular income for Premier League clubs.[216] For the 2016–17 season, average attendances across the league clubs were 35,838 for Premier League matches with an aggregate attendance of 13,618,596.[217] This represents an increase of 14,712 from the average attendance of 21,126 recorded in the Premier League's first season (1992–93).[218] 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.[219][220] The Premier League's record average attendance of 36,144 was set during the 2007–08 season.[221] This record was then beaten in the 2013–14 season recording an average attendance of 36,695 with an attendance of just under 14 million, the highest average in England's top flight since 1950.[222]

Managers

I have never known this level before. Of course, there are managers in Germany, Italy, and Spain, but in the Premier League, these are the best managers, the elite managers. The quality, the preparation. The level is so high.

Pep Guardiola, on the quality of managers of Premier League teams.[223]

See also: List of Premier League managers

Managers in the Premier League are involved in the day-to-day running of the team, including the training, team selection and player acquisition. Their influence varies from club-to-club and is related to the ownership of the club and the relationship of the manager with fans.[224] Managers are required to have a UEFA Pro Licence which is the final coaching qualification available, and follows the completion of the UEFA 'B' and 'A' Licences.[225] The UEFA Pro Licence is required by every person who wishes to manage a club in the Premier League on a permanent basis (i.e., more than 12 weeks, the amount of time an unqualified caretaker manager is allowed to take control).[226] Caretaker appointments are managers that fill the gap between a managerial departure and a new appointment. Several caretaker managers have gone on to secure a permanent managerial post after performing well as a caretaker, including Paul Hart at Portsmouth, David Pleat at Tottenham Hotspur and Ole Gunnar Solskjær at Manchester United.

Arsène Wenger is the longest-serving manager, having been in charge of Arsenal in the Premier League from 1996 to his departure at the conclusion of the 2017–18 season, and holds the record for most matches managed in the Premier League with 828, all with Arsenal. He broke the record set by Alex Ferguson, who had managed 810 matches with Manchester United from the Premier League's inception to his retirement at the end of the 2012–13 season. Ferguson was in charge of Manchester United from November 1986 until his retirement at the end of the 2012–13 season, meaning he was manager for the last five years of the old Football League First Division and all of the first 21 seasons of the Premier League.[227]

Notably, since its creation the Premier League has never been won by an English manager.

There have been several studies into the reasoning behind, and effects of, managerial sackings. Most famously, Professor Sue Bridgewater of the University of Liverpool and Dr. Bas ter Weel of the University of Amsterdam, performed two separate studies which helped to explain the statistics behind managerial sackings. Bridgewater's study found clubs generally sack their managers upon dropping below an average of one point per match.[228]

 
Former Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger was the longest-serving in Premier League history.
Current managers
Nat. Manager Club Appointed Time as manager
  Jürgen Klopp Liverpool 8 October 2015 7 years, 162 days
  Pep Guardiola Manchester City 1 July 2016 6 years, 261 days
  Thomas Frank Brentford 16 October 2018 4 years, 154 days
  Brendan Rodgers Leicester City 26 February 2019 4 years, 21 days
  Mikel Arteta Arsenal 20 December 2019 3 years, 89 days
  David Moyes West Ham United 29 December 2019 3 years, 80 days
  Marco Silva Fulham 1 July 2021 1 year, 261 days
  Patrick Vieira Crystal Palace 4 July 2021 1 year, 258 days
  Steve Cooper Nottingham Forest 21 September 2021 1 year, 179 days
  Antonio Conte Tottenham Hotspur 2 November 2021 1 year, 137 days
  Eddie Howe Newcastle United 8 November 2021 1 year, 131 days
  Erik ten Hag Manchester United 23 May 2022 300 days
  Gary O'Neil Bournemouth 30 August 2022 201 days
  Graham Potter Chelsea 8 September 2022 192 days
  Roberto De Zerbi Brighton & Hove Albion 18 September 2022 182 days
  Unai Emery Aston Villa 1 November 2022 138 days
  Julen Lopetegui Wolverhampton Wanderers 14 November 2022 125 days
  Sean Dyche Everton 30 January 2023 48 days
  Rubén Sellés Southampton 12 February 2023 35 days
  Javi Gracia Leeds United 21 February 2023 26 days

Players

See also: Premier League records and statistics § Player records, and List of Premier League winning players

Appearances

See also: List of Premier League players with 300 or more appearances
Most appearances
Rank Player Apps
1   Gareth Barry (ENG) 653
2   Ryan Giggs (WAL) 632
3   Frank Lampard (ENG) 609
4   James Milner (ENG) 608
5   David James (ENG) 572
6   Gary Speed (WAL) 535
7   Emile Heskey (ENG) 516
8   Mark Schwarzer (AUS) 514
9   Jamie Carragher (ENG) 508
10   Phil Neville (ENG) 505
As of 11 March 2023[229]
Italicised players still playing professional football.
Bolded players still playing in Premier League.

Transfer regulations and foreign players

See also: List of foreign Premier League players and List of foreign Premier League goalscorers

Player transfers may only take place within transfer windows set by the Football Association. The two transfer windows run from the last day of the season to 31 August and from 31 December to 31 January. Player registrations cannot be exchanged outside these windows except under specific licence from the FA, usually on an emergency basis.[230] As of the 2010–11 season, the Premier League introduced new rules mandating that each club must register a maximum 25-man squad of players aged over 21, with the squad list only allowed to be changed in transfer windows or in exceptional circumstances.[231][232] This was to enable the "home grown" rule to be enacted, whereby the Premier League would also from 2010 require at least eight members of the named 25-man squad to be "home-grown players".[231]

At the inception of the Premier League in 1992–93, just 11 players named in the starting line-ups for the first round of matches hailed from outside of the United Kingdom or Ireland.[233] By 2000–01, the number of foreign players participating in the Premier League was 36% of the total. In the 2004–05 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,[234] and on 14 February 2005, Arsenal were the first to name a completely foreign 16-man squad for a match.[235] By 2009, under 40% of the players in the Premier League were English.[236] By February 2020, 117 different nationalities had played in the Premier League, and 101 nationalities had scored in the competition.[237]

In 1999, in response to concerns that clubs were increasingly passing over young English players in favour of foreign players, the Home Office tightened its rules for granting work permits to players from countries outside of the European Union.[238] A non-EU player applying for the permit must have played for his country in at least 75 per cent of its competitive 'A' team matches for which he was available for selection during the previous two years, and his country must have averaged at least 70th place in the official FIFA world rankings over the previous two years. If a player does not meet those criteria, the club wishing to sign him may appeal.[239]

Following the implementation of Brexit in January 2021, new regulations were introduced which require all foreign players to obtain a Governing Body Endorsement (GBE) in order to play football in the United Kingdom, regardless of EU status.[240]

Top scorers

See also: List of footballers with 100 or more Premier League goals, List of top Premier League goal scorers by season, and Premier League Golden Boot
 
Alan Shearer is the top scorer in Premier League history with 260 goals.
As of 5 February 2023[241]
Rank Player Years Goals Apps Ratio
1   Alan Shearer 1992–2006 260 441 0.59
2   Wayne Rooney 2002–2018 208 491 0.42
3   Harry Kane 2012– 204 310 0.66
4   Andy Cole 1992–2008 187 414 0.45
5   Sergio Agüero 2011–2021 184 275 0.67
6   Frank Lampard 1995–2015 177 609 0.29
7   Thierry Henry 1999–2007,
2012		 175 258 0.68
8   Robbie Fowler 1993–2007,
2008		 163 379 0.43
9   Jermain Defoe 2001–2003,
2004–2014,
2015–2019		 162 496 0.33
10   Michael Owen 1996–2004,
2005–2013		 150 326 0.46

Italics denotes players still playing professional football,
Bold denotes players still playing in the Premier League.

 
Thierry Henry won a record four Premier League Golden Boot awards

The Premier League Golden Boot is awarded each season to the top scorer in the division. Former Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United striker Alan Shearer holds the record for most Premier League goals with 260.[242] Thirty-three players have reached the 100-goal mark.[243] Since the first Premier League season in 1992–93, 23 players from 11 clubs have won or shared the top scorer title.[244] Thierry Henry won his fourth overall scoring title by scoring 27 goals in the 2005–06 season. Andrew Cole and Alan Shearer hold the record for most goals in a season (34) – for Newcastle and Blackburn respectively.[245] Ryan Giggs of Manchester United holds the record for scoring goals in consecutive seasons, having scored in the first 21 seasons of the league.[246] Giggs also holds the record for the most Premier League assists, with 162.[247]

Wages

There is no team or individual salary cap in the Premier League. As a result of the increasingly lucrative television deals, player wages rose sharply following the formation of the Premier League, when the average player wage was £75,000 per year.[248] In the 2018–19 season the average annual salary stood at £2.99 million.

The total salary bill for the 20 Premier League clubs in the 2018–19 season was £1.62 billion; this compares to £1.05 billion in La Liga, £0.83 billion in Serie A, £0.72 billion in Bundesliga, and £0.54 billion in Ligue 1. The club with the highest average wage is Manchester United at £6.5 million. This is smaller than the club with the highest wage bill in Spain (Barcelona £10.5 million) and Italy (Juventus £6.7 million), but higher than in Germany (Bayern Munich £6.4 million) and France (Paris Saint-Germain £6.1 million). For the 2018–19 season, the ratio of the wages of the highest-paid team to lowest-paid in the Premier League is 6.82 to 1. This is much lower than in La Liga (19.1 to 1), Serie A (16 to 1), Bundesliga (20.5 to 1), and Ligue 1 (26.6 to 1). Because of the lower differential between team wage bills in the Premier League, it is often regarded as being more competitive than other top European leagues.[249]

Player transfer fees

See also: Progression of the British football transfer fee record and List of most expensive association football transfers

The record transfer fee for a Premier League player has risen steadily over the lifetime of the competition. Before the start of the first Premier League season, Alan Shearer became the first British player to command a transfer fee of more than £3 million.[250] The record has increased steadily and Enzo Fernández is now the most expensive transfer involving a Premier League club at £107 million, as well as being the highest transfer fee paid by a Premier League club.

Top transfer fees paid by Premier League clubs
Rank Player Fee (min.) Year Transfer Reference(s)
1   Enzo Fernández (ARG) £107m 2023   Benfica   Chelsea [251]
2   Jack Grealish (ENG) £100m 2021   Aston Villa   Manchester City [252]
3   Romelu Lukaku (BEL) £97.5m 2021   Inter Milan   Chelsea [253][254]
4   Paul Pogba (FRA) £89m[a] 2016   Juventus   Manchester United [255][256][257]
5   Mykhailo Mudryk (UKR) £88.5m 2023   Shakhtar Donetsk   Chelsea [258]
6   Antony (BRA) £81.3m 2022   Ajax   Manchester United [259]
7   Harry Maguire (ENG) £80m 2019   Leicester City   Manchester United [260][261]
8   Romelu Lukaku (BEL) £75m[b] 2017   Everton   Manchester United [262][263][264]
  Virgil van Dijk (NED) £75m 2018   Southampton   Liverpool [265]
10   Jadon Sancho (ENG) £73m 2021   Borussia Dortmund   Manchester United [266]
  1. ^ plus another €5 million in additional bonuses
  2. ^ plus £15 million in bonuses
Top transfer fees received by Premier League clubs
Rank Player Fee (min.) Year Transfer Reference(s)
1   Philippe Coutinho (BRA) £106m[a] 2018   Liverpool   Barcelona [267]
2   Jack Grealish (ENG) £100m 2021   Aston Villa   Manchester City [252]
3   Eden Hazard (BEL) £89m 2019   Chelsea   Real Madrid [268]
4   Gareth Bale (WAL) £86m 2013   Tottenham Hotspur   Real Madrid [269][270]
5   Cristiano Ronaldo (POR) £80m 2009   Manchester United   Real Madrid [271][272]
  Harry Maguire (ENG) £80m 2019   Leicester City   Manchester United [260][261]
7   Romelu Lukaku (BEL) £75m 2017   Everton   Manchester United [262][263][264]
  Luis Suárez (URU) £75m 2014   Liverpool   Barcelona [273][274]
  Virgil van Dijk (NED) £75m 2018   Southampton   Liverpool [265]
10   Romelu Lukaku (BEL) £74m 2019   Manchester United   Inter Milan [275]
  1. ^ plus reported €40 million bonuses

Awards

Trophy

 
The Premier League trophy
 
The gold Premier League trophy awarded to Arsenal for winning the 2003–04 title without defeat

The Premier League maintains two trophies – the genuine trophy (held by the reigning champions) and a spare replica. Two trophies are held for the purpose of making the award within minutes of the title being secured, in the event that on the final day of the season two clubs are still within reach of winning the League.[276] In the rare event that more than two clubs are vying for the title on the final day of the season, a replica won by a previous club is used.[277]

The current Premier League trophy was created by Royal Jewellers Garrard & Co/Asprey of London and was designed in house at Garrard & Co by Trevor Brown and Paul Marsden. It consists of a trophy with a golden crown and a malachite plinth base. The plinth weighs 33 pounds (15 kg) and the trophy weighs 22 pounds (10.0 kg).[278] The trophy and plinth are 76 cm (30 in) tall, 43 cm (17 in) wide and 25 cm (9.8 in) deep.[279]

Its main body is solid sterling silver and silver gilt, while its plinth is made of malachite, a semi-precious stone. The plinth has a silver band around its circumference, upon which the names of the title-winning clubs are listed. The green of the malachite represents the green field of play.[279] The design of the trophy is based on the heraldry of Three Lions that is associated with English football. Two of the lions are found above the handles on either side of the trophy – the third is symbolised by the captain of the title-winning team as he raises the trophy, and its gold crown, above his head at the end of the season.[280] The ribbons that drape the handles are presented in the team colours of the league champions that year. In 2004, a special gold version of the trophy was commissioned to commemorate Arsenal winning the title without a single defeat.[281]

Player and manager awards

In addition to the winner's trophy and the individual winner's medals awarded to players who win the title, the Premier League also issues other awards throughout the season.

A man-of-the-match award is awarded to the player who has the greatest impact in an individual match.

Monthly awards are also given for the Manager of the Month, Player of the Month and Goal of the Month.[282] These are also issued annually for Manager of the Season,[283] Player of the Season.[284] and Goal of the Season. The Young Player of the Season award is given to the most outstanding U-23 player starting from the 2019–20 season.[285]

The Golden Boot award is given to the top goalscorer of every season, the Playmaker of the Season award is given to the player who makes the most assists of every season,[286] and the Golden Glove award is given to the goalkeeper with the most clean sheets at the end of the season.[287]

From the 2017–18 season, players receive a milestone award for 100 appearances and every century there after and also players who score 50 goals and multiples thereof. Each player to reach these milestones is to receive a presentation box from the Premier League containing a special medallion and a plaque commemorating their achievement.[288]

20 Seasons Awards

Further information: Premier League 20 Seasons Awards and Premier League 10 Seasons Awards

In 2012, the Premier League celebrated its second decade by holding the 20 Seasons Awards:[289]

See also

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March 19, 2023
premier, league, this, article, about, english, association, football, league, other, uses, disambiguation, legal, name, football, association, limited, highest, level, english, football, league, system, contested, clubs, operates, system, promotion, relegatio. This article is about the English association football league For other uses see Premier League disambiguation The Premier League legal name The Football Association Premier League Limited is the highest level of the men s English football league system Contested by 20 clubs it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football League EFL Seasons typically run from August to May with each team playing 38 matches playing all other teams both home and away 1 Most games are played on Saturday and Sunday afternoons with occasional weekday evening fixtures 2 Premier LeagueFounded20 February 1992 31 years ago 1992 02 20 CountryEnglandConfederationUEFANumber of teams20 since 1995 96 Level on pyramid1Relegation toEFL ChampionshipDomestic cup s FA Cup FA Community ShieldLeague cup s EFL CupInternational cup s UEFA Champions League UEFA Europa League UEFA Europa Conference LeagueCurrent championsManchester City 6th title 2021 22 Most championshipsManchester United 13 titles Most appearancesGareth Barry 653 Top goalscorerAlan Shearer 260 TV partnersSky Sports BT Sport Amazon Prime Video live matches BBC Sport highlights International BroadcastersWebsitepremierleague comCurrent 2022 23 Premier LeagueThe competition was founded as the FA Premier League on 20 February 1992 following the decision of clubs in the Football League First Division to break away from the Football League founded in 1888 however teams may still be relegated into and promoted from the EFL Championship The Premier League takes advantage of a lucrative television rights sale to Sky 3 from 2019 to 2020 the league s accumulated television rights deals were worth around 3 1 billion a year with Sky and BT Group securing the domestic rights to broadcast 128 and 32 games respectively 4 5 The Premier League is a corporation where chief executive Richard Masters is responsible for its management whilst the member clubs act as shareholders 6 Clubs were apportioned central payment revenues of 2 4 billion in 2016 17 with a further 343 million in solidarity payments to English Football League EFL clubs 7 The Premier League is the most watched sports league in the world broadcast in 212 territories to 643 million homes and a potential TV audience of 4 7 billion people 8 9 For the 2018 19 season the average Premier League match attendance was at 38 181 10 second to the German Bundesliga s 43 500 11 while aggregated attendance across all matches is the highest of any association football league at 14 508 981 12 Most stadium occupancies are near capacity 13 The Premier League ranks first in the UEFA coefficients of leagues based on performances in European competitions over the past five seasons as of 2021 14 The English top flight has produced the second highest number of UEFA Champions League European Cup titles with five English clubs having won fourteen European trophies in total 15 Fifty clubs have competed since the inception of the Premier League in 1992 forty eight English and two Welsh clubs Seven of them have won the title Manchester United 13 Manchester City 6 Chelsea 5 Arsenal 3 Blackburn Rovers 1 Leicester City 1 and Liverpool 1 16 Contents 1 History 1 1 Origins 1 2 Foundation 1990s 1 3 Top Four dominance 2000s 1 4 Emergence of the Big Six 2010s 1 5 2020s 2 Corporate structure 2 1 Criticism of governance 3 Competition format 3 1 Competition 3 2 Promotion and relegation 3 3 Video Assistant Referee 4 Clubs 5 Champions 5 1 2022 23 season 5 2 Non English clubs 6 International competitions 6 1 Qualification for European competitions 6 1 1 Qualification criteria for 2020 21 6 1 2 Previous seasons 6 2 Performance in international competition 7 Sponsorship 8 Finances 8 1 Relegation 9 Media coverage 9 1 United Kingdom and Ireland 9 2 Worldwide 10 Stadiums 11 Managers 12 Players 12 1 Appearances 12 2 Transfer regulations and foreign players 12 3 Top scorers 12 4 Wages 12 5 Player transfer fees 13 Awards 13 1 Trophy 13 2 Player and manager awards 13 3 20 Seasons Awards 14 See also 15 References 16 External linksHistory EditSee also List of Premier League seasons Origins Edit Despite significant European success in the 1970s and early 1980s the late 1980s marked a low point for English football Stadiums were deteriorating and supporters endured poor facilities hooliganism was rife and English clubs had been banned from European competition for five years following the Heysel Stadium disaster in 1985 17 The Football League First Division the top level of English football since 1888 was behind leagues such as Italy s Serie A and Spain s La Liga in attendances and revenues and several top English players had moved abroad 18 By the turn of the 1990s the downward trend was starting to reverse At the 1990 FIFA World Cup England reached the semi finals UEFA European football s governing body lifted the five year ban on English clubs playing in European competitions in 1990 resulting in Manchester United lifting the UEFA Cup Winners Cup in 1991 The Taylor Report on stadium safety standards which proposed expensive upgrades to create all seater stadiums in the aftermath of the Hillsborough disaster was published in January 1990 19 During the 1980s major English clubs had begun to transform into business ventures applying commercial principles to club administration to maximise revenue Martin Edwards of Manchester United Irving Scholar of Tottenham Hotspur and David Dein of Arsenal were among the leaders in this transformation 20 The commercial imperative led to the top clubs seeking to increase their power and revenue the clubs in Division One threatened to break away from the Football League and in so doing they managed to increase their voting power and gain a more favourable financial arrangement taking a 50 share of all television and sponsorship income in 1986 20 They demanded that television companies should pay more for their coverage of football matches 21 and revenue from television grew in importance The Football League received 6 3 million for a two year agreement in 1986 but by 1988 in a deal agreed with ITV the price rose to 44 million over four years with the leading clubs taking 75 of the cash 22 23 According to Scholar who was involved in the negotiations of television deals each of the First Division clubs received only around 25 000 per year from television rights before 1986 this increased to around 50 000 in the 1986 negotiation then to 600 000 in 1988 24 The 1988 negotiations were conducted under the threat of ten clubs leaving to form a super league but they were eventually persuaded to stay with the top clubs taking the lion s share of the deal 22 25 26 The negotiations also convinced the bigger clubs that in order to receive enough votes they needed to take the whole of First Division with them instead of a smaller super league 27 By the beginning of the 1990s the big clubs again considered breaking away especially now that they had to fund the cost of stadium upgrade as proposed by the Taylor Report 28 In 1990 the managing director of London Weekend Television LWT Greg Dyke met with the representatives of the big five football clubs in England Manchester United Liverpool Tottenham Hotspur Everton and Arsenal over a dinner 29 The meeting was to pave the way for a breakaway from The Football League 30 Dyke believed that it would be more lucrative for LWT if only the larger clubs in the country were featured on national television and wanted to establish whether the clubs would be interested in a larger share of television rights money 31 The five clubs agreed with the suggestion and decided to press ahead with it however the league would have no credibility without the backing of The Football Association and so David Dein of Arsenal held talks to see whether the FA were receptive to the idea The FA did not have an amicable relationship with the Football League at the time and considered it as a way to weaken the Football League s position 32 The FA released a report in June 1991 Blueprint for the Future of Football that supported the plan for the Premier League with the FA as the ultimate authority that would oversee the breakaway league 27 Foundation 1990s Edit See also Foundation of the Premier League 1990s foundations and early Manchester United dominance Season Champions Runners up1992 93 Manchester United Aston Villa1993 94 Manchester United Blackburn Rovers1994 95 Blackburn Rovers Manchester United1995 96 Manchester United Newcastle United1996 97 Manchester United Newcastle United1997 98 Arsenal Manchester United1998 99 Manchester United Arsenal1999 2000 Manchester United Arsenal Double winners Treble winnersAt the close of the 1990 1991 season a proposal was tabled for the establishment of a new league 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 33 The newly formed top division was to have commercial independence from The Football Association and the Football League giving the FA Premier League licence to negotiate its own broadcast and sponsorship agreements The argument given at the time was that the extra income would allow English clubs to compete with teams across Europe 18 Although Dyke played a significant role in the creation of the Premier League he and ITV of which LWT was part lost out in the bidding for broadcast rights BSkyB won with a bid of 304 million over five years with the BBC awarded the highlights package broadcast on Match of the Day 29 31 The First Division clubs resigned en masse from the Football League in 1992 and on 27 May that year 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 18 The 22 inaugural members of the new Premier League were 34 Arsenal Aston Villa Blackburn Rovers Chelsea Coventry City Crystal Palace Everton Ipswich Town Leeds United Liverpool Manchester City Manchester United Middlesbrough Norwich City Nottingham Forest Oldham Athletic Queens Park Rangers Sheffield United Sheffield Wednesday Southampton Tottenham Hotspur Wimbledon 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 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 the same as the old First and Second Divisions with three teams relegated from the league and three promoted 26 The league held its first season in 1992 93 It was composed of 22 clubs for that season reduced to 20 in the 1995 96 season The first Premier League goal was scored by Brian Deane of Sheffield United in a 2 1 win against Manchester United 35 Luton Town Notts County and West Ham United were the three teams relegated from the old First Division at the end of the 1991 92 season and did not take part in the inaugural Premier League season 36 Manchester United won the inaugural edition of the new league ending a twenty six year wait to be crown champions of England Bolstered by this breakthrough United immediately became the competitions dominant team winning seven of the first nine trophies two League and FA Cup doubles and a European treble initially under a team of hardened veterans such as Bryan Robson Steve Bruce Paul Ince Mark Hughes and Eric Cantona before Cantona Bruce and Roy Keane led a young dynamic new team filled with the Class of 92 a group of young players including David Beckham who came through the Manchester United Academy As the decade closed United s first persistent Premier League rival Arsenal F C won the League and F A Cup double themselves and the Big 2 would form a duopoly for the next 5 years Top Four dominance 2000s Edit Results of the Top Four during the 2000s Season ARS CHE LIV MUN2000 01 2 6 3 12001 02 1 6 2 32002 03 2 4 5 12003 04 1 2 4 32004 05 2 1 5 32005 06 4 1 3 22006 07 4 2 3 12007 08 3 2 4 12008 09 4 3 2 12009 10 3 1 7 2Top four 10 8 7 10out of 10 League champions Champions League group stage Champions League third qualifying play off round Champions League first qualifying round UEFA Cup Europa LeagueThe 2000s saw the rise of first Liverpool and then Arsenal to real competitiveness Chelsea finally breaking the duopoly by winning in 2004 05 The dominance of the so called Top Four clubs Arsenal Chelsea Liverpool and Manchester United 37 38 saw them finish at the top of the table for the bulk of the decade thereby guaranteeing qualification for the UEFA Champions League Only three other clubs managed to qualify for the competition during this period Newcastle United 2001 02 and 2002 03 Everton 2004 05 and Tottenham Hotspur 2009 10 each occupying the final Champions League spot with the exception of Newcastle in the 2002 03 season who finished third Following the 2003 04 season Arsenal acquired the nickname The Invincibles as it became the first and to date only club to complete a Premier League campaign without losing a single game 39 40 In May 2008 Kevin Keegan stated that Top Four dominance threatened the division This league is in danger of becoming one of the most boring but great leagues in the world 41 Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore said in defence There are a lot of different tussles that go on in the Premier League depending on whether you re at the top in the middle or at the bottom that make it interesting 42 Between 2005 and 2012 there was a Premier League representative in seven of the eight Champions League finals with only Top Four clubs reaching that stage Liverpool 2005 Manchester United 2008 and Chelsea 2012 won the competition during this period with Arsenal 2006 Liverpool 2007 Chelsea 2008 and Manchester United 2009 and 2011 all losing Champions League finals 43 Leeds United were the only non Top Four side to reach the semi finals of the Champions League in the 2000 01 season There were three Premier League teams in the Champions League semi finals in 2006 07 2007 08 and 2008 09 a feat only ever achieved five times along with Serie A in 2002 03 and La Liga in 1999 2000 Additionally between the 1999 2000 and 2009 10 seasons four Premier League sides reached UEFA Cup or Europa League finals with only Liverpool managing to win the competition in 2001 Arsenal 2000 Middlesbrough 2006 and Fulham 2010 all lost their finals 44 Although the group s dominance was reduced to a degree after this period with the emergence of Manchester City and Tottenham in terms of all time Premier League points won they remain clear by some margin As of the end of the 2021 22 season the 27th season of the Premier League Liverpool in fourth place in the all time points table were over 300 points ahead of the next team Tottenham Hotspur They are also the only teams to maintain a winning average of over 50 throughout their entire Premier League tenures 45 Emergence of the Big Six 2010s Edit Results of the Big Six during the 2010s Season ARS CHE LIV MCI MUN TOT2010 11 4 2 6 3 1 52011 12 3 6 8 1 2 42012 13 4 3 7 2 1 52013 14 4 3 2 1 7 62014 15 3 1 6 2 4 52015 16 2 10 8 4 5 32016 17 5 1 4 3 6 22017 18 6 5 4 1 2 32018 19 5 3 2 1 6 42019 20 8 4 1 2 3 6Top four 6 7 5 10 6 5Top six 9 9 7 10 9 10out of 10 League champions Champions League group stage Champions League play off round Europa LeagueThe years following 2009 marked a shift in the structure of the Top Four with Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City both breaking into the top four places on a regular basis turning the Top Four into the Big Six 46 In the 2009 10 season Tottenham finished fourth and became the first team to break the top four since Everton five years prior 47 Criticism of the gap between an elite group of super clubs and the majority of the Premier League has continued nevertheless due to their increasing ability to spend more than the other Premier League clubs 48 Manchester City won the title in the 2011 12 season becoming the first club outside the Big Four to win since Blackburn Rovers in the 1994 95 season That season also saw two of the Big Four Chelsea and Liverpool finish outside the top four places for the first time since that season 46 With only four UEFA Champions League qualifying places available in the league greater competition for qualification now exists albeit from a narrow base of six clubs In the five seasons following the 2011 12 campaign Manchester United and Liverpool both found themselves outside of the top four three times while Chelsea finished 10th in the 2015 16 season Arsenal finished 5th in 2016 17 ending their record run of 20 consecutive top four finishes 49 In the 2015 16 season the top four was breached by a non Big Six side for the first time since Everton in 2005 Leicester City were the surprise winners of the league qualifying for the Champions League as a result 50 Number of top 6 finishes during 2010s Club Top 6 finishesManchester City 10Tottenham Hotspur 10Chelsea 9Arsenal 9Manchester United 9Liverpool 7Leicester City 2Everton 2Southampton 1Newcastle United 1Off the pitch the Big Six wield significant financial power and influence with these clubs arguing that they should be entitled to a greater share of revenue due to the greater stature of their clubs globally and the attractive football they aim to play 51 Objectors argue that the egalitarian revenue structure in the Premier League helps to maintain a competitive league which is vital for its future success 52 The 2016 17 Deloitte Football Money League report showed the financial disparity between the Big Six and the rest of the division All of the Big Six had revenues greater than 350 million with Manchester United having the largest revenue in the league at 676 3 million Leicester City was the closest club to the Big Six in terms of revenue recording a figure of 271 1 million for that season helped by participation in the Champions League The eighth largest revenue generator West Ham who did not play in European competition had revenues of 213 3 million less than half of those of the club with the fifth largest revenue Liverpool 424 2 million 53 A substantial part of the clubs revenue by then came from television broadcast deals with the biggest clubs each taking from around 150 million to nearly 200 million in the 2016 17 season from such deals 54 In Deloitte s 2019 report all the Big Six were in the top ten of the world s richest clubs 55 2020s Edit Results of the Big Six during the 2020s Season ARS CHE LIV MCI MUN TOT2020 21 8 4 3 1 2 72021 22 5 3 2 1 6 4Top four 0 2 2 2 1 1Top six 1 2 2 2 2 1out of 2 League champions Champions League group stage Europa League Europa Conference LeagueFrom the 2019 20 season video assistant referees were used in the league 56 Project Big Picture was announced in October 2020 that described a plan to reunite the top Premier League clubs with the English Football League proposed by leading Premier League clubs Manchester United and Liverpool 57 It has been criticised by the Premier League leadership and the UK government s Department of Culture Media and Sport 58 On 26 April 2021 play was stopped during a match between Leicester City and Crystal Palace to allow players Wesley Fofana and Cheikhou Kouyate to break Ramadan fast It is believed to be the first time in Premier League history that a game was paused to allow Muslim players to eat and drink after the sun had set in accordance with the rules of the faith 59 The 2022 23 season will be the first to take a six week break between November and December 2022 to allow for the first winter World Cup 60 with a return for the Boxing Day fixtures 61 The Premier League players decided to take the knee only at some selected significant moments instead of the routine before matches However they assured to remain resolutely committed to eradicate racial prejudice 62 In February 2023 the Premier League concluded its four years of investigation into Manchester City and alleged the club sitting second in its table of breaching the league s financial rules from 2009 18 City was alleged of more than 100 violations during the first nine years under Abu Dhabi owners Mansour bin Zayed and Khaldoon Al Mubarak The charges included 80 alleged breaches of financial rules between 2009 18 and over 30 alleged violations concerning the failure to co operate with Premier League s investigation which was opened in December 2018 The league s allegations were referred to an independent commission while the penalties that the club could face were unclear 63 64 65 Number of top 6 finishes during 2020s Club Top 6 finishesManchester City 2Chelsea 2Manchester United 2Liverpool 2Leicester City 1West Ham United 1Arsenal 1Tottenham Hotspur 1Corporate structure EditThe Football Association Premier League Ltd FAPL 66 67 68 is operated as a corporation and is owned by the 20 member clubs Each club is a shareholder with one vote each on issues such as rule changes and contracts The clubs elect a chairman chief executive and board of directors to oversee the daily operations of the league 69 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 70 The current chief executive is Richard Masters who was appointed in December 2019 71 The chair is due to be Alison Brittain who will take over the role in early 2023 72 The Premier League sends representatives to UEFA s European Club Association the number of clubs and the clubs themselves chosen according to UEFA coefficients For the 2012 13 season the Premier League has 10 representatives in the Association Arsenal Aston Villa Chelsea Everton Fulham Liverpool Manchester City Manchester United Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur 73 The European Club Association 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 Europa League 74 Office holdersOffice No Name TenureChief Executive 1 Rick Parry 1991 19972 Richard Scudamore 1999 20183 Richard Masters 2019 Chair 1 Sir John Quinton 1991 19992 Dave Richards 1999 20133 Anthony Fry 2013 20144 Richard Scudamore 2014 20185 Gary Hoffman 2020 20226 Alison Brittain 2023 Criticism of governance Edit The Premier League has faced criticism of its governance due to an alleged lack of transparency and accountability Following the Premier League s blocking of the attempted takeover of Newcastle United by a PIF backed consortium through the league s Owners and Directors test many MPs Newcastle United fans and related parties to the deal denounced the Premier League for its perceived lack of transparency and accountability throughout the process 75 76 77 On 6 July 2021 consortium member Amanda Staveley of PCP Capital Partners said that fans surely deserve absolute transparency from the regulators across all their processes to best ensure that they act responsibly They the Premier League are performing a function like that of a government regulator but without the same systems for accountability 77 On 22 July 2021 Tracey Crouch MP chair of the fan led review into the UK s football governance announced in the review s interim findings that the Premier League had lost the trust and confidence of fans The review also recommended that a new independent regulator be created to oversee matters such as club takeovers 78 79 Premier League chief executive Richard Masters had earlier spoken out against the implementation of an independent regulator saying in May 2021 I don t think that the independent regulator is the answer to the question I would defend the Premier League s role as regulator of its clubs over the past 30 years 80 Competition format Edit The Premier League is very tough and is different If you compare this league to another league it s like playing another sport Antonio Conte on the competitiveness of the Premier League 81 In The Premier League you never really know what is going to happen there is very little between the teams Luis Suarez 82 Competition Edit There are 20 clubs in the Premier League During the course of a season from August to May each club plays the others twice a double round robin system once at their home stadium and once at that of their opponents for 38 games 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 and then goals scored If still equal teams are deemed to occupy the same position If there is a tie for the championship for relegation or for qualification to other competitions the head to head record between the tied teams is taken into consideration points scored in the matches between the teams followed by away goals in those matches If two teams are still tied a play off match at a neutral venue decides rank 83 Promotion and relegation Edit A system of promotion and relegation exists between the Premier League and the EFL Championship The three lowest placed teams in the Premier League are relegated to the Championship and the top two teams from the Championship promoted to the Premier League 84 with an additional team promoted after a series of play offs involving the third fourth fifth and sixth placed clubs 85 The number of clubs was reduced from 22 to 20 in 1995 when four teams were relegated from the league and only two teams promoted 86 87 The top flight had only been expanded to 22 teams at the start of the 1991 92 season the year prior to the formation of the Premier League 87 On 8 June 2006 FIFA requested that all major European leagues including Italy s Serie A and Spain s La Liga be reduced to 18 teams by the start of the 2007 08 season The Premier League responded by announcing their intention to resist such a reduction 88 Ultimately the 2007 08 season kicked off again with 20 teams 89 Video Assistant Referee Edit Video assistant referee VAR was introduced to the Premier League at the beginning of the 2019 20 season It uses technology and officials to assist the referee in making decisions on the pitch 90 However its use has been met with mixed receptions from fans and pundits with some praising its accuracy while others criticise its impact on the flow of the game and consistency of decision making The on field referee still makes the final decision but VAR can assist the referee in the decision making process VAR can only be used for four types of decisions goals penalty decisions direct red card incidents and cases of mistaken identity VAR officials review the video footage and communicate with the on field referee via a headset The VAR officials are located in a central control room which is equipped with multiple camera angles and the ability to replay footage at various speeds A study evaluating fan reception of VAR in the Premier League was made by Otto Kolbinger and Melanie Knopp and was done by analysing Twitter data 91 The researchers used sentiment analysis to measure the overall positive or negative attitudes towards VAR as well as topic modelling to identify specific issues that fans are discussing related to VAR The study found that the reception of VAR on Twitter is largely negative with fans expressing frustration and criticism of the technology s impact on the flow of the game and the inconsistency of decisions The researchers also identified specific issues such as handball and offside decisions that fans are particularly critical of The study concludes that VAR has not been well received by fans in the Premier League and that efforts to improve the technology and increase transparency in decision making are needed to address these concerns Clubs EditMain article List of Premier League clubs See also Performance record of clubs in the Premier League and All time FA Premier League table Fifty clubs have played in the Premier League from its inception in 1992 up to and including the 2022 23 season 92 Champions EditSee also List of English football champions Number Club Winners Winning seasons Runners up1 Manchester United 13 1992 93 1993 94 1995 96 1996 97 1998 99 1999 2000 2000 01 2002 03 2006 07 2007 08 2008 09 2010 11 2012 13 72 Manchester City 6 2011 12 2013 14 2017 18 2018 19 2020 21 2021 22 33 Chelsea 5 2004 05 2005 06 2009 10 2014 15 2016 17 44 Arsenal 3 1997 98 2001 02 2003 04 65 Blackburn Rovers 1 1994 95 16 Leicester City 1 2015 16 7 Liverpool 1 2019 20 5Notably one time champions Blackburn Rovers are the only former champions currently out of the Premier League 2022 23 season Edit Twenty clubs will compete in the 2022 23 Premier League with three promoted from the Championship 2022 23Club 2021 22Position First season intop division First season inPremier League Seasonsin topdivision Seasonsin PremierLeague First season ofcurrent spell intop division No of seasonsof current spellin Premier League Topdivisiontitles Mostrecent topdivision titleArsenal a b 5th 1904 05 1992 93 106 31 1919 20 c 104 seasons 31 13 2003 04Aston Villa a d 14th 1888 89 1992 93 109 28 2019 20 4 seasons 4 7 1980 81Bournemouth 2nd CS 2015 16 2015 16 6 6 2022 23 1 season 1 0 Brentford b 13th 1935 36 2021 22 7 2 2021 22 2 seasons 2 0 Brighton amp Hove Albion b 9th 1979 80 2017 18 10 6 2017 18 6 seasons 6 0 Chelsea a b 3rd 1907 08 1992 93 88 31 1989 90 34 seasons 31 6 2016 17Crystal Palace a 12th 1969 70 1992 93 23 14 2013 14 10 seasons 10 0 Everton a b d 16th 1888 89 1992 93 120 31 1954 55 69 seasons 31 9 1986 87Fulham 1st CS 1949 50 2001 02 28 16 2022 23 1 season 1 0 Leeds United a 17th 1924 25 1992 93 53 15 2020 21 3 seasons 3 3 1991 92Leicester City 8th 1908 09 1994 95 54 17 2014 15 9 seasons 9 1 2015 16Liverpool a b 2nd 1894 95 1992 93 108 31 1962 63 61 seasons 31 19 2019 20Manchester City a 1st 1899 1900 1992 93 94 26 2002 03 21 seasons 21 8 2021 22Manchester United a b 6th 1892 93 1992 93 98 31 1975 76 48 seasons 31 20 2012 13Newcastle United 11th 1898 99 1993 94 91 28 2017 18 6 seasons 6 4 1926 27Nottingham Forest a 4th CS 1892 93 1992 93 57 6 2022 23 1 season 1 1 1977 78Southampton a 15th 1966 67 1992 93 46 24 2012 13 11 seasons 11 0 Tottenham Hotspur a b 4th 1909 10 1992 93 88 31 1978 79 45 seasons 31 2 1960 61West Ham United 7th 1923 24 1993 94 65 27 2012 13 11 seasons 11 0 Wolverhampton Wanderers d 10th 1888 89 2003 04 68 9 2018 19 5 seasons 5 3 1958 59 Burnley Watford and Norwich City were relegated to the EFL Championship for the 2022 23 season while Fulham Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest as winners runners up and play off final winners respectively were promoted from the 2021 22 season Only two clubs have remained in the Premier League since their first promotion Brentford and Brighton amp Hove Albion who have been in 2 and 6 seasons out of 31 respectively a b c d e f g h i j k l Founding member of the Premier League a b c d e f g h Never been relegated from Premier League Longest continuous run in the English top flight 93 a b c One of the original twelve Football League teams London Aston Villa Bournemouth Brighton amp Hove Albion Everton Leeds United Leicester City Liverpool Manchester City Manchester United Newcastle United Nottingham Forest Southampton Wolverhampton Wanderers London teams ArsenalBrentfordChelseaCrystal PalaceFulhamTottenham Hotspur West Ham Unitedclass notpageimage Location of clubs in England for the 2022 23 Premier League season Arsenal Brentford Chelsea Crystal Palace Fulham Tottenham Hotspur West Ham Unitedclass notpageimage Location of clubs around Greater London for the 2022 23 Premier League season Non English clubs Edit See also List of association football clubs playing in the league of another country In 2011 after Swansea City gained promotion a Welsh club participated in the Premier League for the first time 94 95 The first Premier League match to be played outside England was Swansea City s home match at the Liberty Stadium against Wigan Athletic on 20 August 2011 96 The number of Welsh clubs in the Premier League increased to two in 2013 14 as Cardiff City gained promotion 97 but they were relegated after their maiden season 98 Cardiff were promoted again in 2017 18 but the number of Welsh clubs remained the same for the 2018 19 Premier League season as Swansea City had been relegated from the Premier League in 2017 18 99 Following Cardiff City s relegation after the 2018 19 season there are currently no Welsh clubs participating in the Premier League 100 Because they are members of the Football Association of Wales FAW the question of whether clubs like Swansea should represent England or Wales in European competitions has caused long running discussions in UEFA Swansea took one of England s three available places in the Europa League in 2013 14 by winning the League Cup in 2012 13 101 The right of Welsh clubs to take up such English places was in doubt until UEFA clarified the matter in March 2012 allowing them to participate 102 Participation in the Premier League by some Scottish or Irish clubs has sometimes been discussed but without result The idea came closest to reality in 1998 when Wimbledon received Premier League approval to relocate to Dublin Ireland but the move was blocked by the Football Association of Ireland 103 104 105 106 Additionally the media occasionally discusses the idea that Scotland s two biggest teams Celtic and Rangers should or will take part in the Premier League but nothing has come of these discussions 107 International competitions EditQualification for European competitions Edit See also UEFA country coefficients Qualification criteria for 2020 21 Edit This section needs to be updated Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information October 2022 See also 2020 21 UEFA Champions League Association team allocation The top four teams in the Premier League qualify automatically for the subsequent season s UEFA Champions League group stage The winners of the Champions League and UEFA Europa League may earn an additional qualification for the subsequent season s Champions League group stage if they are not in the top four If this means six Premier League teams qualify then the fourth placed team in the Premier League instead plays in the Europa League as any single nation is limited to a maximum of five teams in the Champions League The fifth placed team in the Premier League as well as the winner of the FA Cup qualifies for the subsequent season s Europa League group stage but if the winner of the FA Cup also finished in the top five places in the Premier League or has won one of UEFA s major tournaments then this place reverts to the team that finished sixth The winner of the EFL Cup qualifies for the subsequent season s Europa Conference League but if the winner already qualified for a UEFA competition via their performance in another competition then this place reverts to the team that finished sixth in the Premier League or seventh if the FA Cup result already caused the sixth placed team to qualify 108 The number of places allocated to English clubs in UEFA competitions is dependent upon the position a country holds in the UEFA country coefficients which are calculated based upon the performance of teams in UEFA competitions in the previous five years Currently the ranking of England and de facto the Premier League is second behind Spain Extracted from the 2020 ranking of nations by their UEFA coefficient 109 Rank2020 Rank2019 Change League 2015 16 2016 17 2017 18 2018 19 2019 20 Coefficient Places in UEFA Champions League Places in UEFA Europa LeagueGS PO Q3 Q2 Q1 PQ GS PO Q3 Q2 Q1 PQ1 1 Spain 23 928 20 142 19 714 19 571 18 928 102 283 4 2 1 2 2 England 14 250 14 928 20 071 22 642 18 571 90 462 4 2 1 3 4 Germany 16 428 14 571 9 857 15 214 18 714 74 784 4 2 1 4 3 Italy 11 500 14 250 17 333 12 642 14 928 70 653 4 2 1 5 5 France 11 083 14 416 11 500 10 583 11 666 59 248 2 1 2 1 6 7 Portugal 10 500 8 083 9 666 10 900 10 300 49 449 2 1 1 1 1 7 6 Russia 11 500 9 200 12 600 7 583 4 666 45 549 1 1 1 1 1 8 9 Belgium 7 400 12 500 2 600 5 600 7 600 37 900 1 1 1 1 1 9 8 Ukraine 9 800 5 500 8 000 7 800 7 200 36 100 1 1 1 1 1 10 11 Netherlands 5 750 9 100 2 900 8 600 9 400 35 750 1 1 1 1 1 Previous seasons Edit An exception to the usual European qualification system happened in 2005 after Liverpool won the Champions League the season before but did not finish in a Champions League qualification place in the Premier League UEFA gave special dispensation for Liverpool to enter the Champions League giving England five qualifiers 110 UEFA subsequently ruled that the defending champions qualify for the competition the following year regardless of their domestic league placing However for those leagues with four entrants in the Champions League this meant that if the Champions League winner finished outside the top four in its domestic league it would qualify at the expense of the fourth placed team in the league At that time no association could have more than four entrants in the Champions League 111 This occurred in 2012 when Chelsea who had won the Champions League that summer but finished sixth in the league qualified for the Champions League in place of Tottenham Hotspur who went into the Europa League 112 From 2015 16 the Europa League winners qualify for the Champions League increasing the maximum number of participants per country to five 113 This took effect in England in 2016 17 when Manchester United finished sixth in the Premier League and won the Europa League giving England five Champions League entrants for 2017 18 114 In these instances any Europa League berth vacated will not be handed down to the next best Premier League finisher outside a qualifying place and so the association s Europa League entrants for the following season will be reduced If it happens that both Champions League and Europa League winners are of the same association and both finish outside the top four then the fourth placed team will be transferred to the Europa League Performance in international competition Edit Main article English football clubs in international competitions Between the 1992 93 and the 2021 22 seasons Premier League clubs won the UEFA Champions League six times and had eight runners up behind Spain s La Liga with twelve wins and ahead of among others Italy s Serie A with five wins and Germany s Bundesliga with four wins 43 The FIFA Club World Cup originally called the FIFA Club World Championship has been won three times by a Premier League club Manchester United in 2008 Liverpool in 2019 and Chelsea in 2021 115 with two runners up Liverpool in 2005 and Chelsea in 2012 116 117 behind Spain s La Liga with seven wins 118 and Brazil s Brasileirao with four wins 116 117 119 120 Sponsorship EditSee also English football sponsorship The league changed its name from the FA Premier League to simply the Premier League in 2007 121 From 1993 to 2016 the Premier League had title sponsorship rights sold to two companies which were Carling brewery and Barclays Bank PLC Barclays was the most recent title sponsor having sponsored the Premier League from 2001 until 2016 until 2004 the title sponsorship was held through its Barclaycard brand before shifting to its main banking brand in 2004 122 Period Sponsor Brand1992 1993 No sponsor FA Premier League1993 2001 Carling FA Carling Premiership 18 2001 2004 Barclaycard FA Barclaycard Premiership 18 2004 2007 Barclays FA Barclays Premiership2007 2016 Barclays Premier League 18 123 2016 present No sponsor Premier LeagueBarclays deal with the Premier League expired at the end of the 2015 16 season The FA announced on 4 June 2015 that it would not pursue any further title sponsorship deals for the Premier League arguing that they wanted to build a clean brand for the competition more in line with those of major U S sports leagues 124 Nike Maxim ball used in the Premier League in 2012 As well as sponsorship for the league itself the Premier League has a number of official partners and suppliers 125 The official ball supplier for the league is Nike who have had the contract since the 2000 01 season when they took over from Mitre 126 Under its Merlin brand Topps held the licence to produce collectables for the Premier League between 1994 and 2019 including stickers for their sticker album and trading cards 127 Launched in the 2007 08 season Topps Match Attax the official Premier League trading card game is the best selling boys collectable in the UK and is also the biggest selling sports trading card game in the world 127 128 In October 2018 Panini were awarded the licence to produce collectables from the 2019 20 season 129 The chocolate company Cadbury has been the official snack partner of the Premier League since 2017 and sponsored the Golden Boot Golden Glove and Playmaker of the Season awards from the 2017 18 season to 2019 20 season 130 131 The Coca Cola Company under its Coca Cola Zero Sugar product line sponsored these awards during the 2020 21 season with Castrol being the current sponsor as of the 2021 22 season Finances EditSee also List of Premier League football club owners The Premier League has the highest revenue of any association football league in the world with total club revenues of 2 48 billion in 2009 10 132 133 In 2013 14 due to improved television revenues and cost controls the Premier League clubs collectively made a net profit in excess of 78 million exceeding all other football leagues 134 In 2010 the Premier League was awarded the Queen s Award for Enterprise in the International Trade category for its outstanding contribution to international trade and the value it brings to English football and the United Kingdom s broadcasting industry 135 The Premier League includes some of the richest football clubs in the world Deloitte s Football Money League listed seven Premier League clubs in the top 20 for the 2009 10 season 136 and all 20 clubs were in the top 40 globally by the end of the 2013 14 season largely as a result of increased broadcasting revenue 137 In 2019 the league generated around 3 1 billion per year in domestic and international television rights 4 Premier League clubs agreed in principle in December 2012 to radical new cost controls The two proposals consist of a break even rule and a cap on the amount clubs can increase their wage bill by each season With the new television deals on the horizon momentum has been growing to find ways of preventing the majority of the cash going straight to players and agents 138 Central payments for the 2016 17 season amounted to 2 398 515 773 across the 20 clubs with each team receiving a flat participation fee of 35 301 989 and additional payments for TV broadcasts 1 016 690 for general UK rights to match highlights 1 136 083 for each live UK broadcast of their games and 39 090 596 for all overseas rights commercial rights a flat fee of 4 759 404 and a notional measure of merit which was based upon final league position 7 The merit component was a nominal sum of 1 941 609 multiplied by each finishing place counted from the foot of the table e g Burnley finished 16th in May 2017 five places counting upwards and received 5 1 941 609 9 708 045 merit payment 7 Relegation Edit See also Premier League Football League gulf and Premier League Parachute and Solidarity Payments Since its split with the Football League established clubs in the Premier League have a funding disparity from counterparts in lower leagues Revenue from television rights between the leagues has played a part in this 139 Promoted teams have found it difficult to avoid relegation in their first Premier League season One Premier League newcomer has been relegated back to the Football League every season save the 2001 02 2011 12 and 2017 18 seasons In the 1997 98 season all three promoted clubs were relegated by the season s end 140 The Premier League distributes a portion of its television revenue as parachute payments to relegated clubs for adjustment to television revenue loss The average Premier League team receives 41 million 141 while the average Championship club receives 2 million 142 Starting with the 2013 14 season these payments are in excess of 60 million over four seasons 143 Critics maintain that the payments widen the gap between teams that have reached the Premier League and those that have not 144 leading to the common occurrence of teams bouncing back soon after their relegation Clubs which have failed to win immediate promotion back to the Premier League have seen financial problems in some cases administration or liquidation Further relegations down the footballing ladder have occurred for multiple clubs unable to cope with the gap 145 146 Media coverage EditSee also English football on television List of Premier League broadcasters and Broadcasting and the foundation of the Premier League United Kingdom and Ireland Edit Matches broadcast in the United Kingdom and Ireland Seasons Sky Others Total1992 2001 60 602001 2004 110 1102004 2007 138 1382007 2009 92 Setanta 46 1382009 2010 92 ESPN 46 1382010 2013 115 ESPN 23 1382013 2016 116 BT 38 1542016 2019 126 42 1682019 2022 128 52 Amazon 20 200 Eden Hazard in possession of the ball during a 2012 match between Chelsea and Norwich City Television has played a major role in the history of the Premier League The League s decision to assign broadcasting rights to Sky in 1992 was at the time a radical decision but one that has paid off At the time paid 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 strategy the quality of Premier League football and the public s appetite for the game has seen the value of the Premier League s TV rights soar 23 The Premier League sells its television rights on a collective basis This is in contrast to some other European leagues including La Liga in which each club sells its rights individually leading to a much higher share of the total income going to the top few clubs 147 The money is divided into three parts 148 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 generally receiving the largest shares of this The income from overseas rights is divided equally between the twenty clubs 149 Not all Premier League matches are televised in the United Kingdom as the league upholds the long standing prohibition on telecasts of any association football match domestic or otherwise that kicks off between 2 45 p m and 5 15 p m on Saturday matchdays 150 151 152 The first Sky television rights agreement was worth 304 million over five seasons 153 The next contract negotiated to start from the 1997 98 season rose to 670 million over four seasons 153 The third contract was a 1 024 billion deal with BSkyB for the three seasons from 2001 to 2002 to 2003 04 The league brought in 320 million from the sale of its international rights for the three year period from 2004 to 2005 to 2006 07 It sold the rights itself on a territory by territory basis 154 Sky s monopoly was broken from August 2006 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 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 Setanta also hold rights to a live 3 pm match solely for Irish viewers The BBC retained the rights to show highlights for the same three seasons on Match of the Day for 171 6 million a 63 per cent increase on the 105 million it paid for the previous three year period 155 Sky and BT agreed to 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 10 pm on matchday 156 Overseas television rights fetched 625 million nearly double the previous contract 157 The total raised from those deals was more than 2 7 billion giving Premier League clubs an average media income from league games of around 40 million a year from 2007 to 2010 158 Cristiano Ronaldo preparing to take a free kick in a 2009 match between Manchester United and Liverpool The TV rights agreement between the Premier League and Sky faced accusations of being a cartel and a number of court cases arose as a result 159 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 160 In July 1999 the Premier League s method of selling rights collectively for all member clubs was investigated by the UK Restrictive Practices Court which concluded that the agreement was not contrary to the public interest 161 The BBC s highlights package on Saturday and Sunday nights as well as other evenings when fixtures justify ran until 2016 162 Television rights alone for the period 2010 to 2013 were purchased for 1 782 billion 163 On 22 June 2009 due to troubles encountered by Setanta Sports after it failed to meet a final deadline over a 30 million payment to the Premier League ESPN was awarded two packages of UK rights containing 46 matches that were available for the 2009 10 season as well as a package of 23 matches per season from 2010 to 2011 to 2012 13 164 On 13 June 2012 the Premier League announced that BT had been awarded 38 games a season for the 2013 14 2014 15 and 2015 16 seasons at 246 million a year The remaining 116 games were retained by Sky which paid 760 million a year The total domestic rights raised 3 018 billion an increase of 70 2 over the 2010 11 to 2012 13 rights 165 The value of the licensing deal rose by another 70 2 in 2015 when Sky and BT paid 5 136 billion to renew their contracts with the Premier League for another three years up to the 2018 19 season 166 A new rights cycle began in the 2019 20 season with the domestic package increasing to 200 matches overall in February 2018 BT were awarded the package of 32 lunchtime fixtures on Saturdays while Sky was awarded four of the seven packages covering the majority of weekend fixtures including eight new prime time fixtures on Saturdays as well as Monday and Friday matches Two remaining packages of 20 fixtures each were to be sold at a later date including three rounds of mid week fixtures and a bank holiday round As Sky already owned the maximum number of matches it could hold without breaching a 148 match cap it was speculated that at least one of the new packages could go to a new entrant such as a streaming service The five packages sold to BT and Sky were valued at 4 464 billion 167 In June 2018 it was announced that Amazon Prime Video and BT had acquired the remaining two packages Amazon acquired rights to 20 matches per season covering a mid week round in December and all Boxing Day fixtures 168 The Amazon telecasts are produced in association with Sunset Vine and BT Sport 169 With the resumption of play in the 2019 20 Premier League due to the COVID 19 pandemic in the United Kingdom the Premier League announced that all remaining matches would be carried on British television split primarily across Sky BT and Amazon A large number of these matches were also scheduled for free to air broadcasts with Sky airing 25 on Pick Amazon streaming its four matches on Twitch and the BBC for the first time in league history carrying four live matches 170 171 172 173 As matches would continue to be played without spectators upon the start of the 2020 21 Premier League its clubs voted on 8 September to continue broadcasting all matches through at least September with the BBC and Amazon each holding one additional match and appropriate arrangements being made for October 174 175 It was later announced that matches not selected for broadcast would be carried on pay per view via BT Sport Box Office and Sky Box Office at a cost of 14 95 per match The PPV scheme was poorly received the Football Supporters Federation felt that the price was too high and there were concerns that it could encourage piracy There were calls from supporters to boycott the pay per views and make donations to support charitable causes instead with Newcastle s Charity Not PPV campaign raising 20 000 for a local food bank and Arsenal fans raising 34 000 for Islington Giving On 13 November amid the reintroduction of measures across the UK the Premier League officially announced that the non televised matches would be assigned to its main broadcast partners and again including additional matches for the BBC and Amazon Prime 176 177 178 179 UK highlights Highlights programme Duration ChannelMatch of the Day 1992 20012004 present BBCThe Premiership 2001 2004 ITVIn August 2016 it was announced the BBC would be creating a new magazine style show for the Premier League entitled The Premier League Show 180 Worldwide Edit The Premier League is the most watched football league in the world broadcast in 212 territories to 643 million homes and a potential TV audience of 4 7 billion people 8 The Premier League s production arm Premier League Productions is operated by IMG Productions and produces content for its international television partners 181 The Premier League is the most widely distributed sports programme in Asia 182 In Australia Optus telecommunications holds exclusive rights to the Premier League providing live broadcasts and online access Fox Sports formerly held rights 183 In India the matches are broadcast live on STAR Sports In China the broadcast rights were awarded to Super Sports in a six year agreement that began in the 2013 14 season 184 As of the 2022 23 season Canadian media rights to the Premier League are owned by FuboTV after having been jointly owned by Sportsnet and TSN and most recently DAZN 185 186 The Premier League is broadcast in the United States by NBC Sports a division of Sky parent Comcast 187 Acquiring the rights to the Premier League in 2013 replacing Fox Soccer and ESPN NBC Sports has been widely praised for its coverage 188 189 190 NBC Sports reached a six year extension with the Premier League in 2015 to broadcast the league until the end of the 2021 22 season in a deal valued at 1 billion 640 million 191 192 In November 2021 NBC reached another six year extension through 2028 in a deal valued at 2 76 billion 2 billion 193 194 The Premier League is broadcast by SuperSport across sub Saharan Africa 195 Broadcasters to continental Europe until 2025 include Canal for France 196 Sky Sport for Germany and Austria 197 Match TV for Russia 198 Sky Sport for Italy 199 Eleven Sports for Portugal 200 DAZN for Spain 201 beIN Sports to Turkey 202 Digi Sport for Romania 203 and NENT to Nordic countries Sweden Denmark and Norway 204 Poland and the Netherlands 205 In South America ESPN covers much of the continent 206 with coverage in Brazil shared between ESPN Brasil and Fox Sports 207 208 Sky Mexico broadcasts the league in Central America 209 Stadiums EditMain article List of Premier League stadiums As of the 2017 18 season Premier League football has been played in 58 stadiums since the formation of the division 210 The Hillsborough disaster in 1989 and the subsequent Taylor Report saw a recommendation that standing terraces should be abolished As a result all stadiums in the Premier League are all seater 211 212 Since the formation of the Premier League football grounds in England have seen constant improvements to capacity and facilities with some clubs moving to new build stadiums 213 Nine stadiums that have seen Premier League football have now been demolished The stadiums for the 2017 18 season show a large disparity in capacity For example Wembley Stadium the temporary home of Tottenham Hotspur has a capacity of 90 000 while Dean Court the home of AFC Bournemouth has a capacity of 11 360 214 215 The combined total capacity of the Premier League in the 2017 18 season is 806 033 with an average capacity of 40 302 214 Stadium attendances are a significant source of regular income for Premier League clubs 216 For the 2016 17 season average attendances across the league clubs were 35 838 for Premier League matches with an aggregate attendance of 13 618 596 217 This represents an increase of 14 712 from the average attendance of 21 126 recorded in the Premier League s first season 1992 93 218 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 219 220 The Premier League s record average attendance of 36 144 was set during the 2007 08 season 221 This record was then beaten in the 2013 14 season recording an average attendance of 36 695 with an attendance of just under 14 million the highest average in England s top flight since 1950 222 Managers EditI have never known this level before Of course there are managers in Germany Italy and Spain but in the Premier League these are the best managers the elite managers The quality the preparation The level is so high Pep Guardiola on the quality of managers of Premier League teams 223 See also List of Premier League managers Managers in the Premier League are involved in the day to day running of the team including the training team selection and player acquisition Their influence varies from club to club and is related to the ownership of the club and the relationship of the manager with fans 224 Managers are required to have a UEFA Pro Licence which is the final coaching qualification available and follows the completion of the UEFA B and A Licences 225 The UEFA Pro Licence is required by every person who wishes to manage a club in the Premier League on a permanent basis i e more than 12 weeks the amount of time an unqualified caretaker manager is allowed to take control 226 Caretaker appointments are managers that fill the gap between a managerial departure and a new appointment Several caretaker managers have gone on to secure a permanent managerial post after performing well as a caretaker including Paul Hart at Portsmouth David Pleat at Tottenham Hotspur and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Manchester United Arsene Wenger is the longest serving manager having been in charge of Arsenal in the Premier League from 1996 to his departure at the conclusion of the 2017 18 season and holds the record for most matches managed in the Premier League with 828 all with Arsenal He broke the record set by Alex Ferguson who had managed 810 matches with Manchester United from the Premier League s inception to his retirement at the end of the 2012 13 season Ferguson was in charge of Manchester United from November 1986 until his retirement at the end of the 2012 13 season meaning he was manager for the last five years of the old Football League First Division and all of the first 21 seasons of the Premier League 227 Notably since its creation the Premier League has never been won by an English manager There have been several studies into the reasoning behind and effects of managerial sackings Most famously Professor Sue Bridgewater of the University of Liverpool and Dr Bas ter Weel of the University of Amsterdam performed two separate studies which helped to explain the statistics behind managerial sackings Bridgewater s study found clubs generally sack their managers upon dropping below an average of one point per match 228 Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was the longest serving in Premier League history Current managers Nat Manager Club Appointed Time as manager Jurgen Klopp Liverpool 8 October 2015 7 years 162 days Pep Guardiola Manchester City 1 July 2016 6 years 261 days Thomas Frank Brentford 16 October 2018 4 years 154 days Brendan Rodgers Leicester City 26 February 2019 4 years 21 days Mikel Arteta Arsenal 20 December 2019 3 years 89 days David Moyes West Ham United 29 December 2019 3 years 80 days Marco Silva Fulham 1 July 2021 1 year 261 days Patrick Vieira Crystal Palace 4 July 2021 1 year 258 days Steve Cooper Nottingham Forest 21 September 2021 1 year 179 days Antonio Conte Tottenham Hotspur 2 November 2021 1 year 137 days Eddie Howe Newcastle United 8 November 2021 1 year 131 days Erik ten Hag Manchester United 23 May 2022 300 days Gary O Neil Bournemouth 30 August 2022 201 days Graham Potter Chelsea 8 September 2022 192 days Roberto De Zerbi Brighton amp Hove Albion 18 September 2022 182 days Unai Emery Aston Villa 1 November 2022 138 days Julen Lopetegui Wolverhampton Wanderers 14 November 2022 125 days Sean Dyche Everton 30 January 2023 48 days Ruben Selles Southampton 12 February 2023 35 days Javi Gracia Leeds United 21 February 2023 26 daysPlayers EditSee also Premier League records and statistics Player records and List of Premier League winning players Appearances Edit See also List of Premier League players with 300 or more appearances Most appearances Rank Player Apps1 Gareth Barry ENG 6532 Ryan Giggs WAL 6323 Frank Lampard ENG 6094 James Milner ENG 6085 David James ENG 5726 Gary Speed WAL 5357 Emile Heskey ENG 5168 Mark Schwarzer AUS 5149 Jamie Carragher ENG 50810 Phil Neville ENG 505As of 11 March 2023 229 Italicised players still playing professional football Bolded players still playing in Premier League Transfer regulations and foreign players Edit See also List of foreign Premier League players and List of foreign Premier League goalscorers Player transfers may only take place within transfer windows set by the Football Association The two transfer windows run from the last day of the season to 31 August and from 31 December to 31 January Player registrations cannot be exchanged outside these windows except under specific licence from the FA usually on an emergency basis 230 As of the 2010 11 season the Premier League introduced new rules mandating that each club must register a maximum 25 man squad of players aged over 21 with the squad list only allowed to be changed in transfer windows or in exceptional circumstances 231 232 This was to enable the home grown rule to be enacted whereby the Premier League would also from 2010 require at least eight members of the named 25 man squad to be home grown players 231 At the inception of the Premier League in 1992 93 just 11 players named in the starting line ups for the first round of matches hailed from outside of the United Kingdom or Ireland 233 By 2000 01 the number of foreign players participating in the Premier League was 36 of the total In the 2004 05 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 234 and on 14 February 2005 Arsenal were the first to name a completely foreign 16 man squad for a match 235 By 2009 under 40 of the players in the Premier League were English 236 By February 2020 117 different nationalities had played in the Premier League and 101 nationalities had scored in the competition 237 In 1999 in response to concerns that clubs were increasingly passing over young English players in favour of foreign players the Home Office tightened its rules for granting work permits to players from countries outside of the European Union 238 A non EU player applying for the permit must have played for his country in at least 75 per cent of its competitive A team matches for which he was available for selection during the previous two years and his country must have averaged at least 70th place in the official FIFA world rankings over the previous two years If a player does not meet those criteria the club wishing to sign him may appeal 239 Following the implementation of Brexit in January 2021 new regulations were introduced which require all foreign players to obtain a Governing Body Endorsement GBE in order to play football in the United Kingdom regardless of EU status 240 Top scorers Edit See also List of footballers with 100 or more Premier League goals List of top Premier League goal scorers by season and Premier League Golden Boot Alan Shearer is the top scorer in Premier League history with 260 goals As of 5 February 2023 241 Rank Player Years Goals Apps Ratio1 Alan Shearer 1992 2006 260 441 0 592 Wayne Rooney 2002 2018 208 491 0 423 Harry Kane 2012 204 310 0 664 Andy Cole 1992 2008 187 414 0 455 Sergio Aguero 2011 2021 184 275 0 676 Frank Lampard 1995 2015 177 609 0 297 Thierry Henry 1999 2007 2012 175 258 0 688 Robbie Fowler 1993 2007 2008 163 379 0 439 Jermain Defoe 2001 2003 2004 2014 2015 2019 162 496 0 3310 Michael Owen 1996 2004 2005 2013 150 326 0 46Italics denotes players still playing professional football Bold denotes players still playing in the Premier League Thierry Henry won a record four Premier League Golden Boot awards The Premier League Golden Boot is awarded each season to the top scorer in the division Former Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United striker Alan Shearer holds the record for most Premier League goals with 260 242 Thirty three players have reached the 100 goal mark 243 Since the first Premier League season in 1992 93 23 players from 11 clubs have won or shared the top scorer title 244 Thierry Henry won his fourth overall scoring title by scoring 27 goals in the 2005 06 season Andrew Cole and Alan Shearer hold the record for most goals in a season 34 for Newcastle and Blackburn respectively 245 Ryan Giggs of Manchester United holds the record for scoring goals in consecutive seasons having scored in the first 21 seasons of the league 246 Giggs also holds the record for the most Premier League assists with 162 247 Wages Edit There is no team or individual salary cap in the Premier League As a result of the increasingly lucrative television deals player wages rose sharply following the formation of the Premier League when the average player wage was 75 000 per year 248 In the 2018 19 season the average annual salary stood at 2 99 million The total salary bill for the 20 Premier League clubs in the 2018 19 season was 1 62 billion this compares to 1 05 billion in La Liga 0 83 billion in Serie A 0 72 billion in Bundesliga and 0 54 billion in Ligue 1 The club with the highest average wage is Manchester United at 6 5 million This is smaller than the club with the highest wage bill in Spain Barcelona 10 5 million and Italy Juventus 6 7 million but higher than in Germany Bayern Munich 6 4 million and France Paris Saint Germain 6 1 million For the 2018 19 season the ratio of the wages of the highest paid team to lowest paid in the Premier League is 6 82 to 1 This is much lower than in La Liga 19 1 to 1 Serie A 16 to 1 Bundesliga 20 5 to 1 and Ligue 1 26 6 to 1 Because of the lower differential between team wage bills in the Premier League it is often regarded as being more competitive than other top European leagues 249 Player transfer fees Edit See also Progression of the British football transfer fee record and List of most expensive association football transfers The record transfer fee for a Premier League player has risen steadily over the lifetime of the competition Before the start of the first Premier League season Alan Shearer became the first British player to command a transfer fee of more than 3 million 250 The record has increased steadily and Enzo Fernandez is now the most expensive transfer involving a Premier League club at 107 million as well as being the highest transfer fee paid by a Premier League club Top transfer fees paid by Premier League clubs Rank Player Fee min Year Transfer Reference s 1 Enzo Fernandez ARG 107m 2023 Benfica Chelsea 251 2 Jack Grealish ENG 100m 2021 Aston Villa Manchester City 252 3 Romelu Lukaku BEL 97 5m 2021 Inter Milan Chelsea 253 254 4 Paul Pogba FRA 89m a 2016 Juventus Manchester United 255 256 257 5 Mykhailo Mudryk UKR 88 5m 2023 Shakhtar Donetsk Chelsea 258 6 Antony BRA 81 3m 2022 Ajax Manchester United 259 7 Harry Maguire ENG 80m 2019 Leicester City Manchester United 260 261 8 Romelu Lukaku BEL 75m b 2017 Everton Manchester United 262 263 264 Virgil van Dijk NED 75m 2018 Southampton Liverpool 265 10 Jadon Sancho ENG 73m 2021 Borussia Dortmund Manchester United 266 plus another 5 million in additional bonuses plus 15 million in bonuses Top transfer fees received by Premier League clubs Rank Player Fee min Year Transfer Reference s 1 Philippe Coutinho BRA 106m a 2018 Liverpool Barcelona 267 2 Jack Grealish ENG 100m 2021 Aston Villa Manchester City 252 3 Eden Hazard BEL 89m 2019 Chelsea Real Madrid 268 4 Gareth Bale WAL 86m 2013 Tottenham Hotspur Real Madrid 269 270 5 Cristiano Ronaldo POR 80m 2009 Manchester United Real Madrid 271 272 Harry Maguire ENG 80m 2019 Leicester City Manchester United 260 261 7 Romelu Lukaku BEL 75m 2017 Everton Manchester United 262 263 264 Luis Suarez URU 75m 2014 Liverpool Barcelona 273 274 Virgil van Dijk NED 75m 2018 Southampton Liverpool 265 10 Romelu Lukaku BEL 74m 2019 Manchester United Inter Milan 275 plus reported 40 million bonusesAwards EditTrophy Edit The Premier League trophy The gold Premier League trophy awarded to Arsenal for winning the 2003 04 title without defeat The Premier League maintains two trophies the genuine trophy held by the reigning champions and a spare replica Two trophies are held for the purpose of making the award within minutes of the title being secured in the event that on the final day of the season two clubs are still within reach of winning the League 276 In the rare event that more than two clubs are vying for the title on the final day of the season a replica won by a previous club is used 277 The current Premier League trophy was created by Royal Jewellers Garrard amp Co Asprey of London and was designed in house at Garrard amp Co by Trevor Brown and Paul Marsden It consists of a trophy with a golden crown and a malachite plinth base The plinth weighs 33 pounds 15 kg and the trophy weighs 22 pounds 10 0 kg 278 The trophy and plinth are 76 cm 30 in tall 43 cm 17 in wide and 25 cm 9 8 in deep 279 Its main body is solid sterling silver and silver gilt while its plinth is made of malachite a semi precious stone The plinth has a silver band around its circumference upon which the names of the title winning clubs are listed The green of the malachite represents the green field of play 279 The design of the trophy is based on the heraldry of Three Lions that is associated with English football Two of the lions are found above the handles on either side of the trophy the third is symbolised by the captain of the title winning team as he raises the trophy and its gold crown above his head at the end of the season 280 The ribbons that drape the handles are presented in the team colours of the league champions that year In 2004 a special gold version of the trophy was commissioned to commemorate Arsenal winning the title without a single defeat 281 Player and manager awards Edit In addition to the winner s trophy and the individual winner s medals awarded to players who win the title the Premier League also issues other awards throughout the season A man of the match award is awarded to the player who has the greatest impact in an individual match Monthly awards are also given for the Manager of the Month Player of the Month and Goal of the Month 282 These are also issued annually for Manager of the Season 283 Player of the Season 284 and Goal of the Season The Young Player of the Season award is given to the most outstanding U 23 player starting from the 2019 20 season 285 The Golden Boot award is given to the top goalscorer of every season the Playmaker of the Season award is given to the player who makes the most assists of every season 286 and the Golden Glove award is given to the goalkeeper with the most clean sheets at the end of the season 287 From the 2017 18 season players receive a milestone award for 100 appearances and every century there after and also players who score 50 goals and multiples thereof Each player to reach these milestones is to receive a presentation box from the Premier League containing a special medallion and a plaque commemorating their achievement 288 20 Seasons Awards Edit Further information Premier League 20 Seasons Awards and Premier League 10 Seasons Awards In 2012 the Premier League celebrated its second decade by holding the 20 Seasons Awards 289 Fantasy Team of the 20 Seasons Panel Choice Peter Schmeichel Gary Neville Tony Adams Rio Ferdinand Ashley Cole Cristiano Ronaldo Roy Keane Paul Scholes Ryan Giggs Thierry Henry Alan Shearer Public Vote Peter Schmeichel Gary Neville Tony Adams Nemanja Vidic Ashley Cole Cristiano Ronaldo Steven Gerrard Paul Scholes Ryan Giggs Thierry Henry Alan ShearerBest Manager Sir Alex Ferguson Best Player Ryan Giggs Most Appearances Gareth Barry 652 Top Goalscorer Alan Shearer 260 Most Clean Sheets David James 173 500 Club Steven Gerrard Jamie Carragher Gareth Barry Ryan Giggs David James Gary Speed Frank Lampard Emile Heskey and Sol Campbell Best Goal Wayne Rooney 12 February 2011 Manchester United vs Manchester City Best Save Craig Gordon 18 December 2010 Sunderland vs Bolton Wanderers Best Team Arsenal 2003 04See also Edit English football portalList of English football champions List of English Football League managers FA Women s Super League highest league of women s football in England Football records and statistics in England List of professional sports teams in the United KingdomReferences Edit When will goal line technology be introduced Archived from the original on 9 July 2013 The total number of matches can be calculated using the formula n n 1 where n is the total number of teams Why is there a Saturday football blackout in the UK for live streams amp TV broadcasts Goal Retrieved 2 May 2022 United versus Liverpool Nations The Observer 6 January 2002 Retrieved 8 August 2006 a b English Premier League broadcast rights rise to 12 billion Associated Press Retrieved 19 August 2021 Sky and BT pay less in new 4 46bn Premier League football deal Sky News Retrieved 19 August 2021 Smith Rory Draper Kevin Panja Tariq 9 February 2020 The Long Search to Fill Soccer s Biggest Toughest Job The New York Times Archived from the original on 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