History of the English Premier League - SuperSport - Football History of the English Premier League William McGregor statue © Action Images What is now known as the English Premier League has its roots in an earlier league, called the Football League, which was originally founded in 1888. The Football League, also known as the npower Football League for sponsorship reasons, is a league competition featuring professional association football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest such competition in world football. It was the top level football league in England from its foundation until 1992. Since 1995 it has had 72 clubs evenly divided into three divisions, which are currently known as The Championship, League One and League Two. Promotion and relegation between these divisions is a central feature of the League and is further extended to allow the top Championship clubs to exchange places with the lowest placed clubs in the Premier League. A director of Aston Villa, William McGregor, was the first to set out to bring some order to a chaotic world where clubs arranged their own fixtures.

On March 2, 1888, he wrote to the committee of his own club, Aston Villa, as well as to those of Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Preston North End and West Bromwich Albion, suggesting the creation of a league competition that would provide a number of guaranteed fixtures for its member clubs each season. The first meeting was held at Anderson's Hotel in London on March 23, 1888, on the eve of the FA Cup Final. The Football League was formally created and named in Manchester at a further meeting on April 17 at the Royal Hotel. In 1992, the First Division clubs resigned from the Football League to take advantage of a lucrative television rights deal and on May 27, 1992, the Premier League as we know it today was formed. 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. A total of 43 clubs have played in the Premier League from its inception in 1992 until the end of the 2009/10 season. Two other clubs (Luton Town and Notts County) were signatories to the original agreement that created the Premier League, but were relegated prior to the inaugural Premier League season and have not subsequently returned to the top flight. 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.

Due to insistence by Fifa 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 June 8, 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. FOREIGN PLAYERS At the inception of the Premier League in 1992/93, just 11 players named in the starting line-ups for the first round of matches were 'foreign' (players hailing from outside of the United Kingdom or Republic of Ireland). By 2000/01, the number of foreign players participating in the Premier League was 36 per cent.

In the 2004/05 season the figure had increased to 45 per cent. On December 26, 1999, Chelsea became the first Premier League side to field an entirely foreign starting line-up, and on February 14, 2005, Arsenal were the first to name a completely foreign 16-man squad for a match. No English manager has won the Premier League; the five managers to have won the title comprise two Scots (Alex Ferguson (Manchester United, 11 wins) and Kenny Dalglish (Blackburn Rovers, one win), a Frenchman (Arsène Wenger, Arsenal, three wins), an Italian (Carlo Ancelotti, Chelsea, one win), and a Portuguese (José Mourinho, Chelsea, two wins). TRANSFER FEES 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 September 1, 2008 for £32.5 million. The Robinho transfer remains the largest ever paid by a Premier League club. The record transfer in the sport's history had a Premier League club on the selling end, with Manchester United accepting an £80 million bid from Real Madrid for Cristiano Ronaldo in 2009.

RECORDS David James holds the record for the most Premier League appearances, overtaking the previous record held by Gary Speed of 535 appearances in February 2009. The first ever Premier League goal was scored by Brian Deane of Sheffield United in a 2–1 win against Manchester United. SPONSORS The Premier League has been sponsored since 1993. The sponsor has been able to determine the league's sponsorship name. The table below details who the sponsors have been and what they called the competition: YEARS Barclays Premier League TELEVISION 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.

This is in contrast to some European Leagues, including Serie A and La Liga, in which each club sells its rights individually, leading to a much higher share of the total income going to the top few clubs. 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, and equal steps all the way down the table; the final quarter is paid out as facilities fees for games that are shown on television, with the top clubs generally receiving the largest shares of this. The income from overseas rights is divided equally between the twenty clubs. 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 Setanta paid a total of £1.7 billion, a two-thirds increase which took many commentators by surprise as it had been widely assumed that the value of the rights had levelled off following many years of rapid growth.

On 22 June 2009, due to the troubles encountered by Setanta Sports after it failed to meet a final deadline over a £30 million 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. MATCH BALLS For the inaugural season of the Premier League, clubs were obliged to supply their own match balls, which were usually provided by the clubs' kit manufacturers. In 1993, the Premier League came to an agreement with Mitre for them to supply the league's teams with their match balls. Mitre supplied balls to the Premier League for seven years, starting with the Mitre Pro Max (1993–1995) and then the Mitre Ultimax (1995–2000). The 2000/01 season saw Nike take over as match ball supplier, introducing the Nike Geo Merlin ball, which had been used in the UEFA Champions League.

The Geo Merlin was used for four seasons before being replaced by the Nike Total 90 Aerow, which ran for another two seasons. The 2004/05 season also saw the introduction of a yellow "Hi-Vis" ball for use in the winter months. Next came the Nike Total 90 Aerow II, which featured an asymmetrical design to help players judge the flight and spin of the ball. For the 2008/09 season, the official ball of the Premier League was the Nike Total 90 Omni, which featured yet another pattern in dark red and yellow and a modified panel design, and was replaced by the Nike T90 Ascente for the 2009/10 season, with blue, yellow and orange trim, and for 2010/11 by the T90 TRACER, and will be electric blue, black and white trim.

TOP SCORERS IN THE PREMIER LEAGUE (PREMIER LEAGUE ONLY) PLAYER MORE GOALS Manchester United became the first team to have scored 1 000 goals in the league after Cristiano Ronaldo scored in a 4–1 defeat of Middlesbrough in the 2005/06 season. Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool are the only other teams to have reached the 1 000-goal mark. The highest-scoring match to date in the Premier League occurred on September 29, 2007, when Portsmouth beat Reading 7–4. Five goals is the record individual scoring total for a player in a single Premier League game, and as of November 2009, only three players had achieved this feat, Andy Cole first, followed by Alan Shearer and then Jermain Defoe. Only Ryan Giggs of Manchester United has scored in all 18 Premier League seasons. Event Streaming A SHORT HISTORY OF THE FOOTBALL LEAGUE © Tony Brown, 1995 Taken from the introduction to "The Ultimate Football League Statistics Book", published by the author in 1994.

The idea of a "league", in which each club played every other club in an organised, scheduled fashion was first established in America with the formation of baseball's National League in 1876. The earlier baseball National Association was less well organised; each club was not obliged to play every other, and they played unequal numbers of games. Cricket in this country was also less formally structured at the time; an unofficial championship table was published as early as 1864 but not until 1892 did each county play every other twice. The 1880s were a period of rapid change in the organisation of professional, competitive football. The press reports of the time show a growing spectator interest in the game as the Saturday half day holiday became established. The growth of football can be seen by examining the number of clubs entering the F.A. Cup competition; fifteen in 1871/72, seventy three in 1881/82, and one hundred and forty nine in 1888/89. The fixture list of a leading club at that time included a series of "friendly" fixtures with other clubs of similar status, the F.A.

Cup, and other cup competitions organised by the county or town in which the club was based. The formation of the Football League in 1888 can thus be seen as a logical development; a means of continuing to attract the paying public to a guaranteed number of home games each season. William McGregor, a committee member of Aston Villa, wrote to some of the leading clubs in March 1888; after two meetings the founder members of the League were agreed. The number of Saturdays available was a factor in limiting the number of clubs in the competition to twelve. This required twenty two Saturdays for the fixtures, but the clubs would also have continued with some of their traditional friendly games and needed to play their national and local cup games as well. Many clubs found that the only way to tackle this fixture problem was to arrange two games on one day, and use two completely different "first" teams to play the games. The first twelve clubs comprised six from Lancashire and six from the Midlands. All of them had professional players. Just one of those clubs is no longer playing today (Accrington), although another (Stoke) has had two spells out of the League.

Well established clubs who were not included in the original twelve were Nottingham Forest and Sheffield Wednesday; Forest were late to embrace professionalism and preferred to retain their former fixture list. Southern clubs stayed largely amateur and aloof from the League; Arsenal were the first to be admitted, in 1893/94. It was originally hoped that Scottish clubs would join; clubs from north of the border had played in the F.A. Cup since the competition started in 1871/72. However, they formed their own league in 1890. The first games were played under the League rules on September 8th 1888. Some of these rules were still under discussion; the two points for a win, one for a draw rule was not agreed until November 21st that year. The counter proposal was just to count the wins. Things were a little disorganised at first. Matches often started late due to the late arrival of the opposition. Results were sometimes disputed.

Bolton Wanderers claimed a game against Notts County in 1889/90 was lost 0-3 and not 0-4 as shown in the records; this helped them avoid the need to apply for re-election at the end of the season. The Notts County versus Derby County game in the first season is shown in the League's records as played on the 19th November 1888 with a 2-5 result. In fact the match was played on 16th March 1889 and finished 3-5. There is no doubt that all the clubs involved found the League was a success. The original rules required the last four clubs to retire and apply for re-election; all were successful in 1889, so the second season started with the same twelve clubs. Stoke were the first club not to be re-elected; they were replaced by Sunderland in 1890. Nottingham Forest changed their minds about organised competition and were founder members in 1889 of a rival competition, the Football Alliance. A game between the two leagues was played in 1891, resulting in a 1-1 draw.

The original constitution of the League had envisaged a second division, and this was formed in 1892/93 by absorbing the Football Alliance. Two Alliance clubs were elected directly into the first division; most of the remaining clubs formed the new Division Two. The formation of the second division raised the question of promotion and relegation. The League decided that the clubs in the promotion and relegation spots should meet in "test matches", a descriptive enough term borrowed from cricket where the first international matches to be labelled as test matches took place in 1861/62. The test matches ran for six seasons, but were not regarded as particularly fair or successful and were replaced by automatic promotion and relegation in 1898/99. The League rules still allowed for direct election into the first division; the last club to benefit from this were Arsenal who were elected to Division One after the First World War despite finishing fifth in Division Two in season 1914/15; it was an inspired choice as they have remained in the division ever since. There was a fairly rapid turnover of clubs in the second division in the seasons up to 1915.

Some clubs dropped out for a year or so and played in regional leagues before returning; others never did return. Some disbanded, others can still be found to this day playing in the minor leagues. The League was suspended at the end of the 1914/15 season because of the First World War. Most clubs continued to play in regional competitions during the war, but many players volunteered for active duty and did not return. The League restarted in 1919. The experience of amalgamating another league into the Football League was repeated in 1920, when the first division of the Southern League (formed in 1894) became the third division of the League. It was intended to form a third division for northern clubs at the same time, but there was no "Northern League" to take over. The northern section started one year after the southern section, with clubs from leagues such as the North Eastern, the Lancashire Combination, the Birmingham and District, the Midland, and the Central. Most of these leagues were established in the early 1890s, all taking the Football League rules as their basis. Just one club was promoted from each of the third divisions.

In order to fit the clubs relegated from Division Two into their appropriate division, South or North, it was sometimes necessary to move the Midland clubs from one third division to the other; thus clubs such as Mansfield and Walsall played in both divisions. The 1939/40 season had just started at the outbreak of the Second World War; most clubs had played three games when the competition was suspended. As in the First War, a number of regional leagues were organised. The League did not restart until August 1946 althoughthe F.A. Cup was played in season 1945/46. The period from 1922 to 1958 saw little change; the number of clubs dropping out or failing to win re-election was much smaller than the seasons up to 1915. The third divisions were expanded to 24 clubs in 1950. By 1958, the economic justification for regional third divisions was less obvious, and it was decided to replace them with nationwide Third and Fourth divisions. The top half of each regional division formed the new Third division, and the bottom half the Fourth.

Four clubs were promoted and four relegated between the two new divisions. Two up, two down had been the general rule between the higher divisions; this changed to three up, three down in 1973/74. Until season 1975/76, clubs that finished level on points were separated by "goal average". Their total of goals for was divided by their goals against. This could be argued to encourage defensive play, since not conceding any goals is obviously going to help the average. From 1976/77 onwards, goal difference was used instead. This is calculated by subtracting the goals against from the goals for. If clubs have the same goal difference, the one with most goals for is given the higher place; this rule was needed to settle the First Division championship in 1988/89. The "new" Football League decided that "goals for" would apply from 1992/93 onwards, but the Premier League has retained goal difference. 1981/82 saw one of the most fundamental changes in the history of the League, although it caused no major revolution.

The reward of two points for a win was replaced by three points, the argument being that it would stimulate attacking play and reduce the number of 0-0 draws that had peaked between 1971 and 1980. Season 1985/86 was the last season in which the bottom four clubs (of Division Four) had to apply for re-election. The League clubs agreed that the bottom club in 1986/87 would be replaced by the champions of the GM Vauxhall Conference. This had been formed in 1979/80 (as the Alliance Premier League) to bring together the major non-league clubs from the regional leagues. Lincoln City were bottom in 1986/87. This was the fourth time in their history that they were out of the league, but (as on all other occasions) they were back after just one season. The re-election principle had not always seemed fair; Gateshead were not re-elected in 1960 yet nearby Hartlepool survived on many occasions.

There is an interesting list of clubs that applied for election but didn't make it; how might football history have changed if the applications of The Argonauts, Rossendale, and Fairfield been successful? The test match principle was re-introduced in 1986/87 as a means of helping to reduce the first division from 22 clubs to 20. The play-offs were generally held to be successful even though "odd" results could occur; Chelsea were relegated in 1988 despite winning three of their four play-off games. The play-offs continued from 1988/89 as a means of deciding the final promotion place in Divisions Two, Three and Four. The bottom club of Division Four in seasons 1990/91 and 1991/92 were not moved to the GM Vauxhall Conference as it had been decided to restore the first division to 22 clubs. The clubs which would have formed the first division in 1992/93 broke away to form the F.A. Premier League. The remaining divisions two, three and four of the Football League were then renumbered one, two and three.

Three clubs are relegated from the Premier League, and three promoted from Division 1 though this changed at the end of 1994/95 when the number of clubs in the Premier League was reduced. THE MISCELLANEOUS GAMES There have been many competitive games played under League rules that are not regarded as "league" games. These matches are: Test matches, played between 1893 and 1898, and used to determine promotion and relegation between Divisions One and Two. The expunged records of Wigan Borough in 1932, Accrington Stanley in 1962 and Aldershot in 1993. These clubs failed to complete the season and so the results of the games they had played that season were removed from the final totals. Those of season 1939/40, which was abandoned because of the 1939-45 War after each club had played two or three matches. Play-offs, which have been used since 1987 to settle some promotion and relegation issues.

THE LEAGUE TABLES The original League rules published in 1888 required the bottom four clubs to retire from the League but they were then eligible to apply for re-election. The formation of the second division meant that the bottom four clubs of that division had to retire; this was reduced to three in season 1895/96 and two in 1908/09. Two clubs from each of the Third Divisions North and South had to retire, and four from Division Four. The last season of the re-election principle was 1985/86; until 1990/91, the bottom club in Division Four has been replaced by the champions of the GM Vauxhall Conference. Bolton Wanderers were not obliged to retire in 1889/90 after a dispute over the result of one of their games. West Bromwich Albion were excused from retiring in 1891/92 because they had won the F.A. Cup. Darwen were not re-elected that season, but were then elected to the new Division Two.

Birmingham City were not promoted after winning the championship of Division Two in 1892/93 (and Manchester United were not relegated after finishing last in Division One) as a result of the test matches. Similarly, West Bromwich Albion avoided relegation in 1895/96 despite finishing bottom of Division One. Rotherham Town were not re-elected in 1893/94, but were invited back for the following season after the resignation of Middlesbrough Ironopolis. Crewe managed to avoid retiring that season by arguing that Bootle should be considered as finishing below them; Bootle had in fact resigned just before the start of the season. Stoke City and Burnley qualified for Division One in the test matches of 1897/98. A 0-0 draw was sufficient for the clubs to top the test match table and they duly ensured that this happened in what was probably the most boring game of all time. However, after it was agreed to increase the number of clubs in the League, the two defeated clubs (Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United) were elected to Division One.

Once again, Darwen were not re-elected that season, but were invited back because of the increase in the number of clubs. Bury and Notts County were re-elected to Division One after finishing last in 1904/05, because the size of the League was increased again. Burton United were not re-elected, but it was their turn to be invited back because of an increase in the number of clubs. There were several changes when the League resumed in 1919 after the First World War. Chelsea were re-elected to Division One without going to a vote as the division had been extended to 22 clubs. Arsenal were elected (somewhat controversially) to Division One ahead of Tottenham Hotspur (who were thus relegated to Division Two), Burnley, Wolves, Nottingham Forest, Birmingham City and Hull City. Leeds City were expelled in the 1919/20 season for not revealing their books to the League; these were thought to contain evidence of illegal payments to players during the War. They had played eight matches at the time; Port Vale were invited to rejoin the League and played the remaining Leeds City fixtures. They were also credited with the results of the eight games.

Grimsby Town and Lincoln City were not re-elected in 1920. However, Grimsby were elected (somewhat incongruously - the only northern club) to the new Division Three. Although they had finished below Lincoln in the table they had polled more votes in the re-election ballot. They transferred to Division Three (North) when this was formed for the 1921/22 season. The third division of the League was created for the 1920/21 season by taking the clubs from the first division of the Southern League and including Grimsby. As there was no Third Division (North) until the following season it is arguable as to whether the records for the third division should be labelled as "3S" or simply "3". Brentford and Gillingham were not obliged to retire in 1920/21 because of the formation of Division Three (North). The resignation of Wigan Borough in 1931/32 meant that only Rochdale had to retire. Similarly, the resignation of Accrington Stanley in 1961/62 meant that just the last three clubs in Division Four that year needed to retire.

Peterborough United were relegated from Division Three to Division Four at the end of the 1967/68 season because of illegal payments to players. However, points were not deducted from their record. Port Vale were expelled in 1968 for unauthorised payments, but were immediately re-elected. The Scunthorpe United versus Exeter City game in season 1973/74 was not played. Scunthorpe were awarded two points. Swindon Town won their play off match against Sunderland in 1989/90 but were not promoted because of irregular payments to players. The following clubs had points deducted, in most cases for playing ineligible players. Tranmere Rovers failed to play a game on the scheduled date. Arsenal and Manchester United had points deducted because of player misconduct during their game. 1890/91 Division 1 1 point Some "home" games were actually played on grounds belonging to other clubs. The most notable examples are perhaps Manchester United who played on Manchester City's ground from 1946 to 1949 because of bomb damage at Old Trafford, and Notts County when they played at Trent Bridge.

At the start and end of each season County had to play elsewhere because of the need to play cricket on the ground. Such games are still counted as home games in the records. OTHER CLUB NAMES Several clubs have played under different names during their time in the League. The name used in the database is followed by the other names they have used and the League seasons to which they apply. Arsenal Burton Wanderers merged with Burton Swifts to form Burton United. Rotherham Town merged with Rotherham County to form Rotherham United. South Shields moved to Gateshead in 1930, changing their name and their ground. The original Accrington club resigned from the League in 1893 and went out of existence in 1896, at about the time that Accrington Stanley were formed. They should be considered as separate clubs. Similarly, Leeds City were not the same club as Leeds United, and New Brighton Tower and New Brighton were separate clubs. These distinctions have sometimes not been made by other compilers of statistics. UNCERTAIN RESULTS The definitive work for League results up to season 1937/38 is the "Story of the Football League", published by the League in 1938.

Five results in the AFS database differ from those given in the League's book (and repeated in other reference works such as Rothmans). They are as follows: 1888/89 (16th March 1889): Notts County 3, Derby County 5 (not 2-5). Notts County cancelled the original fixture scheduled for 17th November 1888 in order to play Derby Midland in the F.A. Cup. 1895/96 (4th January 1896): Arsenal 5, Loughborough 0 (not 6-0). The Loughborough paper reports that the sixth goal was disallowed for offside. 1896/97 (28th November 1896): Leicester City (then Fosse) 4, Walsall 2 (not 4-1). Given by the authors of the Leicester City history "Of Fossils and Foxes" (Dave Smith and Paul Taylor, Polar Publishing). Confirmed by the Nottingham papers, though they note that Walsall scored their second goal "just on time".

1902/03 (25th December 1902): Glossop 3, Stockport County 0 (not 3-1). 1912/13 (26th April 1913): Hull City 2, Leicester City (then Fosse) 0 (not 2-1). Still something of a puzzle. The author of "Hull City, A Complete Record" (Chris Elton, Breedon Books) gives 2-1. "Of Fossils and Foxes" has 2-0 and is therefore accepted as correct (as it is a Leicester goal that is in dispute). However, a Leicester correspondent has 2-1, with Osborn the scorer. Premier League History, Origins & List of Past Champions Discover the origins and history of the top tier of English football The 2016/17 season marks the 25th of the Premier League after its formation in 1992.

After numerous discussions with football authorities, players and television broadcasters, the First Division clubs resigned from the Football League in May 1992 and the Premier League was formed with the inaugural campaign starting on Saturday 15 August of that year. Below, each of the 24 seasons has been charted with the story of how the titles were won and the players who starred. From 2011/12's incredible finale, to Arsenal's "Invincibles", as well as each of Manchester United's record 13 triumphs, find out more about the rich history of the Premier League. Season Reviews 1992/93 Manchester United In the opening season of 1992/93, 22 clubs competed in the competition, with Brian Deane of Sheffield United scoring the first goal in what was known at the time as the FA Premier League.

The inaugural members of the 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 Utd, Sheffield Wednesday, Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, and Wimbledon. A total of 47 clubs have played in the Premier League since its inception, with Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Man Utd, and Spurs participating in every campaign to date. AFC Bournemouth are the latest team to play in the competition having been promoted to the top flight in 2015. At the end of each season, the bottom three clubs are relegated, with three promoted clubs from the Football League's Championship replacing them. The only exception to this was in the 1994/95 season when the League decided to reduce the number of clubs to 20.

As a result, Crystal Palace joined Norwich, Leicester City and Ipswich in being relegated from the Premier League at the end of the 1994/95 season, with only two clubs replacing them from Division One, as the Championship was known then. Apart from the opening campaign in 1992/93, every season of the Premier League has had a title sponsor. From the 1993/94 season, England’s top flight was known as the FA Carling Premiership, before the sponsorship changed in 2001 to Barclaycard until 2004. The title of the competition then changed to the FA Barclays Premiership, with this being amended to Barclays Premier League ahead of the 2007/08 campaign. Season 2015/16 marked the final campaign of a title sponsor arrangement, with the competition name becoming Premier League from 2016/17. Manchester United were the first winners of the competition, finishing 10 points clear of Aston Villa, and have been PL champions on 13 occasions in total.

Blackburn won the title once, in 1994/95, while Arsenal triumphed in 1997/98, 2001/02 and 2003/04. Chelsea became the fourth club to win the PL, in 2004/05, and have since gone on to claim the title three more times, 2005/06, 2009/10 and 2014/15. Man City have won the title twice, securing the trophy in dramatic fashion in 2011/12 with a goal in stoppage time of the final day, and again in 2013/14. Leicester are the latest and sixth club to win the Premier League, completing a remarkable title triumph a year after a successful battle against relegation. The most successful manager in the competition is Sir Alex Ferguson who has guided Manchester United to all their Premier League successes. He also holds the record for being the longest serving manager in the Premier League, spending 21 years there since its inception in 1992 before retiring at the end of the 2012/13 season.

Ryan Giggs made 632 Premier League appearances for Manchester United, more than any other player Ryan Giggs participated in every title-winning year for Manchester United and the Welshman has also played the most matches in the Premier League, amassing 632 appearances. Former Newcastle United, Blackburn Rovers and Southampton forward Alan Shearer is the Premier League top scorer with 260 goals and is the only player to surpass the 200 mark. From the 2001/02 season, clubs who finish in the top four places qualify for the UEFA Champions League, while the team ending the campaign in fifth get to play in the UEFA Europa League. Further places can become available to teams in sixth and seventh depending on whether teams in the top five win the League Cup or FA Cup. There has been an increase in English representation in Europe since the start of the Premier League, when, in the opening season, only the champions qualified for the UEFA Champions League, with the second and third-placed clubs entering the UEFA Cup, as the UEFA Europa League was then known. England - List of Champions England - List of Champions See Paul Felton's archive for full tables.

Champions Football League Champions 1889-1915 1889 *Preston NE 1890 -Preston NE 1891 *Everton 1892 *Sunderland 1893 Sunderland 1894 Aston Villa 1895 Sunderland 1896 Aston Villa 1897 Aston Villa 1898 *-Sheffield United 1899 Aston Villa 1900 Aston Villa 1901 *Liverpool 1902 Sunderland 1903 *The Wednesday 1904 The Wednesday 1905 *Newcastle United 1906 Liverpool 1907 Newcastle United 1908 *Manchester United 1909 Newcastle United 1910 Aston Villa 1911 Manchester United 1912 *Blackburn Rovers 1913 Sunderland 1914 Blackburn Rovers 1915 Everton * indicates club's first title - indicates club's last title Football League Champions 1920-39 1920 *-West Bromwich Albion 19

21 *Burnley 1922 Liverpool 1923 Liverpool 1924 *Huddersfield Town 1925 Huddersfield Town 1926 -Huddersfield Town 1927 -Newcastle United 1928 Everton 1929 The Wednesday 1930 -Sheffield Wednesday 1931 *Arsenal 1932 Everton 1933 Arsenal 1934 Arsenal 1935 Arsenal 1936 -Sunderland 1937 *Manchester City 1938 Arsenal 1939 Everton * indicates club's first title - indicates club's last title Football League Champions 1947-1992 1947 Liverpool 1948 Arsenal 1949 *Portsmouth 1950 -Portsmouth 1951 *Tottenham Hostpur 1952 Manchester United 1953 Arsenal 1954 *Wolverhampton Wanderers 1955 *Chelsea 1956 Manchester United 1957 Manchester United 1958 Wolver

hampton Wanderers 1959 -Wolverhampton Wanderers 1960 -Burnley 1961 -Tottenham Hotspur 1962 *-Ipswich Town 1963 Everton 1964 Liverpool 1965 Manchester United 1966 Liverpool 1967 Manchester United 1968 Manchester City 1969 *Leeds United 1970 Everton 1971 Arsenal 1972 *Derby County 1973 Liverpool 1974 Leeds United 1975 -Derby County 1976 Liverpool 1977 Liverpool 1978 *-Nottingham Forest 1979 Liverpool 1980 Liverpool 1981 -Aston Villa 1982 Liverpool 1983 Liverpool 1984 Liverpool 1985 Everton 1986 Liverpool 1987 -Everton 1988 Liverpool 1989 Arsenal 1990 -Liverpool 1991 Arsenal 1992 -Leeds United * indicates club's

 first title - indicates club's last title FA Premier League Champions 1993-2016 In 1992 the 22 Division One clubs resigned en masse from the Football League and formed the FA Premier League.

At the end of the 1991-92 season promotion and relegation took place as normal between Div 1 and Div 2 and the 22 clubs which would have formed Div 1 of the Football League for season 1992-93 became the founder members of the new FA Premier League. Summary 1889-2016 (117 championships) 20 Manchester United 18 Liverpool 13 Arsenal 9 Everton 7 Aston Villa 6 Sunderland 5 Chelsea 4 Newcastle United, The Wednesday/Sheffield Wednesday, Manchester City 3 Huddersfield Town, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Leeds United, Blackburn Rovers 2 Preston North End, Portsmouth, Burnley, Tottenham Hotspur, Derby County 1 Sheffield United, West Bromwich Albion, Ipswich Town, Nottingham Forest. Leicester City Wartime Champions 1915-1919 The Football League closed down at the end of the 1914-15 season until the end of the war. Two regional leagues were organised for the Midlands and Lancashire and London clubs formed their own competition.

In 1918 and 1919 the Midlands and Lancashire champions met over two legs in unofficial championship matches (these titles are not counted in clubs championship totals).

1915-16 Lancashire Section Principal tournament: Manchester City Subsidiary tournaments: Northern division: Burnley Southern division: Manchester City Midland Section Principal tournament: Nottingham Forest Subsidiary tournaments: Northern division: Leeds City Southern division: Nottingham Forest Midland division: Grimsby Town London Combination Principal tournament: Chelsea Supplementary tournament: Chelsea South-Western Combination Portsmouth 1916-17 Lancashire Section Principal tournament: Liverpool Subsidiary tournaments: Section A: Rochdale Section B: Everton Section C: Burnley Section D: Manchester United Midland Section Principal tournament: Leeds City Susidiary tournaments: Section A: Bradford Park Avenue Section B: Sheffield United Section C: Birmingham City Section D: Chesterfield London Combination West Ham United 1917-18 Lancashire Section Principal tournament: Stoke Subsidiary tournaments: Section A: Liverpool Section B: Manchester City Section C: Preston North End Section D: Bolton Wanderers Midland Section Principal tournament: Leeds City Subsidiary tournaments: Section A: Grimsby Town Section B: Notts County Section C: The Wednesday Section D: Leeds City London Combination Chelsea League Championship Cup Play-off First leg: Leeds City (2) 2 Stoke (

0) 0 Second leg: Stoke (0) 1 Leeds City (0) 0 Leeds won on goal average 1918-19 Lancashire Section Principal tournament: Everton Subsidiary tournaments: Section A: Blackpool Section B: Oldham Athletic Section C: Manchester City Section D: Liverpool Midland Section Principal tournament: Nottingham Forest Subsidiary tournaments: Section A: Sheffield United Section B: Birmingham Section C: Bradford Park Avenue Section D: Hull City London Combination Brentford League Championship Cup Play-off First leg: Nottingham Forest 0 Everton 0 Second leg: Everton 0 Nottingham Forest 1 Forest won overall Wartime Champions 1940-46 Normal league competition was suspended on declaration of war in 1939 and alternative regional leagues were organised.

1939-40 Midland League: Wolverhampton Wanderers West League: Stoke City North-East League: Huddersfield Town North-West League: Bury South League 'A': Arsenal South League 'B': Queen's Park Rangers South League 'C': Tottenham Hotspur South League 'D': Crystal Palace South-West League: Plymouth Argyle East Midland League: Chesterfield 1940-41 Northern Regional League: Preston North End Southern Regional League: Crystal Palace 1941-42 League North: Blackpool League South: Leicester City London League: Arsenal 1942-43 League North: Blackpool League South: Arsenal League West: Lovells Athletic 1943-44 League North: Blackpool League South: Tottenham Hotspur League West Lovells Athletic 1944-45 League North: Huddersfield Town League South: Tottenham Hotspur League West: Cardiff City 1945-46 League North: Sheffield United League South: Birmingham City Wigan Athletic and the curious case of the relegated FA Cup finalists | Football | The Guardian Sportblog Wigan Athletic and the curious case of the relegated FA Cup finalists Portsmouth, Middlesb

rough, Brighton, Leicester City and Manchester City have been relegated Cup finalists – but Wigan Athletic are the first winners to go down Juninho and Fabrizio Ravanelli grimace as Chelsea win the 1997 FA Cup final.

Photograph: Mark Thompson/Allsport Wednesday 15 May 2013 05.44 EDT First published on Wednesday 15 May 2013 05.44 EDT Share on Messenger Close Wigan Athletic’s victory in the FA Cup final on Saturday was sold as a fairytale. Dave Whelan, who had broken his leg in the 1960 final, was back at Wembley 53 years later with a club he had taken from the fourth tier to the apex of English football. Whelan was 23 when he lined up for Blackburn Rovers at the old Wembley stadium. By the 43rd minute of the match, his career at the club was over. With half-time approaching and Blackburn trailing to an own goal, the young left-back flew into a challenge with the Wolves winger Norman Deeley, a moment that changed his life. The most complicated FA Cup draw of all time | The Knowledge Read more “I knew immediately when he hit me that my leg was broken,” says Whelan. “I was running at full pace – obviously you can’t stop.” As both players lay on the grass, the referee waved play on.

Eventually Deeley made it to his feet. He went on to score two goals and win the man of the match award. Whelan was taken off on a stretcher and woke up in hospital. “The first thing I remember after coming round is being wheeled down a hospital corridor with the surgeon at my side,” says Whelan. “I opened my eyes and asked him, ‘How have Blackburn got on?’. He said: ‘I’m sorry, you’ve lost 3-0.’ I started crying. It just burst out of me. I was absolutely desperate, in despair as I lay in that hospital bed.” Whelan’s return to a Cup final with Wigan ranks as one of the most remarkable Wembley stories. But football has a cruel way of being kind. Three days after celebrating the first major trophy in Wigan’s 81-year history, the Cup winners’ careers took a turn for the worse after a 4-1 defeat at Arsenal on Tuesday night. Footballers at the top of the game exist in a cosseted world of privilege, but relegation is about as close to real life as it gets.

Going down a division brings with it concerns and worries uncommon to men who receive more in a month that the rest of us earn in our entire careers. Sympathising with top-level footballers is not easy, but as The Secret Footballer has explained , relegation can strip players of their comforts and make them susceptible to the challenges faced by the rest of us: “My contract, as was the case with many of the other players, was about to be cut in half and my assets, mainly property, bought on the back of a Premier League spending spree, were hopelessly exposed. In short, I could not afford to keep up the payments on any of it and as a result everything I owned would be at the mercy of the bank.” Wigan’s players have made an odd kind of history. No team has ever won the FA Cup and gone down from the top tier in the same season. A few have come close. Manchester City (1926), Leicester City (1969), Brighton & Hove Albion (1983), Middlesbrough (1997) and Portsmouth (2010) were all relegated as Cup finalists, but unlike Wigan, none of them won the trophy.

It has been an odd week for Whelan, who said that no words could express the emotions he felt on Saturday afternoon. As his club fall off the Premier League gravy train and he has to consider the possibility of losing his manager and Cup-winning squad to the realities of relegation, Whelan can take comfort from knowing that he has rebuilt his life from more crushing disappointments. And, unlike the clubs below, at least Wigan won their final. Portsmouth 2010: lost to Chelsea Portsmouth, who will play in the fourth tier of English football next season after finishing bottom of League One in 2012-13, were in the Cup final only three years ago. Didier Drogba scored the only goal of the game to cap a thoroughly miserable end to the season for Portsmouth. Portsmouth’s league campaign was a disaster. They picked up a 10-point penalty for going into administration, but Avram Grant’s team would have finished bottom of the league even without the points deduction. Whether they will ever make it back to the top flight or a Cup final remains to be seen, but after three years in freefall, at least their fans now have a say in the running of the club .

Middlesbrough 1997: lost to Chelsea It’s difficult to imagine now, but in the mid-1990s Middlesbrough had one of the most exciting teams in English football. They were spearheaded by Fabrizio Ravanelli, who scored a hat-trick against Liverpool on his debut, but the team’s true star was Juninho , who claimed that winning the League Cup with Middlesbrough in 2004 meant more to him than winning the 2002 World Cup with Brazil. Juninho had three spells with the club , but the 1996-97 season was the dramatic centre of his time in England. Middlesbrough were docked three points for postponing a league match with Blackburn Rovers and, despite the best efforts of TFL (The Little Fella, as Juninho was nicknamed by the Boro fans), they ended up going down. Had they not been deducted those points, Middlesbrough would have finished well clear of the relegation zone. When their fate was confirmed on the final day of the season, Juninho sank to the floor and began to cry.

To add to the heartbreak, Middlesbrough took Leicester City to a replay in the League Cup final before losing to a single goal from Steve Claridge . Their 2-0 defeat to Chelsea in the FA Cup final summed up the brutal disappointment of their season. Pinterest Brighton & Hove Albion 1983: lost to Manchester United Brighton finished bottom of the First Division in 1982-83, the last season they have played in the top tier. Their FA Cup run was, on the other hand, quite incredible. They beat Newcastle in a third round replay, before thumping Manchester City 4-0 in the fourth round. They went to Anfield in the fifth round and beat the eventual league winners Liverpool 2-1. After victories against Norwich City and Sheffield Wednesday, they faced Manchester United in the final. Brighton have only played in one FA Cup final in their history, so they made sure to enjoy their big day out in 1983. Their sponsors hired a helicopter to take the players from the club’s hotel in Croydon to Wembley. “We were a bunch of jokers,” recalled the Brighton midfielder Jimmy Case.

“We knew we were the underdogs against United but we were those types of characters anyway. Before the final, we had a lunch and this comedian, Bob ‘the Cat’ Bevan, who was a Brighton fan, came in and did a show for us before we got on the helicopter.” As the Brighton team touched down in a school carpark down the road from Wembley, the pilot declared: “The Seagulls have landed!” Brighton’s league form had been atrocious, but they played well in the final. With a few minutes left, Gary Steven scored their equaliser to force the game into extra time. Gordon Smith could have won the Cup for Brighton in the last minute, when he was sent through one-on-one with the United goalkeeper Gary Bailey. Smith scuffed the shot, Bailey saved it and Brighton’s chance was gone. They were thumped 4-0 in the replay five days later. Pinterest Leicester City 1969: lost to Manchester City Leicester have played in four FA Cup finals, but have never won the tournament. They last reached the final in 1969, the same year they were relegated to the Second Division.

Neil Young scored the only goal of the game for Manchester City, the reigning First Division champions. City were not to win another FA Cup until 2011, when Roberto Mancini led the club to their first trophy in 35 years. Remember him? Leicester could at least take comfort from selecting the youngest captain in an FA Cup final. “It was a great honour,” said David Nish, who was 21 years old in 1969 and went on to work at Leicester’s academy and as a postman in his retirement. “Leading them out in front of 100,000 people was special and I will always remember the fantastic reception we got from our fans. Playing-wise, though, I was a bit overawed by it all and didn’t really concentrate enough on the day. Then there was the Wembley pitch, which had recently staged a horse show, and the state of it was disappointing to say the least.” “After Wembley, we had another five league games to go,” said Nish. “We had to go to Old Trafford for the last game to stay up, which was a big ask.

I scored in the first minute but 10 minutes later we were 2-1 down and eventually lost 3-2. Being relegated was just as disappointing as losing a Cup final. It was a horrible feeling just sitting there in the dressing room afterwards.” Nish finished his career playing indoor football for the San Jose Earthquakes, but he stuck around to help Leicester City win the Second Division in the 1970-71 season. Pinterest Manchester City 1926: lost to Bolton Wanderers In a sign of the times, Manchester City kicked off their FA Cup campaign with an away tie against amateur club Corinthians. Although Corinthians had been formed in 1882, they were relative FA Cup novices, having waited until 1923 to “depart from their usual rules and take part in a contest which did not have charity as its primary object”.

City’s Cup run threw up some bizarre scorelines: they drew 3-3 with Corinthians in their first meeting, before beating them 4-0 in the replay; in the fourth round they thrashed the eventual First Division champions Huddersfield Town 4-0; in the fifth round they walloped Crystal Palace 11-4; in the quarter-final they won 6-1 at Clapton Orient; and they beat Manchester United 3-0 at Bramall Lane in their semi-final. Their goalscoring form deserted them during the final, which they lost 1-0 to Bolton Wanderers, who became the first side to win two Wembley finals. In the league, City finished a single point below both Burnley and Leeds United and went down with Notts County, to be replaced by Derby County and The Wednesday, as they were named until 1929.

Question: Which team were the last winners of football's First Division before the formation of the Premier League?
Answer: Leeds United