The English Premier League is considered by many as the most exciting football league in the world. It’s certainly the most popular when it comes to television ratings and revenue worldwide.
This despite the Spanish La Liga dominating both the UEFA Champions League and Europa League over the past three seasons and storming away in the UEFA Coefficient member rankings.
Between them, Barcelona and Real Madrid have won nine of the last 19 Champions League finals, and Juventus are the only non-Spanish side to appear in one of the last three.
England’s top flight itself needs to be wary of the Italian Serie A trying to grab back their fourth Champions League spot over the next couple of seasons. Chelsea are the only Premier League side to have lifted the famous trophy over the past eight years.
Will Manchester City, Arsenal or Leicester City bring home the trophy come the end of this season? Paddy Power’s football odds don’t give either of the English trio much chance with Pep Guardiola’s side the shortest price coming in at 12/1.
Last season’s runners-up Atlético Madrid can be found at 8/1 despite a slow start to their domestic season. In comparison, Arsenal are 14/1. Defending champions Real Madrid are only third favourites with the Irish bookmaker, at 5/1, whilst Bayern Munich, who also finished runners-up in their group, come in at 7/2. Despite trailing Madrid by six points in La Liga, Barcelona are once again the bookmakers’ favourites, at 10/3.
The popularity of the Champions League has grown and grown over the past two decades or so, just like football in general, coinciding with the inauguration of the Premier League back in 1992.
Crowds, television viewers and revenues have increased to ridiculous levels over the past 25 years and the below graphic compares Europe’s big five leagues – Spain, Germany, England, Italy and France.
Bournemouth became the 47th team to play in the Premier League following their surprise promotion back in 2015. Of these five leagues, only Italy can boast more sides to play in their top flight over the past 25 seasons after Crotone made their debut back in August.
Leicester City were the sixth different side to lift the Premier League crown, following Manchester United, Blackburn Rovers, Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City. That’s one more side than either Spain or Italy have seen during the same run. However, France’s Ligue 1 has thrown up 10 different winners during that time… before Paris Saint-Germain’s heavy investment has helped them to win the top flight for the past four seasons.
Manchester United have won the Premier League 13 times in all, over the 24 seasons. Only Bayern Munich have won their domestic league on more occasions since 1992 among the big five leagues (14). Barcelona are just behind with a dozen, whilst Juventus have 10 and Lyon lead the way in France with seven.
There’s lots of exciting information on the below graphic:
