Premier League

The top division of the men’s English football league structure is known as The Premier League (official name: The Football Association Premier League Limited). It uses the English Football League’s promotion and relegation system and is contested by 20 clubs (EFL). Seasons typically run from August to May with each team playing 38 matches. The majority of games take place on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, with a few weeknight games here and there.

Following the decision of teams in the Football League. First Division to split from the Football League, founded in 1888, and take advantage of a lucrative broadcast rights deal to Sky. The tournament was established as the FA Premier League on February 20, 1992. The league’s total television rights negotiations from 2019 to 2020 were worth about £3.1 billion annually. With Sky and BT Group gaining the domestic broadcast rights to 128 and 32 games, respectively. The Premier League is a corporation, with Richard Masters as chief executive and the participating clubs serving as shareholders.  Clubs received central payment income of £2.4 billion in 2016–17, with an additional £343 million in English Football League solidarity payments (EFL)

Win potential 

With a potential TV audience of 4.7 billion people and broadcast in 212 territories. The Premier League is the most watched sports league in the world. The average Premier League match attendance for the 2018–19 season was 38,181, placing it second only  to the German Bundesliga’s 43,500. While the league’s overall average attendance, at 14,508,981, was the highest of any association football league. Nearly all stadiums are nearly full. As of 2021, the Premier League holds the top spot in the league rankings determined by the UEFA coefficients based on results in European competitions over the previous five seasons. Five English clubs have collectively won fourteen European trophies. Making the English top division the second-highest producer of UEFA Champions League/European Cup victories.

History

The late 1980s were a low moment for English football. Despite the 1970s and the early 1980s seeing tremendous success in Europe. The Heysel Stadium disaster in 1985 resulted in a five-year ban on English clubs from competing in European competition, and stadiums were falling apart and fans faced subpar amenities. Hooliganism was also rampant. The Football League First Division, the highest tier of English football since 1888, lagged behind leagues like Spain’s La Liga and Italy’s Serie A in terms of attendance and money, and many of the country’s best players had left the country.

The decreasing trend had begun to turn around by the beginning of the 1990s. England advanced to the semifinals of the 1990 FIFA World Cup when UEFA, the body that governs European football, overturned the five-year ban on English teams competing in European competitions in 1990. Manchester United went on to win the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup in 1991. In the wake of the Hillsborough tragedy, the Taylor Report on Stadium Safety Standards, which recommended costly modifications to build all-seat stadiums, was released in January 1990.