Premier League
Premier League guide: All you need to know
The Premier League is the highest level of elite professional football in England and is the top tier in the national football league system, with the winners of the Premier League title adopting the status of champions of England.
The first Premier League season was in 1992 following the decision of the first division sides to break away from the remaining leagues in the Football League and set up a separate brand for the top tier of English football.
The Premier League is played over a nine-month season every year and the 20 teams in the league play each other once home and away with the match total for each side coming to 38 league games in a season.
When does the Premier League start?
The Premier League is played over a nine-month season. This year, the Premier League 23/24 campaign will start on Friday 11th August as champions Manchester City take on newly-promoted Burnley at Turf Moor.
When does the Premier League end?
The end date of the 2023/24 Premier League season is Sunday 19th May, when one side will be crowned the champion of England and three sides will be relegated to the Championship, England’s second tier.
The final game of the Premier League football season sees all teams play eachother at 16:00 BST across the country.
When is the Premier League Transfer Window?
Every season there are two internationally recognised transfer windows, which are held simultaneously by all the top leagues in the world to allow players to move to and from clubs.
They take place from June/July to September and then again in January.
Transfers are topics of hot speculation and can even be bet on with William Hill.
Check out the latest odds here.
How does the Premier League work?
The Premier League has an organised point system with the club that amasses the most points over the 38-game season, being crowned the champion. The rest of the league positions are also determined by points tally. However, if teams have an equal number of points, their league position is determined by goal difference. If the goal difference is the same between sides, the club with the most goals scored will claim the higher position.
The four teams with the most points are entered into the Champions League providing other conditions are met, and the bottom three teams are relegated to the Championship.
Find out about all the previous Premier League champions here.
Who can take part in the Premier League?
The Premier League is made up of the top 20 teams in the country, the line-up of which is decided by the Football League system.
The top two teams from a season in the Championship, the second tier in English football, are automatically promoted to the Premier League for the next season with the third to sixth-place teams fighting it out via a playoff system, the winner of which joins the other two and takes the third promotion spot.
The bottom three teams of the Premier League are relegated to the Championship where they will play the next season.
This process is repeated every season in the Premier League and Championship and across the rest of the Football League pyramid, determining which teams play in each of the four professional tiers and beyond.
Read more about the EFL Pyramid System here.
How fixtures are chosen
The Premier League fixtures for the season are compiled once the composition of each division has been decided at the end of the previous season. At this point, each side is put into a pairing grid which chooses the dates the sides that will play at their home ground.
A computer will then randomly decide which sides they will play on which date with the season split into two halves so that the same fixture cannot be played two weeks running.
How is the Premier League scored?
Three points are distributed to a team for a victory, one point for a draw and zero points are given for a loss.
How to win the Premier League
To win the Premier League, a team must achieve more points than any other side in the league throughout the 38-match season. This can be achieved through winning or drawing matches to amass points. Recent champions have won roughly 30 of their matches throughout the campaign.
If the top teams are drawn on points, the winner of the title will be determined by goal difference. If they are the same, the number of goals scored will be used to crown the winner. After this, a set of other tiebreakers can be used.
How is a team relegated or promoted in the Premier League?
Gaining promotion to the Premier League is achieved by either winning or finishing second in the Championship or winning the third to sixth-placed playoff.
The three teams that achieve one of these will be promoted.
Relegation to the Championship is the fate of the three teams that finish in the bottom three places in the league.
A draw on points is settled via goal difference tally and if that is the same between teams, the side with the higher number of goals scored will finish in the higher league position.
What is the Premier League prize money?
The Premier League is renowned as being the richest and most lucrative league in world football with even the relegated teams receiving prize money upwards of £100m throughout the 2022/23 Premier League schedule.
The prize money awarded to the Premier League teams is split up and determined by position, with teams finishing in higher places receiving more money than those below them.
Combined with the income from TV rights, league victors Manchester City netted a whopping £170 million from their impressive season while runners-up Arsenal claimed roughly £167 million.
Southampton, Leicester and Leeds took home £128m, £130m and £132m respectively, making the sides some of the more well-off in the Championship in 2023/24.
Latest Premier League betting odds at William Hill
You can also find out about the top strikers and defenders in the Premier League below:
