Known as 'The Greatest Show On Earth', the Premier League is the world's most watched, most popular and most profitable sporting league. Nearly half a billion soccer fans across 202 countries wear their custom soccer jerseys as they closely follow their favorite English teams from August to May each year. Officially called the Barclays Premier League, it has 20 clubs playing 38 games each, with the 'Big Four', namely Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea, dominating the competition.
Attracting some of the best players in the world, it's hard to believe that the first Premier League competition kicked off as recently as 1992! The competition was formed when leading clubs in the Football League First Division decided to break away from the Football League in order to reap the benefits of a lucrative television rights deal. The combined club revenues stood at a staggering 1.93 billion in 2007-08.
The Barclays Premier League also ranks first, ahead of Italy's Serie A and Spain's La Liga. Though 43 clubs have participated in the Premier League until now, only Manchester United, Blackburn Rovers, Arsenal, and Chelsea have managed to win the title. Man U are the current champions with eleven Premier League titles to their credit.
But back in the 80s English football was at its lowest. Stadiums were falling apart and violence among fans led to a ban of English teams in European competitions. This led to the resignation of the first division clubs from the Football League on the 20th of February, 1992. Three months later, the Premier League was born... It gave television rights to Sky TV, which was a huge step considering fans were not used to being charged to watch televised soccer at the time. But high quality soccer, Sky's effective marketing strategies and sponsorship deals saw the popularity of the Premier League rise beyond expectation.
Initially dubbed the FA Carling Premiership in 1993, sponsorship changed hands in 2001 with Barclaycard dishing out 48million for a three year funding. Sponsorship was renewed in 2007 for a price of 65.8million! Profitable revenues saw the best world players joining the Barclays Premier League. And over the years, it became the most competitive tournament in Europe.
But of late, with Barcelona winning the European Cup and Man U spending huge amounts on transfers, there is an element of doubt as to which competition ranks first. Another criticism faced by the Premier League is the increasing dominance of the big four clubs, which has led to a huge gap between them and the rest of the clubs. Newcastle United's manager Kevin Keegan feels that the Big Four's dominance threatens the division: "This League is in danger of becoming one of the most boring but great Leagues in the world."
But criticism aside, there is no doubt that when the Premier League club players take the pitch in their soccer uniforms, the whole world sits up and takes notice. Emotions run high and life gets rescheduled according to match timings! So, get your soccer shirts out as a new season is ready to kick off!