SEMINAR REPORT ON

ENGLISH PREMIER
LEAGUE
SUBMITTED BY:
YATHEESH RAO M

SUBMITTED TO:
G.V JOSHI
PREMIER LEAGUE

Premier League is an English professional league for association football clubs. At the
top of the English 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. 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 games each totaling 380 games in the
season. It is sponsored by Barclays Bank and therefore officially known as the Barclays Premier
League. In the Premier League, most of the games are played during Saturdays and Sundays,
with a few games played during the weekdays.

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.
The Premier League has since become the world's most watched sporting league. It is the world's
most lucrative football league, with combined club revenues of £1.93 billion ($3.15bn) in 2007–
08.It is also ranked first in the UEFA coefficients of leagues based on performances in European
competitions over the last five years, ahead of Spain's La Liga and Italy's Serie A.

A total of 43 clubs have competed in the Premier League, but only four have won the
title: Manchester United, Blackburn Rovers, Arsenal, and Chelsea. The current champions are
Manchester United, who won their eleventh Premier League title in the 2008–09 season, the
most of any Premier League team. Chelsea currently holds the record for most points in a season,
while Arsenal is the only team in the history of the league to go unbeaten in a single season.
Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United are collectively called the big four, although
Liverpool has never won the league.
HISTORY

 Origins

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 and English clubs were banned from European competition for five years following the
events at Heysel in 1985. The Football League First Division, which had been the top level of
English football since 1888, was well 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. 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 (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.

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 rene` wed in 1988,
the price rose to £44m over four years. The 1988 negotiations were the first signs of a breakaway
league; ten clubs threatened to leave and form a "super league", but were eventually persuaded to
stay. As stadia improved and match attendance and revenues rose, the country's top teams again
considered leaving the Football League in order to capitalize on the growing influx of money
being pumped into the sport.
  Foundation

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. The newly formed top division would have commercial
independence from the Football Association and the Football League, giving the FA Premier
League license 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.

In 1992 the First Division clubs resigned from the Football League 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. 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 on the same terms
as between the old First and Second Divisions.

The 22 inaugural members of the new Premier League were 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, and Wimbledon.
  Establishment

As of the end of the 2008–09 season, there had been 17 completed seasons of the Premier
League. 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. Due to insistence by FIFA, 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, 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. 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.

CORPORATE STRUCTURE

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. 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.

The Premier League sends representatives to UEFA's European Club Forum, the number
of clubs and the clubs themselves chosen according to UEFA coefficients. The European Club
Forum 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 European League.
COMPETITION FORMAT AND SPONSORSHIP

 Competition

There are 20 clubs in the Premier League. During the course of a season, which lasts
from August to May, each club plays the others twice, 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. 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. 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.

 Qualification for European competitions

As of the 2009–10 season qualification for the UEFA Champions League changes. 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. The
fifth team automatically qualifies for the UEFA Europa League, and the sixth and seventh-placed
teams can also qualify, depending on the winners of the two domestic cup competitions.

The Premier League was recently promoted to the top of the UEFA rankings of European
leagues based on their performances in European competitions over a five-year period. This
broke the eight-year dominance of the Spanish league, La Liga. The top three leagues in Europe
are currently allowed to enter four teams into the Champions League.
  Sponsorship

The Premier League has been sponsored since 1993. The sponsor has been able to
determine the league's sponsorship name. The list below details who the sponsors have been and
what they called the competition:

 1993–2001: Carling (FA Carling Premiership)

 2001–2004: Barclaycard (Barclaycard Premiership)
 2004–2007: Barclays (Barclays Premiership)
 2007–present: Barclays (Barclays Premier League)

FINANCES

The Premier League is the most lucrative football league in the world, with total club
revenues rising 26% to £1.93 billion ($3.15bn) as of 2007–08. Eleven of the twenty Premier
League teams made an operating profit in that year. Wage costs also reached €1.51 billion in
2007/08, considerably higher than that of the next highest-spending league, the Italian Serie A (at
€972m). Individual salaries are rarely, if ever, confirmed in public, although a survey of players
in 2006, conducted in conjunction with the Professional Footballers' Association, showed the
average basic wage in the Premier League was £676,000 per year, or £13,000 per week, before
bonuses. The Premier League's gross revenue is 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), but ahead of the National Hockey League.

In terms of world football, the Premier League clubs are some of the richest in the world.
Another significant source of regular income for Premier League clubs remains their revenue
from stadium attendances, which is the fourth highest of any domestic professional sports league
in the world, ahead of Serie A and La Liga, but behind the German Bundesliga.
MEDIA COVERAGE

 United Kingdom and Ireland

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. 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.

The Premier League sells its television rights on a collective basis. The money is divided
into three parts: 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. The final quarter is paid out as facilities fees for games that are shown on television. The
income from overseas rights is divided equally between the twenty clubs.

The first Sky television rights agreement was worth £304 million over five seasons. The
next contract, negotiated to start from the 1997–98 season, rose to £670 million over four
seasons.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.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 BT have agreed to jointly pay £84.3 million for delayed television rights to
242 games. Overseas television rights fetched £625 million, nearly double the previous contract.
The total raised from these deals is more than £2.7 billion, giving Premier League clubs an
average media income from league games of £45 million a year from 2007 to 2010. Television
rights alone for the period 2010 to 2013 have been purchased for £1.782bn.
 On 22 June 2009, due to the troubles encountered by Setanta Sports after it failed to meet
a final deadline over a £30m payment to the Premier League, ESPN was awarded the 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.

 Worldwide

Promoted as "The Greatest Show On Earth", the Premier League is the world's most
popular and most watched sporting league, followed worldwide by over half a billion people in
202 countries, frequently on networks owned and/or controlled by NewsCorp who also own Sky
Sports. In the United States and Canada, coverage is shared between Fox Soccer Channel,
Setanta Sports North America and ESPN2.

The Premier League is particularly popular in Asia, where it is the most widely
distributed sports programme. For example, in the People's Republic of China, matches attract
television audiences between 100 million and 360 million, more than any other foreign sport.
Due to this popularity, the league has held three pre-season tournaments in Asia, the only
Premier League affiliated tournaments ever to have been held outside England. The FA has faced
difficulty fighting internet copyright infringement. In an effort to stop the broadcasting of
streams of live games on the net they have hired NetResult, a company that specialises in
protecting trademark rights online.

 Website: The Premier League did not launch their first official website,
www.premierleague.com, until April 2002, although there was an existing website being
run by the title sponsor Barclaycard, who intended to continue it in parallel via Website
Partners.

Budweiser Wrigley's Extra The New Football Pools

CRITICISMS

 "Big Four" dominance

The major criticism is the development of the so-called "Big Four" clubs. From the
2005–06 season onwards, the "Big Four" (Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United)
have dominated the top four spots, thus a place in the UEFA Champions League. Since
Blackburn Rovers lifted the trophy in 1994–95, only three clubs have won the Premier League
title – Manchester United (nine of the club's eleven titles), Arsenal (three times) and Chelsea
(twice). In addition, Manchester United have not finished outside the top three since the
formation of the Premier League, with Arsenal finishing inside the top five in all but two
seasons, while Liverpool, without an English league title since their pre-Premier League era win
in 1990. Also, in the last three seasons, three of the "Big Four" teams have reached the
Champions League semi-final stage. Chelsea hold the record for the most points in a single
season (95), while Arsenal are the only team in the history of the league never to lose a single
match in one season (38 games played), earning them the nickname of "The Invincibles"

Also, in the last five seasons, two members of the big four have won the Champions
League (Liverpool in 2005, Manchester United in 2008). In recent years, the success of these
clubs has led to these four teams being increasingly referred to as the "Big Four". The Big Four
clubs have finished in the first four positions for the last four seasons, therefore they have all
qualified for the last three seasons of the Champions League and receive the financial benefits of
such qualification. The benefits, especially increased revenue, is believed to have widened the
gap between the Big Four clubs and the rest of the Premier League.

 Influence on the global game

Nigerian football officials have claimed the increase in popularity of the Premier League
and subsequent world wide media coverage is having a damaging effect on the national leagues
of other footballing countries, with Nigeria being a recent example, citing lower domestic
attendances when games clash with Premier League fixtures, and the drain of young talent being
lured to the Premier League by wage offers no local club can hope to match.
 In an extreme case of worldwide influence, after the 2008 UEFA Champions League
Final, seven people died in Nigeria after clashes between rival supporters of Chelsea and
Manchester United.

OTHER INFORMATIONS

 Trophy

The current Premier League trophy was created by Royal Jewellers Asprey of London. It
weighs 25 kg and is 76 cm (30 in) tall, 43 cm (17 in) wide and 25 cm (9.8 in) deep. 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 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.

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

A total of 43 clubs have played in the Premier League from its inception in 1992 and the
end of the 2008–09 season.

Seven clubs have been members of the Premier League for every season since its
inception. This group is composed of Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool,
Manchester United, and Tottenham Hotspur.

 PLAYERS

Premier League clubs have almost complete freedom to sign whatever number and
category of players they wish. There is no team or individual salary cap, no squad size limit, no
age restrictions other than those applied by general employment law, no restrictions on the
overall number of foreign players and few restrictions on individual foreign players – all players
with EU nationality, including those able to claim an EU passport through a parent or
grandparent, are eligible to play, and top players from outside the EU are able to obtain UK work
permits.

Over 260 foreign players compete in the league. At the 2006 FIFA World Cup in
Germany, the Premier League was the most represented league with more than eighty players in
the competition, including 21 of the 23 players in England's squad.

As a result of the increasingly lucrative television deals, player wages rose sharply
following the formation of the Premier League. In the first Premier League season the average
player wage was £75,000 per year, but subsequently rose by an average 20% per year for a
decade, peaking in the 2003–04 season, when the annual salary of the average Premier League
player was £676,000.
 The record transfer fee for a Premier League has been broken several times over the
lifetime of the competition. Prior to 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. The record
rose steadily in the Premier League's first few seasons, until Alan Shearer made a world record
breaking £15 million move to Newcastle United in 1996. This stood as a British record for four
years until it was eclipsed by the £18 million Leeds paid West Ham for Rio Ferdinand.
Manchester United subsequently broke the record three times by signing Ruud van Nistelrooy,
Juan Sebastián Verón and Rio Ferdinand. Chelsea broke the record in May 2006, when they
signed Andriy Shevchenko, from AC Milan. The exact figure of the transfer fee was not
disclosed, but was reported as being around £30 million. This was eclipsed by Manchester City's
transfer of Robinho from Real Madrid on 1 September 2008 for £32.5 million.

MILESTONES

 TEAMS
 Manchester United have won the title more times than any other team since 2001 (on
three occasions – 2002/03, 2006/07, 2007/08, 2008/09), Arsenal (2001/02, 2003/04) and
Chelsea (2004/05, 2005/06) are the only other clubs to have won the trophy in this
period.
 Since the League began in 1992, Manchester United have won the title on eleven
occasions.
 The 97 goals scored by Manchester United in the 1999/2000 season is a Barclays Premier
League record.
 Chelsea’s 2004/05 season points tally of 95 is a Barclays Premier League all-time record.
 The lowest points total ever accumulated was by 12, by Derby County in 2007/08.
 Arsenal are the only team in Barclays Premier League to have gone a whole season
undefeated in 2003/04.
 The record for consecutive clean sheets was set by Manchester United between 5
November 2008 and 18 February 2009.
 42 clubs have competed in the Barclays Premier League since 1992.
 PLAYERS - APPEARANCES
 Goalkeeper David James of Portsmouth holds the record for most appearances in the
Barclays Premier League, beating Gary Speed’s record of 535.
 The oldest player to appear in the Barclays Premier League was Manchester City
goalkeeper John Burridge, at 43 years, 4 months and 26 days. Teddy Sheringham is the
oldest ever outfield player at 40 years and 270 days, having representing West ham
United on 30 December 2006
 At 16 years and 65 days, Fulham’s Matthew Briggs became the youngest ever Barclays
Premier League player on 13 May 2009.

 PLAYERS - GOALS
 Current Newcastle United manager Alan Shearer is the all-time top goalscorer in the
Barclays Premier League with 260, ahead of Andy Cole on 187 and Thierry Henry with
174.
 The 31 goals scored by Cristiano Ronaldo during the 2007/08 is the most scored in a
Barclays Premier League season.
 Everton’s James Vaughan is the youngest ever Barclays Premier League goalscorer, with
his strike against Crystal Palace on 10 April 2005 coming aged only 16 years and 271
days.
 Teddy Sheringham’s Boxing Day 2006 goal made him the oldest scorer in the history of
the Barclays Premier League, at 40 years and 266 days.
 The 10,000th goal was scored by Les Ferdinand of Tottenham Hotspur, in their 4-0 win
over Fulham IN December 2001.
 On 20 December 2006, Fulham’s Moritz Volz’s goal against Chelsea was the 15,000th
ever scored in the Barclays Premier League.

 Old Trafford drew the largest attendance in the history of the Barclays Premier League
when 76,098 fans watched Manchester United v Blackburn Rovers on 31 March 2007.
20 CLUBS

Arsenal Aston Villa Birmingham City Blackburn Rovers

Bolton Wanderers Everton Burnley Chelsea

Fulham Hull City Liverpool Manchester City

Manchester United Sunderland Portsmouth StokeCity

Tottenham Hotspur Wolverhampton West Ham United Wigan Athletic

BIBLIOGRAPHY

 "Barclays Premier League". Sporting Life. http://www.sporting life.com/

football/live /tables/premiership.html. Retrieved 26 November 2007.
 Sports Business Journal. 26 January 2009.
http://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/article/61334. Retrieved 8 April 2009.
 Sports star magazine
 www.espnstar.com
 www.wikipedia.com