History Of The English Premier League

The Premier League is an English professional league for men's 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. Besides English clubs, the Welsh clubs that compete in the English football league system can also qualify to play.

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. It is currently sponsored by Barclays Bank and thus officially known as the Barclays Premier League and is colloquially known as the Premiership. Outside of the UK, it is commonly referred to as the English Premier League .

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. This deal is worth £1 billion a year domestically as of 2013–14, with BSkyB and BT Group securing the domestic rights to broadcast 116 and 38 games respectively. The league generates €2.2 billion per year in domestic and international television rights.

The Premier League is the most-watched football league in the world, broadcast in 212 territories to 643 million homes and a potential TV audience of 4.7 billion people. In the 2010–11 season, the average Premier League match attendance was 35,363, the second highest of any professional football league behind the Bundesliga, and stadium occupancy was 92% capacity.

Of the 47 clubs to have competed since the inception of the Premier League in 1992, five have won the title: Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester City  and Blackburn Rovers . The current champions are Chelsea, who won the title in 2014–15.

Since its inception, member clubs have won the UEFA Champions League, the premier European club competition, on four occasions. This was accomplished by Manchester United in 1999 and 2008, by Liverpool in 2005 and by Chelsea in 2012.

History  

Origins   

Italics denotes players still playing professional football,Bold denotes players still playing in the Premier League. Twenty-four players have reached the 100-goal mark.

Since the first Premier League season in 1992–93, 14 different players from 10 different clubs have won or shared the top scorers title. Thierry Henry won his fourth overall scoring title by scoring 27 goals in the 2005–06 season. Andrew Cole and Alan Shearer hold the record for most goals in a season  – for Newcastle and Blackburn respectively. Only Ryan Giggs of Manchester United has scored in all of the first 21 seasons.

Awards 

Trophy 

  

The Premier League maintains two trophies - the genuine trophy  and a spare replica. Two trophies are held in the event that two different clubs could win the League on the final day of the season. In the rare event that more than two clubs are vying for the title on the final day of the season - then a replica won by a previous club is used.

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 and the trophy weighs . The trophy and plinth are tall, wide and 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. Malachite's green colour is also representative of the green field of play. The ribbons that drape the handles are presented in the team colours of the league champions that year.

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

Player and manager awards.

  

In addition to the winner's trophy and the individual winner's medals awarded to players, the Premier League also awards the monthly Manager of the Month and Player of the Month awards, as well as annual awards for Manager of the Season, Player of the Season, Golden Boot and the Golden Glove awards.

20 Seasons Awards 

  

In 2012, the Premier League celebrated its second decade by holding the 20 Seasons Awards:

Fantasy Team of the 20 Seasons

Panel Choice: Peter Schmeichel, Gary Neville, Tony Adams, Rio Ferdinand, Ashley Cole, Cristiano Ronaldo, Roy Keane, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Thierry Henry, Alan Shearer

Public Vote: Peter Schmeichel, Gary Neville, Tony Adams, Nemanja Vidić, Ashley Cole, Cristiano Ronaldo, Steven Gerrard, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Thierry Henry, Alan Shearer

Best Manager: Sir Alex Ferguson

Best Player: Ryan Giggs

Most Appearances: Ryan Giggs

Top Goalscorer: Alan Shearer

Most Clean Sheets: David James

500 Club: Ryan Giggs, David James, Gary Speed, Frank Lampard, Emile Heskey, and Sol Campbell.

Best Goal: Wayne Rooney, 12 February 2011, Man. United vs Man. City

Best Save: Craig Gordon, 18 December 2010, Sunderland vs Bolton

Best Team: 2003–04 Arsenal

Tipster Street.