Premiership League
In spite of fairly poor performances in international competition in recent years, the English Football League is still respected as one of the most competitive and entertaining football groupings in the world. Across three leagues, 172 clubs play each other around England and Wales with clubs experiencing the highs of promotion or the lows of demotion every season.
At the very apex of this tree is the now separate English Premiership League, consisting of a mere 20 clubs who play each other in this league twice each season in addition to various cup competitions. Originally, there were four leagues in the Football League, but the Premiership (then called the First Division) broke away in 1992.
There were a number of factors behind this difficult decision to break away but above them all was the commercial pressure caused by the rapidly growing revenue stream from TV rights that have taken this football league today into the exclusive ownership of the super rich.
Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich at Chelsea is typical of this new breed of Premiership League owner, causing concern at some clubs that they have now become the personal playthings of rich owners. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayad al Nahyan is another recent example at Manchester City, providing almost unlimited funds for buying new players.
It is impossible to predict accurately how all this will play out in future, but there is no doubt about the success and popularity of this league around the world. Mongolian shepherds are often able to list off the first team of Manchester United as readily as any Mancunian supporter as they watch the Premiership League matches in their yurts via satellite.
