Introduction
Like it or not, the English football league is a force to reckon with in the soccer world. The league receives a lot of media coverage and this has proven to be one of the contributing factors to its success. The top flight level of the league, the FA Premier League, is the most famous. However, there are many other levels of the league with a complex structure of very many teams. Moreover, what is seen on the field is not all there is to the game, and there are many other factors surrounding the league which are worth knowing.
Historical Facts
• The English football league started in the year 1888. By then it was known as the Football League. This does not mean that football didn’t exist in England before then. However, whatever there was at that time was nothing but disorganized soccer.
• The league has changed names thrice throughout its history. Between 1888 and 1892, it was known as the Football League. Between 1892 and 1992, it was known as the Football League First Division. From 1992 to date, it is referred to as The FA premier League. Other acronyms to it are English Premier League (EPL) or simply the Premier League.
• The Premier League also has a number of tournaments that run concurrently with it. The FA Cup is one such tournament and it is actually the oldest football tournament in the world, having been started in the year 1871.
Other Facts About the League
• The EPL season actually starts with a trophy known as the FA Community Shield (or Charity Shield). Participants in this game are usually the raining Premier League Champions and the FA Cup winners. Other trophies that teams fight for are The FA cup and the Curling Cup. In total, a team that is participating in this league can win a maximum of four major trophies per season, including the European Champions League Cup or the Europa Cup.
• The English football league is governed by the FA constitution as well as the rules and regulations. There are 12 FA rules in total, indexed alphabetically from Rule A to Rule L.
• The English football league is actually the richest football league in the world, a position it has help for a long time.
• Since the EPL began in 1992, Sky Sports of British Sky Broadcasting has been a major player in broadcasting of the league, buying most of the rights over the seasons. However, other broadcasters like ESPN and Setanta have held a portion of these broadcasting rights at some point during the league’s existence. The broadcasting rights to the league are usually controlled by the English Football Association Premier League, or simply the FAPL.
Tips and comments
The English league football has for years attracted foreign based player without any restrictions to the number of such players per team. However, the new rules introduced by FA during the 2011/2012 season restrict this number to a maximum of 17 per team of 25 players named at the beginning of a season.
