The Premier League
A 1992 breakaway gave us a 5,000-1 champion, a whole unbeaten season and a title won in the 94th minute. Here's how the Premier League became English football's loudest show.
Published
Quick Facts
- Founded
- 20 February 1992, when the top clubs broke away from the Football League
- First season
- 1992–93, with 22 clubs (cut to 20 from 1995–96)
- First goal
- Brian Deane, Sheffield United v Manchester United, 15 August 1992
- First champions
- Manchester United, 1992–93
- Most titles
- Manchester United, with 13 (as of 2025, Manchester City and Liverpool have since closed in on the later-era pace)
- Record goalscorer
- Alan Shearer, 260 goals
- Single-season goals record
- Erling Haaland, 36 in 2022–23
- Ever-present clubs
- Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur have never been relegated
The breakaway that began with a TV deal
The Premier League exists because a handful of big clubs smelled money. In the late 1980s English football was emerging from a grim spell of hooliganism, ageing stadiums and the Hillsborough and Heysel disasters. Top clubs wanted to keep more of the television income for themselves rather than share it with the whole Football League. On 20 February 1992 the FA Premier League was founded, and 22 clubs resigned from the old First Division to join it. Sky Sports won the live rights with a bid of £304 million over five years, a sum that looked astonishing then and now looks like pocket change. The first round of matches kicked off on 15 August 1992. The first goal went to Sheffield United's Brian Deane, who scored against Manchester United at Bramall Lane. Sheffield United won 2-1.
Fergie, Cantona and the era of red
For the first two decades, one man ruled. Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United won the first title in 1992–93, their first league championship in 26 years, and kept collecting. Eric Cantona's arrival from Leeds United in 1992 gave them a swaggering centrepiece. Not everyone read the script. Blackburn Rovers, bankrolled by Jack Walker and led by Kenny Dalglish, won the title in 1994–95 with Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton up front. Arsenal under Arsène Wenger brought a continental revolution to training, diet and style, and they won the league in 1997–98. The phrase 'Fergie time' grew from United's habit of scoring late goals, though that is one for the pub to argue about.
The season Arsenal never lost
In 2003–04 Arsenal won the title without losing a single game: 26 wins, 12 draws, 38 matches. The side, with Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira and Dennis Bergkamp, were nicknamed the Invincibles. They clinched the title at White Hart Lane, rivals Tottenham's ground. Chelsea changed the landscape the following year. After Roman Abramovich bought the club in 2003 and José Mourinho arrived, they won 2004–05 with 95 points and conceded just 15 goals in 38 games, a record that still stands. At the other end, Derby County's 2007–08 side collected only 11 points, the lowest total of any Premier League side.
Ninety-three minutes and twenty seconds
On 13 May 2012, Manchester City needed to beat Queens Park Rangers to win their first league title in 44 years. Trailing 2-1 as the clock ran past 90 minutes, they scored twice in stoppage time. Edin Džeko equalised, then Sergio Agüero struck at 93:20 to win it 3-2 and the title on goal difference, ahead of neighbours United. Martin Tyler's commentary became part of the soundtrack of English football. City, under Pep Guardiola from 2016, later became a machine. They hit 100 points in 2017–18 and won four titles in a row from 2020–21 to 2023–24, a first in English top-flight history.
Five thousand to one
The greatest upset of all came in 2015–16. Leicester City had narrowly avoided relegation the season before. Bookmakers offered 5,000-1 on them winning the title, and Claudio Ranieri's team did it, built on Jamie Vardy's goals, Riyad Mahrez's flair and N'Golo Kanté's tireless midfield running. Vardy scored in 11 successive league games, a Premier League record. Leicester clinched the title on 2 May 2016, while watching Tottenham's draw at Chelsea together at Vardy's house. By 2020, Liverpool's first Premier League title under Jürgen Klopp made seven different champions in the league's history.
Records, boots and traditions
Alan Shearer's 260 goals remain the benchmark, with Harry Kane the nearest challenger in recent years. Mohamed Salah scored 32 in 2017–18, the best in a 38-game season until Erling Haaland smashed it with 36 in 2022–23. The league has its own rhythm: the Golden Boot, the Golden Glove, Saturday 3pm kick-offs that cannot be shown live on UK TV, and the anthem that plays as teams walk out. Overseas managers and players now dominate, and the league is watched around the world, a long way from the 22 clubs that broke away in 1992.
Notable people
- Brian Deane
- Sir Alex Ferguson
- Eric Cantona
- Arsène Wenger
- Thierry Henry
- José Mourinho
- Roman Abramovich
- Sergio Agüero
- Pep Guardiola
- Claudio Ranieri
- Jamie Vardy
- Alan Shearer
- Erling Haaland
- Mohamed Salah
- Jürgen Klopp
- Kenny Dalglish
- Martin Tyler