The English Premier League or EPL in short is officially known as the “Barclays Premier League” for sponsorship reasons. It is actually a UK-based professional soccer league for English clubs.
Twenty clubs compete in the English Premier League. The seasons continue from August and end in May. Each team plays 38 games.
The competition began as the Football Association or in short the FA Premier League on February 20, 1992. The first game was held on August 15 of the same year. Few of the Football League First Division clubs made the decision to secede from the Football League in order to profit from a more profitable television right deal.
Since 1888, The Football League has been organized as the premier football competition in the United Kingdom. In fact, since its inception, the Premier League has become the most watched and anticipated sports football league in the world.
It is also one of the highest paying and highest paying soccer leagues in the world. In the 2005-06 season, the club’s cumulative revenue was approximately $1.4 billion. It may well hit $1.8 billion in the 2007-08 season simply due to the increased media attention and revenue received from it.
The number of participating clubs varies each year. New clubs join, older ones leave or merge with other clubs to form new clubs. On average there are 15 clubs on average per division. This means that more than 7,000 clubs are the proud members of a league in the EPL.
Teams receive 3 points for winning a game and 1 point for a tie. Accumulated points and goal differences identify the ranks of the teams participating in the league. As the season ends, the club that has the most no. of points is declared champion. Factors like goal difference and no. of goals scored, the champion decides if two or more teams finish the season tied on points.
To date only 4 of the 40 clubs in the English Premier League have been able to lift the top league title. The teams are the Arsenals (also known as the Gunners), Blackburn rovers, Chelsea (Men in Blue) and Manchester United (The Red Devils). The current champion of the Premier League is Chelsea. They lifted the title for the fourth time in the 2009-10 season.
