- Also called:
- Premiership
- Date:
- 1992 - present
- Areas Of Involvement:
- football
- professionalism
- Related People:
- Thierry Henry
Premier League
What is the Premier League?
When will the 2026–27 Premier League season start?
How many clubs play in the Premier League?
Has anyone scored 100 points or more in a Premier League season?
Why was the Premier League formed?
What is a “transfer window” in football?
What happens to the top and bottom teams in the Premier League?
News •
The Premier League is an English professional football (soccer) league established in 1992. The league, which comprises 20 clubs, superseded the first division of the English Football League (EFL) as the top level of football in England.
Origin
During the 1980s English football clubs were struggling, and the EFL was in crisis, dealing with aging and unsafe stadiums, fan hooliganism, and economic stagnation. In 1990 Arsenal, Everton, Liverpool FC, Manchester United, and Tottenham Hotspur—five of the biggest teams in English football at the time—suggested breaking away from the Football League First Division (then the EFL’s top tier) to attract larger audiences and talented foreign players. The Premier League was formed by the first-division clubs following the 1991–92 season. The new league signed lucrative broadcast and sponsorship deals, began attracting many of the world’s top players and managers, and used the larger revenue generated to improve the comfort and safety of stadiums. In 1998 Scotland established its own premier league.
Format
During a Premier League season that starts in August each year and lasts until May, each club plays one home and one away match with every other team in the league. A match victory gives the winning team three points in the standings, while a draw results in one point for each club. The league has no postseason tournament; the team with the most points at the end of the season is the Premier League champion. The top four point-scoring teams each year qualify for the next season’s Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Champions League tournament, which pits the most successful domestic teams in European football against each other for the annual title of best European club. Meanwhile, the bottom three clubs of the Premier League are relegated (dropped) to the EFL, and the top three finishers of first-division (EFL Championship) teams of the EFL are promoted to the Premier League. The Premier League champions for each season are listed in the table below.
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| season | champion | winning manager/head coach | Golden Boot winner(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| *The 1992–93, 1993–94, and 1994–95 campaigns were 42-match seasons. | |||
| Source: sportstar.thehindu.com | |||
| 1992–93 | Manchester United | Alex Ferguson | Teddy Sheringham (Nottingham Forest/Tottenham Hotspur), 22* goals |
| 1993–94 | Manchester United | Alex Ferguson | Andy Cole (Newcastle United), 34* goals |
| 1994–95 | Blackburn Rovers | Kenny Dalglish | Alan Shearer (Blackburn Rovers), 34* goals |
| 1995–96 | Manchester United | Alex Ferguson | Alan Shearer (Blackburn Rovers), 31 goals |
| 1996–97 | Manchester United | Alex Ferguson | Alan Shearer (Newcastle United), 25 goals |
| 1997–98 | Arsenal | Arsène Wenger | Dion Dublin (Coventry City), Michael Owen (Liverpool FC), Chris Sutton (Blackburn Rovers), 18 goals each |
| 1998–99 | Manchester United | Alex Ferguson | Michael Owen (Liverpool FC), Dwight Yorke (Manchester United), Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (Leeds United), 18 goals each |
| 1999–2000 | Manchester United | Alex Ferguson | Kevin Phillips (Sunderland), 30 goals |
| 2000–01 | Manchester United | Alex Ferguson | Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (Chelsea), 23 goals |
| 2001–02 | Arsenal | Arsène Wenger | Thierry Henry (Arsenal), 24 goals |
| 2002–03 | Manchester United | Alex Ferguson | Ruud van Nistelrooy (Manchester United), 25 goals |
| 2003–04 | Arsenal | Arsène Wenger | Thierry Henry (Arsenal), 30 goals |
| 2004–05 | Chelsea | José Mourinho | Thierry Henry (Arsenal), 25 goals |
| 2005–06 | Chelsea | José Mourinho | Thierry Henry (Arsenal), 27 goals |
| 2006–07 | Manchester United | Alex Ferguson | Didier Drogba (Chelsea), 20 goals |
| 2007–08 | Manchester United | Alex Ferguson | Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United), 31 goals |
| 2008–09 | Manchester United | Alex Ferguson | Nicolas Anelka (Chelsea), 19 goals |
| 2009–10 | Chelsea | Carlo Ancelotti | Didier Drogba (Chelsea), 29 goals |
| 2010–11 | Manchester United | Alex Ferguson | Carlos Tévez (Manchester City), Dimitar Berbatov (Manchester United), 20 goals each |
| 2011–12 | Manchester City | Roberto Mancini | Robin van Persie (Arsenal), 30 goals |
| 2012–13 | Manchester United | Alex Ferguson | Robin van Persie (Manchester United), 26 goals |
| 2013–14 | Manchester City | Manuel Pellegrini | Luis Suárez (Liverpool FC), 31 goals |
| 2014–15 | Chelsea | José Mourinho | Sergio Agüero (Manchester City), 26 goals |
| 2015–16 | Leicester City | Claudio Ranieri | Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur), 25 goals |
| 2016–17 | Chelsea | Antonio Conte | Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur), 29 goals |
| 2017–18 | Manchester City | Pep Guardiola | Mohamed Salah (Liverpool FC), 32 goals |
| 2018–19 | Manchester City | Pep Guardiola | Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal), Sadio Mané (Liverpool FC), Mohamed Salah (Liverpool FC), 22 goals each |
| 2019–20 | Liverpool FC | Jürgen Klopp | Jamie Vardy (Leicester City), 23 goals |
| 2020–21 | Manchester City | Pep Guardiola | Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur), 23 goals |
| 2021–22 | Manchester City | Pep Guardiola | Mohamed Salah (Liverpool FC), Son Heung-Min (Tottenham Hotspur), 23 goals each |
| 2022–23 | Manchester City | Pep Guardiola | Erling Haaland (Manchester City), 36 goals |
| 2023–24 | Manchester City | Pep Guardiola | Erling Haaland (Manchester City), 27 goals |
| 2024–25 | Liverpool FC | Arne Slot | Mohamed Salah (Liverpool FC), 29 goals |
| 2025–26 | Arsenal | Mikel Arteta | Erling Haaland (Manchester City), 27 goals |
Transfers
Player transfer deals between clubs have become a major source of revenue for teams in the league. Unlike trades in American sports, where players are essentially exchanged between teams and money rarely changes hands, Premier League transfers almost always involve a financial transaction between two clubs to change a player’s team affiliation. A transfer cannot proceed without a player consenting to terminate the current contract and sign a new one with a different team. From the inception of the Premier League to the 2001–02 season, teams could reach player transfer agreements from the start of each season in August until March 31. In 2002 the league accepted UEFA’s decision to limit the “transfer window” (period during which player transfers were allowed) from the 2002–03 season onward. Under this system eligible transfer deals can be made only during the summer window, usually from the end of a playing season in May until the end of August, and the winter window, which lasts through the calendar month of January. The formation of the Premier League led to a rise in transfer fees. A list of the most expensive transactions from each season, as well as the most expensive transactions in the league’s history, can be found in the tables below. The figures provided comprise the initial fees paid for the players; potential add-ons and bonuses have not been included.
| season | player (nationality) | transfer | reported fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| *Was on loan to Manchester United at the time of the deal. | |||
| 1992–93 | Alan Shearer (England) | Southampton to Blackburn Rovers | £3.6 million ($6.9 million) |
| 1993–94 | Roy Keane (Republic of Ireland) | Nottingham Forest to Manchester United | £3.8 million ($5.6 million) |
| 1994–95 | Andy Cole (England) | Newcastle United to Manchester United | £7 million ($11 million) |
| 1995–96 | Stan Collymore (England) | Nottingham Forest to Liverpool FC | £8.5 million ($13.6 million) |
| 1996–97 | Alan Shearer (England) | Blackburn Rovers to Newcastle United | £15 million ($23.4 million) |
| 1997–98 | Stan Collymore (England) | Liverpool FC to Aston Villa | £7 million ($11.4 million) |
| 1998–99 | Dwight Yorke (Trinidad and Tobago) | Aston Villa to Manchester United | £12.6 million ($20.5 million) |
| 1999–2000 | Emile Heskey (England) | Leicester City to Liverpool FC | £11 million ($17.4 million) |
| 2000–01 | Rio Ferdinand (England) | West Ham United to Leeds United | £18 million ($25.6 million) |
| 2001–02 | Juan Sebastián Verón (Argentina) | Lazio to Manchester United | £28.1 million ($39.6 million) |
| 2002–03 | Rio Ferdinand (England) | Leeds United to Manchester United | £29.1 million ($45.9 million) |
| 2003–04 | Damien Duff (Republic of Ireland) | Blackburn Rovers to Chelsea | £17 million ($27 million) |
| 2004–05 | Didier Drogba (Côte d’Ivoire) | Marseille to Chelsea | £24 million ($44.9 million) |
| 2005–06 | Michael Essien (Ghana) | Lyon to Chelsea | £24.4 million ($43.8 million) |
| 2006–07 | Andriy Shevchenko (Ukraine) | AC Milan to Chelsea | £30.8 million ($57.7 million) |
| 2007–08 | Fernando Torres (Spain) | Atlético Madrid to Liverpool FC | £20.3 million ($40.9 million) |
| 2008–09 | Robinho (Brazil) | Real Madrid to Manchester City | £32.5 million ($58.7 million) |
| 2009–10 | Carlos Tévez (Argentina) | West Ham United [Manchester United]* to Manchester City | £25.5 million ($41.6 million) |
| 2010–11 | Fernando Torres (Spain) | Liverpool FC to Chelsea | £50 million ($79.2 million) |
| 2011–12 | Sergio Agüero (Argentina) | Atlético Madrid to Manchester City | £35 million ($57.3 million) |
| 2012–13 | Eden Hazard (Belgium) | Lille to Chelsea | £32 million ($49.8 million) |
| 2013–14 | Mesut Özil (Germany) | Real Madrid to Arsenal | £42.5 million ($67.5 million) |
| 2014–15 | Ángel Di María (Argentina) | Real Madrid to Manchester United | £59.7 million ($99.7 million) |
| 2015–16 | Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium) | VfL Wolfsburg to Manchester City | £54.5 million ($83.9 million) |
| 2016–17 | Paul Pogba (France) | Juventus to Manchester United | £89.3 million ($116.2 million) |
| 2017–18 | Romelu Lukaku (Belgium, July 2017) and Virgil van Dijk (Netherlands, January 2018) | Everton to Manchester United (Lukaku); Southampton to Liverpool FC (van Dijk) | £75 million ($97.5 million, Lukaku); £75 million ($100.3 million, van Dijk) |
| 2018–19 | Kepa Arrizabalaga (Spain) | Athletic Bilbao to Chelsea | £71.6 million ($92.2 million) |
| 2019–20 | Harry Maguire (England) | Leicester City to Manchester United | £80 million ($97 million) |
| 2020–21 | Kai Havertz (Germany) | Bayer 04 Leverkusen to Chelsea | £62 million ($82.3 million) |
| 2021–22 | Jack Grealish (England) | Aston Villa to Manchester City | £100 million ($138 million) |
| 2022–23 | Enzo Fernández (Argentina) | Benfica to Chelsea | £106.8 million ($130.7 million) |
| 2023–24 | Declan Rice (England, July 2023) and Moisés Caicedo (Ecuador, August 2023) | West Ham United to Arsenal (Rice); Brighton & Hove Albion to Chelsea (Caicedo) | £100 million ($131.1 million, Rice); £100 million ($126.9 million, Caicedo) |
| 2024–25 | Omar Marmoush (Egypt) | Eintracht Frankfurt to Manchester City | £59 million ($72.8 million) |
| 2025–26 | Alexander Isak (Sweden) | Newcastle United to Liverpool FC | £125 million ($168.7 million) |
| season (transfer window) | player (nationality) | transfer | reported fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026–27 (summer) | Enzo Fernández (Argentina) | Chelsea FC to Manchester City | £125 million ($169.3 million) |
| 2025–26 (summer) | Alexander Isak (Sweden) | Newcastle United to Liverpool FC | £125 million ($168.7 million) |
| 2026–27 (summer) | Morgan Rogers (England) | Aston Villa to Chelsea | £117 million ($155.1 million) |
| 2026–27 (summer) | Elliot Anderson (England) | Nottingham Forest to Manchester City | £116 million ($154.2 million) |
| 2022–23 (winter) | Enzo Fernández (Argentina) | Benfica to Chelsea | £106.8 million ($130.7 million) |
| 2026–27 (summer) | Bradley Barcola (France) | Paris Saint-Germain FC to Liverpool FC | £106 million ($144 million) |
| 2023–24 (summer) | Declan Rice (England) | West Ham United to Arsenal | £100 million ($131.1 million) |
| 2023–24 (summer) | Moisés Caicedo (Ecuador) | Brighton & Hove Albion to Chelsea | £100 million ($126.9 million) |
| 2025–26 (summer) | Florian Wirtz (Germany) | Bayer 04 Leverkusen to Liverpool FC | £100 million ($134.3 million) |
| 2021–22 (summer) | Jack Grealish (England) | Aston Villa to Manchester City | £100 million ($138 million) |
| 2021–22 (summer) | Romelu Lukaku (Belgium) | Inter Milan to Chelsea | £97.5 million ($134.5 million) |
| 2026–27 (summer) | Sandro Tonali (Italy) | Newcastle United to Tottenham Hotspur | £92.5 million ($123.4 million) |
| 2016–17 (summer) | Paul Pogba (France) | Juventus to Manchester United | £89.3 million ($116.2 million) |
| 2026–27 (summer) | Mateus Fernandes (Portugal) | West Ham United to Tottenham Hotspur | £85 million ($114 million) |
| 2022–23 (summer) | Antony (Brazil) | Ajax to Manchester United | £82 million ($95.4 million) |
| 2019–20 (summer) | Harry Maguire (England) | Leicester City to Manchester United | £80 million ($97 million) |
| 2023–24 (summer) | Joško Gvardiol (Croatia) | RB Leipzig to Manchester City | £77 million ($98.5 million) |
| 2026–27 (summer) | Bruno Guimarães (Brazil) | Newcastle United to Arsenal | £75 million ($101.2 million) |
| 2017–18 (winter) | Virgil van Dijk (Netherlands) | Southampton to Liverpool FC | £75 million ($100.3 million) |
| 2017–18 (summer) | Romelu Lukaku (Belgium) | Everton to Manchester United | £75 million ($97.5 million) |
| 2021–22 (summer) | Jadon Sancho (England) | Borussia Dortmund to Manchester United | £73 million ($100.3 million) |
| 2019–20 (summer) | Nicolas Pépé (Côte d’Ivoire) | Lille to Arsenal | £72 million ($87.6 million) |