English Premier League (EPL) the Top Football League in Europe
English Premier League was founded in 1992 and will complete its 17th seasons as, of the end of the 2008–09 seasons. Seasons run from August to May. All teams play 38 games each. The league held its first season in 1992–93. Initially there were 22 teams in the league, however it was the intention since the inception to cut that back to 20 and as of now that is how many there are. The first ever Premier League goal was scored by Brian Deane of Sheffield United in a 2–1 win against Manchester United. The English Premier League is without a doubt, the most lucrative football league in the world. The Premier League clubs are among the richest in the world. The Premier League is operated as a corporation and is owned by the 20 member clubs. The premier League is an English professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the English football league system, it is the country’s primary football competition. The English Premier League has become the world’s most watched sporting league. The English Premier League currently has some of the world’s most famous players and oldest clubs. According to the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS), the English Premier League is the top football league in the world for the second consecutive year.
Three of the final four teams in the Champions League semi-finals are from the EPL, and it has been like that the last 3 years. EPL is the strongest and most sought after club league in the world. The English top flight is a massive worldwide product that is ever increasingly difficult to quantify. 42 clubs have graced the top flight since the breakout of the Premier League of which only 11 of the 42 have managed a top 4 finish in 16 years. 4 clubs have won the title in the 16 seasons of competition. 15 of the 16 titles have been won by Manchester United, Arsenal, and Chelsea. The present champion of this league is Manchester United. They won the ninth title in 2006-07. No team has ever won the title for this number of times. The top English clubs are now massive sports franchises that dominate the global game. Top players are lured to the Premier league by riches that no other league can rival. Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, and Liverpool have consistently occupied the top four positions with complete domination in four of the past five seasons with the sides taking the top places on 19 out of 20 opportunities. Each of the clubs in the league is considered to be a part owner in the league. The league continues to grow and become a force in the world of football. The top four team’s qualified in the Premiership graduated and now play in UEFA Championship League
The 2008/09 season has given us one of the best and closest starts to a season in many years. Liverpool has begun to prove them as a consistent force. Last weekend’s 2-1 win to Arsenal has well and truly brought them back into calculations, even at this early stage in the Premier League season. With Manchester United expected to win their game in hand, it brings the big 4 that much closer together.
As of 2008, it was ranked as the highest grossing league with La Liga, Spain and Serie A, Italy trailing behind. The Premier League will continue to dominate world football for years to come. Through hard work and effort the Premier League was able to rise to the top. England’s most improved club Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, and Liverpool. the English Premier League Tickets is considered as the planet’s most popular and most-viewed professional football league, and is seen across the globe by an estimated half a billion people. There are many websites those sell Premier League tickets.
The author providing information about english premier league is a football fan and provides latest information regarding football matches, football tickets, football travel packages all over the world. For more information on English Premier League Tickets visit http://www.worldfootballtravel.com/
UEFA Europa League – How It Makes A Difference
For the new season, the UEFA Cup is now known as the UEFA Europa League. It is the second competition organized by ruling European football authorities in terms of glamour and importance, after the Champions League. However, many critics consider it to be very far behind in the two areas and are cynical of the change in name and format of the tournament by the organizers. They believe that the rebranding will not amount to anything in the end and that interest by fans, media and the clubs will continue to be lukewarm at best.
They could not be more wrong if one were to consider a few factors that accompany the change. The name as UEFA Europa League already makes a subliminal difference in terms of branding appeal and power. It gives a better idea of what the competition is about. Calling it a league gives it a considerably catchier ring than a tournament that is simply named a Cup for UEFA.
In terms of the number of clubs taking part in the whole event, there is also an improvement over previous editions. There will be over 190 clubs who would have been in the tournament at one stage or another at the end of it. There are some who have said that the number is too excessive. But they have failed to recognize the fact that giving more teams a taste of European action can only help to promote greater participation in the future. It will help to raise the profile of the Europa League with other clubs who might normally not even have a chance of playing against other quality European football teams.
A few quarters have also criticized the allowance of teams eliminated from the Champions League to join the UEFA Europa League at different stages. According to these observers, they claim that such moves demean the competition as a whole and is the main reason why many view it as a second rate tournament, one that is full of unwanted clubs. It might have a hint of that, but the reality is that these clubs do add to the overall quality of the event. Teams that have previously qualified for the Champions League were able to do so because of their quality. From past history, the likes of AC Milan, Arsenal, Chelsea and even Real Madrid could now grace the competition. Their presence would boost interest and coverage of the Europa League at one point or another.
Therefore, to say that the Europa League will be no different from its predecessor the UEFA Cup would be very wrong. While some of the changes might seem contradictory to claims by UEFA President Michel Platini of making the competition stronger, on closer inspection, they do fulfill such an ambition. The proof of the pudding is in the eating, as they say. The best way to find out will be when the season concludes when the final will be held in May 2010.
Richard Ramsay is a correspondent for many top football media. Find out more about the UEFA Europa League live at Richard’s site and how the tournament is different from the Champions League.
Uefa Champions Quarter Finals
As the spring approaches we get closer to the final knock out round of the UEFA Champions League. The first two teams of each group will move into the quarter finals scheduled from April 1st to the 9th. From the first last round which recently finished on March 5th the following are the two teams with the higher points : from Group A Porto(11) and Liverpool (10), Group B Chelsea (12) and Schalke (8), Group C Real Madrid and Olympiacos both with 11 points, Group D Milan (13) and Celtic (9), Group E Barcelona (14) and Lyon (10), Group F Man. United (16) and Roma (11), Group G Internazionale (15) and Fenerbahçe (11), and Group H Sevilla (15) and Arsenal (13).
The semi finals will take place from April 22nd to the 30th and the final will be staged in Moscow on May 21st, 2008. Defending champion AC Milan accumulated a total of 13 points but suffered a 2-0 defeat by the Arsenal club in one of the English group sharpest performances ever witness. Also, Manchester’s United victory over the French group Lyon led to more encouraging comments towards the “Red Devil” – Cristiano Ronaldo who scored the winning goal at the 30th minute.
The Catalan Club – the Barça had a strong opponent to overcome the Celtic in a last clash at the Nou Camp. Both groups had a goal and worked hard to stay alive in the competition. The display of high-quality talent shown by the players was inspiring; Barça’s Messi, Eto’o, and Ronaldihno were power houses which gave excellent results besides the entry to a new stage in the competition.
Let’s not forget the crucial game between all-time favourite nine-time champion Real Madrid and the AS Roma; basically a shocker match with a final score of 2-1 in favour of the Italians. Real had its issues before the game as coach Bern Schuster reported he could not count on Dutman Arjen Robben due to a recent injury and the big question mark of the dynamic Dutch duo Sneijder and Nistelrooy; this last one reported not well fit to play.
Lately, the Italian team has kept a good rhythm in the Italian Serie A as they continue to reduce the point gap from the rest of the teams and aside have reached the final knock out round in the Champions League for a second consecutive year.
The Italian Fabio Canavaro who currently plays for the Spaniard Merengue club stated this would had been the missing piece he has been searching for. He’s won several Cups but not the main prize. FIFA’s one time European and World Player of the Year awards winner admitted his heart is home but his thoughts are with his current club and he will do whatever it takes to get to Moscow in May.
Claudia Beckford provides outstanding UEFA Champions League content as well as information in the sports betting industry.
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League Leaders Manchester United on Top With Another Win
The teams are equally strong and Liverpool is constantly building pace towards them so they don’t want to lose in the middle of nowhere and advised to hold their nerve. Manchester united is boosting towards premiership title and with a number of record under their name. The most prominent is goal keeper Edwin van der SAR set new record of without conceding goal from 1212 minutes. The outstanding performance by goal keeper who is a prominent figure of club since he joined Manchester united and holds regular position in final eleven with great courage and nerve.
Manchester united has reputation of wining in champions’ league with record of 12 home match victories consecutively and most FA cup titles. Manchester united were first English club who won champions league by beating Benefica. It is richest club among world’s most famous club in list and only club in history of soccer which won a treble in season which means they won premiership title and FA cup title and third most prominent and famous European Champions league title during one season.
Manchester united player Cristiano Ronaldo is awarded FIFA player of the year award due to his magnificent performance and he played vital role in victory. The club is going to make another record which is a title won by a club and that is number up to 18. Manchester united is on top with 56 point in 24 games and 2 points difference from second number Liverpool with a game in hand which is still to play. Sir Alex Ferguson is focus and determine as he always handle his club with same reputation and 17 win with 75 % success rate is awesome.
The tougher companion Chelsea are facing hard time and having 7 point behind and a game in Manchester hand possibly made it 10 point lead over board when they are going to play against Fulham on 18th of this month and you should get actions from live soccer scores websites. Do not miss any of exciting Manchester united matches for rest of season and soccer results are available which show you accurate soccer news.
Manchester united is waiting for their important matches of FA challenge cup into fifth round with derby and couple of league matches before carling cup final with Tottenham Hotspur. The red devils are back into action soon in couple of week with Inter Milan in hot European championships league second round. Jose Mourinho ex-Chelsea manager is up front with Inter Milan to face Manchester united and Italian giants are considered dangerous this season with Jose Mourinho and they are leading in Italian Serie A. with their current record Manchester is well deserve on track to win both competition and considered favorite to win premier league. The most prominent and desired match in European champions league is Manchester united VS inter Milan on 24th February.
Enjoy the action of these two teams on with updated soccer livescore information on ScoresPro.com.
Peri Witny is an author of Sports articles.
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New Rule on Football Champions League
When the 6+5 rules was abandoned, English football fan may no longer worry about not being able to watch their favorite players as often as before. However, now they have to think about it again. UEFA has just enforced a new rule: every club must now have at least 8 home-grown players in the first squad of 25 players for the European competition. This new rule rose up a hot debate. The premier clubs are against this rule, claiming that this rule is causing difficulties in human resources allocation, restricting the opportunity of players and make football matches less attractive. However, there are still many positive comments around this topic.
Is the rule good for the development of English football clubs?
Mr. Rafael Benitez, Manager of Liverpool Club has criticized the new rule. He stated that the rule is “a mistake”. This is because this rule will take away the opportunities for the best players. Likewise, the new rule will displace foreign players from premier clubs and the transfer rate of football superstars will certainly plummet.
In addition, the rule will cause difficulties in human allocation to clubs while they are at the peak of the season. It is further believed that 25 players are not enough for a club to play at four leagues all at the same time.
However, not everyone is against this new rule. Managers and coaches of the smaller clubs stand for this rule. They do not have as many good players as the bigger ones and their finances are not strong enough to afford the services of foreign players or football superstars.
They believe that the rule will bring about more balance to the league and more equality among clubs, thus giving small clubs the opportunity to develop.
Is it necessary to develop young talents and national football?
One of the major reasons why UEFA developed this new rule is to stimulate the development of young players. It is believed to give extra incentive to clubs to invest in youth development.
As a result, the quality of training that will be given to young players will be muched improved because of this new rule. This is because young players will surely eye taking part in the national team in the future.
In addition, although the transfer rate for foreign players will be driven down, the transfer rate for young players will certainly rise. Thus, young players will be given more chances to prove themselves to the team.
Opponents of the new rule argue that if an English player is qualified for being at the first squad, he will make his way to it by himself. Moreover, most of the young players are not ready for the hard life of being in the first squad and this rule will have negative effect on them.
Will this rule make English football less attractive?
It will be, on a short term. The football matches may be less interesting as you can not see your idols as frequently in the football field as before. When foreign star players are replaced by anonymous domestic players, less people may watch the match.
In the long run however, as the players develop, followers will slowly get acquainted with them and together with the development of the player training system, the quality of English football will probably be improved.
There are much more debate around this topic. However, only time can tell how this new rule, once taken into effect, will affect the football leagues.
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Uefa Champions League – Real Madrid V Liverpool Preview, Feb 25 2009
First take a look on the performance of these clubs as they are currently in the second place in the domestic league. These both teams are also out of the domestic cup competitions and it is the best chance for either of these storied teams to take some silverware to their home this season. It is also an established fact that Rafa Benitez will performed best job for Liverpool and i think that it will be a juicy match for the football fanatics as it will bring striking Football live scores for them which they expect from their action heroes. Liverpool will try their best to get their inspirational captain and leader, Steven Gerrard back to the team for this game. Steven Gerrard has missed the match against Manchester city draw with 1-1 this weekend, a result that looking crippled their title expectations. They would use him as he could squander several chances of scoring for them and performed well in the overrunning situation in the midfield. He could prove healthy for the last match which might be a great boost for his squad. Results of this match can disclose many things that Liverpool needs to implement for the next match playing on 25 February. Liverpool fans are also expecting the participation of the Steven Gerrard in the team as they can be sickened by the alternative. Lucas Leiva, another Liverpool player is also a good start in midfield. Anyhow, Liverpool will be in strong position if their captain will be in team for the fight against Real Madrid. Real Madrid is also seen to be firing on all cylinders as of coming late. Last time, their excellent and forceful performance thrashed Real Betis with a lead of 6-2 this weekend and also defeated Sporting Gijon with 4-0 lead in the last week. Their striking performance in these matches will make them fit as strong opponents against Liverpool. Their striking forces are Klaas Jan Huntelaar, Raul and Gonzalo Higuaín who are famous to give nightmares to opposing defenders. While on the other hand, defensive foursome of Heinze, Cannavaro, Sergio Ramos and Pepe look gelling at the right time. It is also too bad that Huntelaar is not eligible to play. Team players really miss him but if Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder, Huntelaar’s countrymen, and Rafael Van der Vaart play well, it will fulfill the deficiency of this great player. Anyhow, there is still confusion as nobody can say that who will be the winner of the match. Both of these teams are strong side and they also need to get victory to advance for the next round. Do you also want to know that who will triumph in the fight of these two successful European clubs? Just wait for 25 February and clarify your confusion.
Peri Witny is an author of Sports News.
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Rangers v Sevilla ? Champions League 2009-2010 Matchday Two
With the bonus of a surprising point from their first match away to VfB Stuttgart safely in the bank Rangers now entertain the group favourites Sevilla on September 29th at Ibrox.
The Spanish side secured a 2-0 home victory over Unirea Urziceni on matchday one and now come to Ibrox confident of an away victory. With players such as strikers Luis Fabiano and Freddi Kanute in the team it will be a tall order for Rangers to keep a clean sheet however with the excellent Majid Bougherra and captain David Weir lining up opposite the strikers Walter Smith’s men must be confident of achieving such a result. Last weekend’s scoreless draw with Aberdeen meant that the Gers had recorded their third scoreless draw in the league in succession and missed the influential midfielder Steven Davis who is also a doubt for tomorrow nights match alongside Bosnian full back Sasa Papac who has a hamstring injury. Rangers will hope to have both back as they seek to push on from their promising draw in Germany in what promises to be an intriguing encounter.
For Rangers to get a positive result tomorrow night, and by that I mean a victory, then they must play at a high enough tempo to ensure that their more skilful opponents are denied the time on the ball that they would like to get therefore this means that Kenny Miller must start up front in preference to Kris Boyd even though the latter poses more of a goal threat. In central midfield a pairing of Kevin Thomson and Pedro Mendes will need to be at their best as they are likely to oppose Didier Zokora, a former Tottenham player, who is what could be best described as combative. On the right of midfield the industry of Steven Davis should be preferred to the attacking possibilities of Nacho Novo and making up the quartet on the left of midfield will be recent signing Jerome Rothen who looks to be the most likely to unlock the Sevilla defence as Europe should suit him more as there will probably be a bit more space for him to operate in.
Sitting in front of the back four in a spoiling role will be Lee McCulloch who performed admirably in the last outing in Germany. With Steven Whittaker appearing at right full back alongside Weir and Bougherra it will be left to see if Papac returns from injury to take up his usual left back slot, however if Papac is not fit then Steven Smith will replace him. With Allan McGregor continuing in goal this would be Ranger strongest eleven and one that it would be hoped that would be able to continue their positive start to this years campaign, however the strength of their opponents should be noted as well as their liking for Glasgow as a city as they won the 2007 UEFA cup at Hampden Park.
Countdown to UEFA Champion league draw is now a matter of hours
A cloud of anticipation is hovering in the city of Nylon, Switzerland where the draw of the first round knockout phase of the UEFA Champions league is scheduled to take place on Friday 18th December 2009. Another item in the agenda of the day is the draw of the UEFA Europa league round of 32 and 16.
As common with other UEFA draws in the past, club presidents and football managers have started arriving at the headquarters of UEFA ready to witness draw first hand.
The draw comprises 16 teams, which have been divided into two pots of eight each. The first pot contains the group winners while the other one contains the runners up. The group winners will enjoy the advantage of playing the second leg of the knock out matches at home.
Taking a keen look at the group standings, its quite evident that English and Spanish teams will not meet each other since all those teams in both countries topped their own respective groups.
Other rules to be observed indicate that teams that played each other in the group stage and teams from the same country cannot be drawn together. This means that football fans will anxiously wait to see which English or Spanish team may be drawn against an Italian or German team.
The following are the winner’s pot and runners-up pot in alphabetical order.
Group winner’s pot:
Arsenal
Barcelona
Bordeaux
Chelsea
Fiorentina
Manchester United
Real Madrid
Sevilla
Runners-up pot:
AC Milan
Bayern Munich
CSKA Moscow
Inter Milan
Lyon
Olympiacos
Porto
Stuttgart
Uefa Champions League – Atl
Atlético Madrid managed to stand out into the Champions League with another convincing triumph, the second in two games of the knockout stages, against the Marseille, to which the red-and-white team knocked down with goals of the Argentinean Sergio ‘Kun’ Agüero and Raúl Garcia.
It was a good return of the highest European tournament to the Vicente Calderón stadium, after more than eleven years and a half of absence; the Javier Aguirre squad was thrilled to feel they currently are, next to the Liverpool, one of the two favorite teams in Group D. At this moment, they can count two victories, five scored goals and only one against.
Although the Argentinean “Kun” Agüero is not to the one hundred per cent of the team, he is definitely a key player that can mark a difference at any moment. He had the chance to show this since the first instants of the game, in which with a genial action and perfect control of the ball after a precise pass of the defense of Maxi Rodriguez, Agüero managed to score the first strike of the game at minute four.
The Atlético did not only took advantage in the scoreboard at beginning of the game with the third goal of Aguero in two games in the Champions League group phase, they also had another very clear opportunity that could have turn the score 2-0 before the first fifteen minutes of play with another spectacular move from Agüero that was saved.
Marseilles started blocking the attacks in the center of the field and even Mathieu Valbuena, one of the most talented footballers in his team, appeared to discover a hole in the left band of the Atlético but he couldn’t score. A few minutes later, Mamadou Niang, who was not being marked, did not waste the first clear opportunity of Marseille to tie the game 1-1, in the 14th minute. Just then, the Atlético’s Raúl Garcia recovered the control of the game for his team and set the scoreboard 2-1 at the minute 22.
On the road towards the rest of the game, the red-and-white team did not suffer much in the midfield, since they had the Brazilian Paulo Assuncao, the Dutch John Heitinga already recovered of his knee injury after being out for three games, and the Czech Tomas Ujfalusi.
Before the end of the first half, a powerful shot of Niang disturbed the scoreboard of the Atlético, which faced the second half with the same attitude they had in the first one, without agitation in the defense, with intensity in the midfield and with ‘Kun’ Agüero at the attack.
In the last part of the game, the Atlético had two other chances to expand their score, the first one when Maxi Rodriguez’s black-heel passed just a few centimeters of the far post and the second was a shot from outside of the area of the French Sinama-Pongolle that was heroically saved by Marseille goalkeeper Steve Mandanda .
Marseille kept looking for more chances and made a few approaches to the goalkeeper Leo Franco area, but they weren’t able to scare enough the red-and-white squad; there were only a shot from Valbuena and another from Niang that ended up to be irrelevant for the scoreboard.
However, the Atlético did suffer a bit in the last couple of minutes of the game, when the most dangerous player of Marseille in the game, the Senegalese Mamadou Niang, tried without luck another strike at the 89th minute. The game finished with another deserved triumph of the red-and-white team, among the European elite.
About the Author
Stephen Lars has been a prominent writer on daily Champions League games, sports news and the online betting industry for many exceptional sport web sites. You may reprint this article in its full content, please note no modifications to it are accepted.
Looking forward to 2011
Thanks very much for all your support in 2010, we sold everything we had again for the third year in a row and look forward to helping you with tickets for the 2011 Final at Wembley.