Premier League Football is England’s number one football competition. Twenty clubs participate in this League which works on relegation and promotion. Each club plays a total of 38 games in a season that runs from August through to May each year. In the Premier Leagues lifetime 42 clubs have competed although only four have ever won the title, these winners are Arsenal, Blackburn Rovers, Chelsea and the impenetrable Manchester United who have monopolised the leaders board by winning no less than ten times which is remarkable considering there have only been 16 seasons. You can bet the odds won’t be brilliant if you are thinking of betting on Man U to win this season.
In 1988 ten of the top clubs threatened to leave First Division after realising there was more money to be made which could lead to better players being purchased and in tern this could realise greater footballing position within Europe. So, in 1992 First Division clubs resigned in droves and FA Premier League was formed.
Twenty-two teams in total were now members of the new FA Premier League, these included the
Arsenal club, Aston Villa club, Blackburn Rovers club, Chelsea club, Coventry City club, Crystal Palace club, Everton football club, Ipswich Town club, Leeds United football club, Liverpool club, Manchester City football club, Manchester United club, Middlesbrough football club, Norwich City club, Nottingham Forest club, Oldham Athletic club, Queens Park Rangers, Sheffield United club, Sheffield Wednesday football club, Southampton club, Tottenham Hotspur club, and Wimbledon football club.
1993 saw sponsorship of the FA Premier League introduced. From 1993-2001 the league was sponsored by Carling, from 2001-04 Barclaycard took over and in 2004 Barclays got the honour. Barclays Premier League will hold the sponsorship until 2010 where it will be reviewed.
In 1995 on the say so of FIFA, the amount of clubs in the FA Premier League was cut to 20 and in June 2006 FIFA once again insisted that all European major leagues reduce the teams to 18, FA Premier League were quick to respond by stating that they would not be doing this hence 2007-08 season was played with all 20 clubs. FA Premier League dropped the FA and called themselves just Premier League.
The Premier League is the most popular sporting league in the world and is watched by over half a billion fans in 202 countries worldwide. In China, television audiences can reach between 100 million and 360 million. The league has held three pre season tournaments in Asia due to it’s popularity in that area of the world.
Check out the latest events and odds in the Barclays Premier League
