Fa Premier League

The FA Premier League (which, for sponsorship reasons, is often referred to as the Barclays Premiership in the UK and the Barclays English Premier League internationally) comprises the top 20 football clubs in the league system of English football. It was created in 1992, when the top division football clubs broke away from the Football League after securing a greatly improved TV rights deal with the then fledgling satellite television company Sky Television. The new name was merely a branding exercise as there was no innovation in competitive terms; an identical first tier league had existed the previous season.

The competition

There are 20 clubs in the Premier League. During the course of a season each club plays the others twice, once at their home stadium and once at that of their opponents, for a total of 38 games. At the end of each season, the three lowest placed teams are relegated into the Football League Championship, and the top two teams from the Championship together with the winner of a play-off involving the 3rd to 6th placed clubs are promoted in their place. Currently, the top four teams in the Premiership qualify for the Champions League. The top two teams directly enter the group phase. The third and fourth placed teams enter the competition at the third qualifying round, and must survive a two-legged knockout tie in order to enter the group phase.

Sponsorship

Since 1993, the Premier League has been sponsored. The sponsor has been able to determine the league's sponsorship name. So far, all the sponsors have referred to the competition as the 'Premiership'. The list below details who the sponsors have been and what they called the competition:

Premier League clubs, 2004-05

lub
(* Played in every
Premier League season)
First season in
top division
First season of
current spell in
top division
tyle="text-align:left;"|Arsenal* 1904-05 1919-20
tyle="text-align:left;"|Aston Villa* 1888-89 1988-89
tyle="text-align:left;"|Birmingham City 1894-95 2002-03
tyle="text-align:left;"|Blackburn Rovers 1888-89 2001-02
tyle="text-align:left;"|Bolton Wanderers 1888-89 2001-02
tyle="text-align:left;"|Charlton Athletic 1936-37 2000-01
tyle="text-align:left;"|Chelsea* 1907-08 1989-90
tyle="text-align:left;"|Crystal Palace 1969-70 2004-05
tyle="text-align:left;"|Everton* 1888-89 1954-55
tyle="text-align:left;"|Fulham 1949-50 2001-02
tyle="text-align:left;"|Liverpool* 1894-95 1962-63
tyle="text-align:left;"|Manchester City 1899-1900 2002-03
tyle="text-align:left;"|Manchester United* 1892-93 1975-76
tyle="text-align:left;"|Middlesbrough 1902-03 1998-99
tyle="text-align:left;"|Newcastle United 1898-99 1994-94
tyle="text-align:left;"|Norwich City 1971-72 2004-05
tyle="text-align:left;"|Portsmouth 1927-28 2003-04
tyle="text-align:left;"|Southampton* 1966-67 1978-79
tyle="text-align:left;"|Tottenham Hotspur* 1909-10 1978-79
tyle="text-align:left;"|West Bromwich Albion 1888-89 2004-05

Former Premier League Members

lub
First season in
most recent spell in
top division of
English football
Final season of
most recent spell in
top division of
English football
tyle="text-align:left;"|Barnsley 1997-98 1997-98
tyle="text-align:left;"|Bradford City 1999-2000 2000-01
tyle="text-align:left;"|Coventry City 1992-93 2000-01
tyle="text-align:left;"|Derby County 1996-97 2001-02
tyle="text-align:left;"|Ipswich Town 2000-01 2001-02
tyle="text-align:left;"|Leeds United 1992-93 2003-04
tyle="text-align:left;"|Leicester City 2003-04 2003-04
tyle="text-align:left;"|Nottingham Forest 1998-99 1998-99
tyle="text-align:left;"|Oldham Athletic 1992-93 1993-94
tyle="text-align:left;"|Queens Park Rangers 1992-93 1995-96
tyle="text-align:left;"|Sheffield United 1992-93 1993-94
tyle="text-align:left;"|Sheffield Wednesday 1992-93 1999-2000
tyle="text-align:left;"|Swindon Town 1993-94 1993-94
tyle="text-align:left;"|West Ham United 1993-94 2003-04
tyle="text-align:left;"|Wimbledon 1992-93 1999-2000
tyle="text-align:left;"|Wolverhampton Wanderers 2003-04 2003-04
Notes:

Past Premier League winners

id="toc" style="padding:0;"| Preset = TimeVertical_OneBar_UnitYear ImageSize = width:220 height:270 PlotArea = bottom:90 left:40 Period = from:1992 till:2004 ScaleMajor = start:1993 increment:2 ScaleMinor = start:1992 increment:1 Colors =
   id:canvas      value:gray(0.9)   id:ManUnited   value:rgb(1,0,0)       legend:Manchester_United_(8)   id:Arsenal     value:rgb(1,1,1)       legend:Arsenal_(3)   id:Blackburn   value:rgb(0,0,1)       legend:Blackburn_Rovers_(1) 
   id:linemark    value:gray(0.8)   id:linemark2   value:gray(0.9) 
BackgroundColors = canvas:canvas Legend = orientation:vertical columns:1 top:65 left: 45 PlotData =
   shift:(20,2)   mark:(line,linemark)   anchor:from 
   from:1992 till:1993 text:"1st Manchester United 1" color:ManUnited   from:1993 till:1994 text:"2nd Manchester United 2" color:ManUnited   from:1994 till:1995 text:"3rd Blackburn Rovers 1" color:Blackburn   from:1995 till:1996 text:"4th Manchester United 3" color:ManUnited   from:1996 till:1997 text:"5th Manchester United 4" color:ManUnited   from:1997 till:1998 text:"6th Arsenal 1" color:Arsenal   from:1998 till:1999 text:"7th Manchester United 5" color:ManUnited   from:1999 till:2000 text:"8th Manchester United 6" color:ManUnited   from:2000 till:2001 text:"9th Manchester United 7" color:ManUnited   from:2001 till:2002 text:"10th Arsenal 2" color:Arsenal   from:2002 till:2003 text:"11th Manchester United 8" color:ManUnited   from:2003 till:2004 text:"12th Arsenal 3" color:Arsenal 
ast winners of the Premier League
eason Winner Total wins* Remarks Runner-up
a href="/encyclopedia/FA-Premier-League-1992-93" title="FA Premier League 1992-93">1992-93 Manchester United 1 (8) style="text-align:left;"|First Premier League winners Aston Villa
a href="/encyclopedia/FA-Premier-League-1993-94" title="FA Premier League 1993-94">1993-94 Manchester United 2 (9) style="text-align:left;"|Also won the FA Cup Blackburn Rovers
a href="/encyclopedia/FA-Premier-League-1994-95" title="FA Premier League 1994-95">1994-95 Blackburn Rovers 1 (3) First league championship since 1914 Manchester United
a href="/encyclopedia/FA-Premier-League-1995-96" title="FA Premier League 1995-96">1995-96 Manchester United 3 (10) style="text-align:left;"|Also won the FA Cup Newcastle United
a href="/encyclopedia/FA-Premier-League-1996-97" title="FA Premier League 1996-97">1996-97 Manchester United 4 (11)   Newcastle United
a href="/encyclopedia/FA-Premier-League-1997-98" title="FA Premier League 1997-98">1997-98 Arsenal 1 (11) style="text-align:left;"|Also won the FA Cup Manchester United
a href="/encyclopedia/FA-Premier-League-1998-99" title="FA Premier League 1998-99">1998-99 Manchester United 5 (12) style="text-align:left;"|Also won the FA Cup,
UEFA Champions League
Arsenal
a href="/encyclopedia/FA-Premier-League-1999-2000" title="FA Premier League 1999-2000">1999-2000 Manchester United 6 (13)   Arsenal
a href="/encyclopedia/FA-Premier-League-2000-01" title="FA Premier League 2000-01">2000-01 Manchester United 7 (14)   Arsenal
a href="/encyclopedia/FA-Premier-League-2001-02" title="FA Premier League 2001-02">2001-02 Arsenal 2 (12) style="text-align:left;"|Also won the FA Cup Liverpool
a href="/encyclopedia/FA-Premier-League-2002-03" title="FA Premier League 2002-03">2002-03 Manchester United 8 (15)   Arsenal
a href="/encyclopedia/FA-Premier-League-2003-04" title="FA Premier League 2003-04">2003-04 Arsenal 3 (13) style="text-align:left;"|Undefeated in League Chelsea
olspan=5 style=background:#efefef|* Premier League championships (total English football championships)
Up to 1992, the winners of the First Division of The Football League were the English football champions.
Liverpool hold the overall record with 18 championships.

Top scorers

By season

eason Top scorer, club Goals
992-93* style="text-align:left;"|Teddy Sheringham, Tottenham Hotspur 22
993-94* style="text-align:left;"|Andy Cole, Newcastle United 34
994-95* style="text-align:left;"|Alan Shearer, Blackburn Rovers 34
995-96 style="text-align:left;"|Alan Shearer, Blackburn Rovers 31
996-97 style="text-align:left;"|Alan Shearer, Newcastle United 25
997-98 style="text-align:left;"|Chris Sutton, Blackburn Rovers
Dion Dublin, Coventry City
Michael Owen, Liverpool
18
998-99 style="text-align:left;"|Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Leeds United
Michael Owen, Liverpool
Dwight Yorke, Manchester United
18
999-2000 style="text-align:left;"|Kevin Phillips, Sunderland 30
000-01 style="text-align:left;"|Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Chelsea 23
a href="/encyclopedia/FA-Premier-League-2001-02" title="FA Premier League 2001-02">2001-02 style="text-align:left;"|Thierry Henry, Arsenal 24
a href="/encyclopedia/FA-Premier-League-2002-03" title="FA Premier League 2002-03">2002-03 style="text-align:left;"|Ruud van Nistelrooy, Manchester United 25
a href="/encyclopedia/FA-Premier-League-2003-04" title="FA Premier League 2003-04">2003-04 style="text-align:left;"|Thierry Henry, Arsenal 30
olspan=3 style="background:#efefef"|* For the first 3 seasons of the Premier League (1992-93, 1993-94, 1994-95)
there were 22 clubs and therefore 42 games played by each club. For all
seasons since there have been 20 clubs and therefore 38 games played.

All-time

As of April 2005
ank!!Player!!Goals
|style="text-align:left;"|Alan Shearer||250
|style="text-align:left;"|Andy Cole||172
|style="text-align:left;"|Robbie Fowler||152
|style="text-align:left;"|Les Ferdinand||150
|style="text-align:left;"|Teddy Sheringham||139
|style="text-align:left;"|Thierry Henry||134
|style="text-align:left;"|Dwight Yorke||121
|style="text-align:left;"|Michael Owen||118
|style="text-align:left;"|Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink||114
0 style="text-align:left;"|Ian Wright 113

Executive officers

Worldwide reach

The Premier League is one of the most cosmopolitan and widely watched national sporting leagues in the world. Over 260 foreign players compete in the league, and 101 stars from England's domestic leagues competed in the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan. It is widely watched overseas, with matches being shown in over 150 countries and reaching over 450 million people worldwide. Premier League teams such as Manchester United and star players such as David Beckham, Michael Owen or Ruud van Nistelrooy have become worldwide sporting icons. The Premier League is particularly popular in Scandinavia, with ferry operators offering "football ferries" to Norwegian football fans wishing to see their favourite teams in action.

External links

 

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