FA Premier League

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The Premier League is an English professional league for association football clubs. At the top of theEnglish football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Football League. Sony VAIO PCG-3B1M Battery

The Premier League is a corporation in which the 20 member clubs act as shareholders. Seasons run from August to May, with teams playing 38 matches each, totalling 380 matches in the season. Most games are played in the afternoons of Saturdays and Sundays, the other games during weekday evenings. Sony VAIO PCG-3C1T Battery

It is currently sponsored by Barclays Bankand thus officially known as the Barclays Premier League. Outside England it is commonly referred to as the English Premier League (EPL). The Premier League have two teams in the top five UEFA rankings: Chelsea is 5th, and Manchester United is 3rd. Sony VAIO PCG-3D1M Battery

The competition formed 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, which was originally founded in 1888, and take advantage of a lucrative television rights deal.^[1] Sony VAIO PCG-3G2M Battery

This deal will be worth £3 billion as of 2013–14, with BSkyB and BT Group securing the rights to broadcast 116 and 38 games respectively.^[2] The Premier League is the most-watched football league in the world, broadcast in 212 territories to an audience of 643 million viewers.^[3] Sony VAIO PCG-5R1M Battery

In the 2010–11 season the average Premier League match attendance was 35,363, the second highest of any professional football league other than the German Bundesliga,^[4] and stadium occupancy was 92.2% capacity.^[5] The Premier League ranked first in the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) coefficients of leagues based on performances in European competitions over the last five years.^[6] Sony VAIO PCG-7141M Battery

Since 1888, a total of 23 clubs have been crowned champions of the English football system. Of the 45 clubs to have competed since the inception of the Premier League in 1992, five have won the title: Manchester United (12 titles), Arsenal (3), Chelsea (3), Blackburn Rovers (1) and Manchester City (1). Sony VAIO PCG-7143M Battery

The current champions are Manchester City, who won the title in the 2011–12 season.

Despite significant European success during the 1970s and early 1980s, the late '80s had marked a low point for English football. Stadia were crumbling, supporters endured poor facilities, Sony VAIO PCG-7151M Battery

hooliganism was rife, and English clubs were banned from European competition for five years following the Heysel Stadium disaster in 1985.^[7] The Football League First Division, which had been the top level of English football since 1888, was well behind leagues such as Italy'sSerie A and Spain's La Liga in attendances and revenues, and several top English players had moved abroad.^[8] Sony VAIO PCG-7154M Battery

However, by the turn of the 1990s the downward trend was starting to reverse; England had been successful in the 1990 FIFA World Cup, reaching the semi-finals. UEFA, European football's governing body, lifted the five-year ban on English clubs playing in European competitions in 1990 Sony VAIO PCG-7162M Battery

(resulting in Manchester United lifting the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1991) and the Taylor Report on stadium safety standards, which proposed expensive upgrades to create all-seater stadia in the aftermath of the Hillsborough disaster, was published in January of that year.^[9] Sony VAIO PCG-7181M Battery

Television money had also become much more important; the Football League received £6.3 million for a two-year agreement in 1986, but when that deal was renewed in 1988, the price rose to £44 million over four years.^[10] The 1988 negotiations were the first signs of a breakaway league; Sony VAIO PCG-41112M Battery

ten clubs threatened to leave and form a "super league", but were eventually persuaded to stay.^[11] As stadia improved and match attendance and revenues rose, the country's top teams again considered leaving the Football League in order to capitalise on the growing influx of money being pumped into the sport. Sony VAIO PCG-7153M Battery

At the close of the 1991 season, a proposal for the establishment of a new league was tabled 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.^[12] Sony VAIO PCG-71312M Battery

The newly formed top division would have commercial independence from The Football Association and the Football League, giving the FA Premier League licence to negotiate its own broadcast andsponsorship agreements. The argument given at the time was that the extra income would allow English clubs to compete with teams across Europe.^[13] Sony VAIO PCG-7144M Battery

In 1992 the First Division clubs resigned from the Football League en masse and on 27 May 1992 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.^[8] This meant a break-up of the 104-year-old Football League that had operated until then with four divisions; Sony VAIO PCG-7191L Battery

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.^[11] Sony VAIO PCG-3C1M Battery

The league held its first season in 1992–93 and was originally composed of 22 clubs. The first ever Premier League goal was scored by Brian Deane of Sheffield United in a 2–1 win against Manchester United.^[14] The 22 inaugural members of the new Premier League were Arsenal, Sony VAIO PCG-3F1M Battery

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, and Wimbledon.^[15] Sony VAIO PCG-3H1M Battery

Luton Town, Notts Countyand 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.

Due to insistence by the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA), Sony VAIO PCG-3J1M Battery

the international governing body of football, that domestic leagues reduce the number of games clubs played, the number of clubs was reduced to 20 in 1995 when four teams were relegated from the league and only two teams promoted. On 8 June 2006, FIFA requested that all major European leagues, Sony VAIO PCG-8141M Battery

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.^[16] Ultimately, the 2007–08 season kicked off again with 20 teams. The league changed its name from the FA Premier League to simply the Premier League in 2007. Sony VAIO PCG-8161M Battery

Welsh club Swansea Citywere promoted to the Premier League for the 2011–12 season. They were the first non-English team to compete in the Premier League. On 20 August 2011, the first Premier League match to be played outside England was between Swansea City and Wigan Athletic at the Liberty Stadium inSwansea, Wales. Sony VAIO PCG-3C2M Battery

The Premier League 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.^[19] Sony VAIO PCG-5N2M Battery

The current chairman is Sir Dave Richards, who was appointed in April 1999, and the chief executive is Richard Scudamore, appointed in November 1999.^[20] The former chairman and chief executive, John Quinton and Peter Leaver, were forced to resign in March 1999 after awarding consultancy contracts to former Sky executives Sam Chisholm and David Chance.^[21] Sony VAIO PCG-5P1M Battery

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.^[22] Sony VAIO PCG-5S1M Battery

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 2010–11 season the Premier League had 10 representatives in the Association: Sony VAIO PCG-9Z1M Battery

Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Everton, Fulham, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur.^[23] The European Club Association is responsible for electing three members to UEFA's Club Competitions Committee, Sony VAIO PCG-7171M Battery

which is involved in the operations of UEFA competitions such as the Champions League and UEFA Europa League.

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), Sony VAIO PCG-7186M Battery

once at their home stadium and once at that of their opponents, for a total of 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. At the end of each season, the club with the most points is crowned champion. Sony VAIO PCG-81112M Battery

If points are equal, the goal difference and then goals scored determine the winner. 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, a play-off match at a neutral venue decides rank.^[25] Sony VAIO PCG-31311M Battery

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 play-offs involving the third to sixth placed Championship clubs, are promoted in their place.

As of the 2009–10 season qualification for the UEFA Champions League changed, Sony VAIO PCG-8152M Battery

the top four teams in the Premier League qualify for the UEFA Champions League, with the top three teams directly entering the group stage. Previously only the top two teams qualified automatically. The fourth-placed team enters the Champions League at the play-off round for non-champions and must win a two-legged knockout tie in order to enter the group stage.^[27] Sony VAIO PCG-31111M Battery

The team placed fifth in the Premier League automatically qualifies for the UEFA Europa League, and the sixth and seventh-placed teams can also qualify, depending on the winners and runners-up of the two domestic cup competitions. Two Europa League places are reserved for the winner of each of the domestic cup competitions; Sony VAIO PCG-61111M Battery

if the winner of the FA Cup qualifies for the Champions League, then that place will go to the runner-up, and if the runner-up is also already qualified, then that place will go to the next-best placed finisher in the Premier League. If the winner of the League Cup has already qualified, that place goes to the next-best placed team in the league. Sony VAIO PCG-51112M Battery

A further place in the UEFA Europa League is also available via the Fair Play initiative. If the Premier League has one of the three highest Fair Play rankings in Europe, the highest ranked team in the Premier League Fair Play standings which has not already qualified for Europe will automatically qualify for the UEFA Europa League first qualifying round.^[30] Sony VAIO PCG-51211M Battery

An exception to the usual European qualification system happened in 2005, after Liverpool won the Champions League the year before, but did not finish in a Champions League qualification place in the Premier League that season. UEFA gave special dispensation for Liverpool to enter the Champions League, giving England five qualifiers.^[31] Sony VAIO PCG-51212M Battery

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, Sony VAIO PCG-41111M Battery

it would qualify at the expense of the fourth-placed team in the league. No association can have more than four entrants in the Champions League.^[32] This occurred in 2012, when Chelsea – who had won the Champions League the previous year, but finished sixth in the league – qualified for the Champions League in place of Tottenham Hotspur, who went into the Europa League. Sony VAIO PCG-41111V Battery

In 2007, the Premier League became the highest ranking European League based on the performances of English teams in European competitions over a five-year period. This broke the eight-year dominance of the Spanish league, La Liga.^[33] The top three leagues in Europe are currently allowed to enter four teams into the Champions League. Sony VAIO PCG-61412V Battery

Michel Platini, the UEFA president, had proposed taking one place from the top three leagues and allocating it to that nation's cup winners. This proposal was rejected in a vote at a UEFA Strategy Council meeting.^[34] In the same meeting, however, it was agreed that the third-placed team in the top four leagues would receive automatic qualification for the group stage, Sony VAIO PCG-71112M Battery

rather than entry into the third qualifying round, while the fourth-placed team would enter the play-off round for non-champions, guaranteeing an opponent from one of the top 15 leagues in Europe. This was part of Platini's plan to increase the number of teams qualifying directly into the group stage, while simultaneously increasing the number of teams from lower-ranked nations in the group stage. Sony VAIO PCG-81111V Battery

The current Premier League trophy was created by Royal Jewellers Asprey of London. It consists of a trophy with a golden crown and a malachite plinth base. The plinth weighs 33 lbs (15 kg) and the trophy weighs 22 lbs (10 kg).^[36] The trophy and plinth are 76 cm (30 in) tall, 43 cm (17 in) wide and 25 cm (9.8 in) deep.^[37] Sony VAIO PCG-81111V Battery

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. Malachite's green colour is also representative of the green field of play.^[37] Sony VAIO PCG-81212M Battery

The design of the trophy is based on the heraldry ofThree 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.^[38] Sony VAIO PCG-81212V Battery

In 2004, a special gold version of the trophy was commissioned to commemorate Arsenal winning the title without a single defeat.

The Premier League has the highest revenue of any football league in the world, with total club revenues of €2.479 billion in 2009–10,^[44] Sony VAIO PCG-51111M Battery

and is the second most profitable after the German Bundesliga.^[45] In 2010 the Premier League was awarded the Queen's Award for Enterprise in the International Trade category by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The Premier League was recognised for its outstanding contribution to international trade and the value it brings to English football and the United Kingdom's broadcasting industry.^[46] Sony VAIO VPCS13X9E/B battery

The Premier League's gross revenue is regularly the fourth highest of any sports league worldwide, behind the annual revenues of the three most popular North American major sports leagues (the National Football League, Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association).^[47] Sony VAIO VPCS12V9E/B battery

In terms of world football, the Premier League clubs are some of the richest in the world. Deloitte, who annually release figures on club revenues through its "Football Money League", listed seven Premier League clubs in the top 20 for the 2009–10 season.^[48] No other league has more than four clubs in this table. Sony VAIO VPCS12V9E/B battery

Premier League teams have dominated the list for many years, and even topped the list for almost a decade until the 2004–05 season. After the Premier League's new TV deal went into effect, the league-wide increase in revenues is expected to increase the Premier League clubs' standing in the list, and there is a possibility that a Premier League club will be top of the list. Sony VAIO VPCF13M8E/B battery

Television has played a major role in the history of the Premier League. The money from television rights has been vital in helping to create excellence both on and off the field. The League's decision to assign broadcasting rights to BSkyB in 1992 was at the time a radical decision, but one that has paid off. Sony VAIO VPCF13Z0E/B battery

At the time pay 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.^[10] Sony VAIO VPCM13M1E/L battery

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.^[51] The money is divided into three parts:^[52] Sony VAIO VPCM13M1E/W battery

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. Sony VAIO VPCF22M1E battery

The income from overseas rights is divided equally between the twenty clubs.^[53]

The first Sky television rights agreement was worth £304 million over five seasons.^[54] The next contract, negotiated to start from the 1997–98 season, rose to £670 million over four seasons.^[54] Sony VAIO VPCF11M1E/H battery

The third contract was a £1.024 billion deal with BSkyB for the three seasons from 2001–02 to 2003–04. The league brought in £320 million from the sale of its international rights for the three-year period from 2004–05 to 2006–07. It sold the rights itself on a territory-by-territory basis.^[55] Sony VAIO VPCF13M0E/B battery

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. Sony VAIO VPCYB2M1E battery

Sky and Setanta paid a total of £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. Sony VAIO VPCYB3V1E battery

The BBC has 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.^[56] Raidió Teilifís Éireann broadcast the highlights package in Ireland. Sony VAIO VPCY11M1E battery

Sky and BT have 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.^[57] Overseas television rights fetched £625 million, nearly double the previous contract.^[58] Sony VAIO VPCS12L9E/B battery

The total raised from these deals is 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.

The TV rights agreement between the Premier League and Sky has faced accusations of being a cartel, and a number of court cases have arisen as a result.^[60] Sony VAIO VPCF11S1E/B battery

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.^[61] In July 1999 the Premier League's method of selling rights collectively for all member clubs was investigated by the UK Restrictive Practices Court, Sony VAIO VPCYB3V1E/R Battery

who concluded that the agreement was not contrary to the public interest.^[62] The BBC's highlights package on Saturday and Sunday nights, as well as other evenings when fixtures justify, will run until 2016.^[63] Television rights alone for the period 2010 to 2013 have been purchased for £1.782 billion.^[64] Sony VAIO VPCF23P1E Battery

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 a total of 46 matches that were available for the 2009–10 season as well as a package of 23 matches per season from 2010–11 to 2012–13.^[65] Sony VAIO VPCF23N1E Battery

On 13 June 2012, the Premier League announced that BT had been awarded 38 games a season for the 2013–14 through 2015–16 seasons at £246 million-a-year. The remaining 116 games were retained by BSkyB who will pay £760 million-a-year. The total rights have raised £3.018 billion, an increase of 70.2% over the 2010–11 to 2012–13 rights. Sony VAIO VPCY21S1E/L Battery

Promoted as "The Greatest Show On Earth",^[67][68] being broadcast to over 600+ million people in over 200 countries worldwide,^[69] often on networks owned and/or controlled by NewsCorp, which owns BSkyB and thus the primary UK and Ireland TV rights. In the United States, coverage is shared between Fox Soccer, Fox Soccer Plus and ESPN; Sony VAIO VPCY21S1E/G battery

NewsCorp sometimes buys pitch-side advertising boards with the Fox Soccer logo replacing that of Sky.^[70] In Canada, Sportsnet owns the Premier League rights for three years from the 2010–11 season.^[71] In Australia, Fox Sports shows the games with a Viewers Choice option for up to five live games and up to nine games live on any given game-week.^[72] Sony VAIO VPCF24M1E battery

The Premier League is particularly popular in Asia, where it is the most widely distributed sports programme.^[73] In India, the matches are broadcast live on ESPN and Star Sports. In the People's Republic of China, data from 2003 suggested that matches were attracting television audiences between 100 million and 360 million, more than any other foreign sport.^[74] Sony VAIO VGN-NW21EF/S Battery

However, when the Chinese rights to Premier League matches were sold to a subscription channel in 2007, the number of viewers proved to be in the tens of thousands.^[75] Due to its popularity in Asia, the league has held four pre-season tournaments there, the only Premier League affiliated tournaments ever to have been held outside England.^[76] Sony VAIO VGN-NW21JF Battery

The Premier League Asia Trophy has been played in Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong and China and involves three Premier League clubs playing against a local team from the host nation, often the national side.^[77]

Figures from UK tourism body VisitBritain suggest that 750,000 visitors to Britain attended a Premier League match in 2010, Sony VAIO VGN-NW21MF Battery

spending a total £595 million and an average of £766. Visitors from Norway are most likely to come to watch Premier League football, with one in 13 Norwegian tourists travelling specifically to attend matches. Second on the list is the United Arab Emirates. For those visiting family and friends, the most likely to watch a football match are from Japan, China and Australia. Sony VAIO VGN-NW21MF/W Battery