60 Fun Facts About Premier League

In which year did First Division clubs break from the Football League to found the FA Premier League?

The 22 clubs resigned from the Football League en masse on 27 May and the first season kicked off that August.

Which broadcaster won the first Premier League live rights with a £304 million, five-year bid?

Greg Dyke of LWT had helped create the league, but ITV lost the bidding war and the BBC settled for Match of the Day highlights.

Who scored the very first Premier League goal, on 15 August 1992?

His header for Sheffield United came in a 2-1 win over Manchester United, who then went on to win that inaugural title anyway.

How many clubs played in the inaugural 1992-93 Premier League season?

The division was cut to 20 for 1995-96 by relegating four and promoting two.

Which of these clubs has NOT played in every Premier League season since 1992?

Only six ever-presents remain: Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham.

Which lager brand was the league's first title sponsor, from 1993 to 2001?

The first season had no sponsor at all; Barclaycard and then Barclays followed until 2016, when the league went sponsor-free on purpose.

Who is the Premier League's all-time record goalscorer, with 260 goals?

He is also the only player to score 100 Premier League goals for two different clubs, Blackburn and Newcastle.

What world-record fee took the league's future record scorer from Blackburn to Newcastle in 1996?

He turned down Manchester United to sign for Kevin Keegan's side, and won a third straight Golden Boot in his first season there.

Which club won the Premier League in 1994-95, the only title in its history?

Local steel magnate Jack Walker bankrolled the side and installed Kenny Dalglish as manager; four years later they were relegated.

Which manager, appointed by Jack Walker in 1991, led Blackburn Rovers to the 1994-95 title?

He then moved upstairs to Director of Football and handed the team to his assistant, Ray Harford.

At what pre-season odds did bookmakers price Leicester City to win the 2015-16 Premier League?

They were confirmed champions on 2 May 2016 when Tottenham could only draw at Chelsea, the first top-flight title in the club's history.

Jamie Vardy set which Premier League record during Leicester's title-winning season?

He scored in 11 straight games between August and November 2015; Ruud van Nistelrooy had held the record at 10.

Which club was Jamie Vardy playing for before Leicester paid a non-League record £1 million for him in 2012?

Released by Sheffield Wednesday at 16, he once earned £120 a week at Stocksbridge while working in a factory making medical splints.

Arsenal's 2003-04 'Invincibles' went the whole league season unbeaten. What was their record?

The Premier League struck them a golden replica trophy, and the unbeaten run eventually stretched to 49 games.

How many league games did Arsenal's record unbeaten run stretch to before it ended in October 2004?

It ended at Old Trafford in the ill-tempered 'Battle of the Buffet', where a young Wayne Rooney won a disputed penalty.

Which manager's side became the first to reach 100 points in a Premier League season, in 2017-18?

They also set records for wins (32), goals (106) and goal difference (+79) that year, and won the title by 19 points.

Which club's 11 points in 2007-08 is the fewest ever in a 38-game Premier League season?

They won once all season, equalling a 108-year-old Football League record set by Loughborough, and were relegated in March.

Who holds the Premier League appearance record, having played every season since 2002-03?

He debuted for Leeds as a 16-year-old in November 2002 and also holds the record for most appearances as a substitute.

How many goals did Erling Haaland score in 2022–23, a 38-game Premier League record?

He also scored 52 in all competitions that season as City won the treble, beating Mohamed Salah's previous 38-game mark of 32.

Which player has scored the most Premier League hat-tricks, with 12?

Shearer holds the single-season record with five for Blackburn in 1995-96.

Sadio Mané scored the fastest Premier League hat-trick in May 2015. How long did it take him?

He was playing for Southampton; Robbie Fowler's 4-minute-33-second treble had stood as the record since 1994.

Which player scored in each of the first 21 Premier League seasons and holds the record for most assists?

He also collected a record 13 Premier League winner's medals, all with Manchester United.

Which goalkeeper holds the record for most Premier League clean sheets, with 202?

He kept 24 in the 2004-05 season alone as Chelsea conceded just 15 goals, another record.

Who scored the fastest goal in Premier League history, timed at 7.69 seconds?

He was playing for Southampton at Watford in April 2019, and beat Ledley King's 2000 record of 9.82 seconds.

Which manager holds the record for the most Premier League matches managed, with 828?

He passed Ferguson's 810 in his final season at Arsenal, ending a spell of 21 years and 224 days at one club.

Manchester United's 1998-99 side was the first English club to win which trio of trophies in one season?

The Champions League leg came via two stoppage-time goals against Bayern Munich in Barcelona.

The 2011-12 stoppage-time winner against QPR gave Manchester City their first title since which year?

United had already finished their game at Sunderland 1-0 up and thought they were champions; the title was decided on goal difference alone.

Sheikh Mansour bought Manchester City in 2008 through a group based in which emirate?

The FA Cup arrived in 2011 and the first Premier League title a year later; the club became the flagship of the City Football Group.

Manchester City's four in a row from 2020-21 to 2023-24 broke which English record?

No club had ever won four in a row in the English top flight; Huddersfield, Arsenal, Liverpool and United had all stalled at three.

Liverpool's 2019-20 title, its first of the Premier League era, ended a wait of how many years?

Klopp's side clinched it with seven games to spare, the earliest any Premier League title has been decided.

Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea in June 2003. How much did he pay Ken Bates?

Two seasons later José Mourinho delivered the club's first league title in 50 years with a then-record 95 points.

Eric Cantona's 'kung-fu' kick into the crowd in January 1995 came in an away match at which club?

He was banned for eight months and got a two-week prison sentence, reduced on appeal to 120 hours of community service.

David Beckham's famous goal from the halfway line on the opening day of 1996-97 came against which club?

He spotted keeper Neil Sullivan off his line with United already 2-0 up at Selhurst Park.

Who won the first ever Premier League Golden Boot in 1993?

He scored 22, one for Nottingham Forest before a move to Tottenham; the lowest winning tally ever is 18, shared three ways twice.

Only two players have won the Premier League Golden Boot four times. Who are they?

Henry's came in 2001-02 and three straight from 2003-04; Salah's fourth arrived in 2024-25 as Liverpool won the title.

Which player is the only one to record 20+ goals and 20+ assists in a single Premier League season?

He managed 24 goals and 20 assists in 2002-03, the season before the Invincibles campaign.

Who shares the Premier League red-card record of eight with Patrick Vieira and Duncan Ferguson?

He also holds the record for the most own goals, with 10.

Which player has the most yellow cards in Premier League history, with 123?

He also committed the most fouls (633) since reliable records began in 2006-07.

Which player has scored the most Premier League goals with headers, with 53?

Frank Lampard has the equivalent record for goals from outside the box, with 41.

Which player has scored against the most different Premier League clubs, 39 in total?

He spent 21 seasons in the division with West Ham, Chelsea and Manchester City and finished with 177 goals.

On Boxing Day of which year did Chelsea field the first Premier League XI with no Britons?

Arsenal followed in 2005 with a wholly foreign 16-man matchday squad.

Which Welsh club became the first non-English side to play in the Premier League, in 2011?

Their home game against Wigan on 20 August 2011 was the first Premier League match played outside England.

Which season saw VAR introduced to the Premier League?

It can only intervene on goals, penalties, straight red cards and mistaken identity.

What is the record Premier League winning margin, achieved by Manchester United (twice) and Liverpool?

Leicester matched it away from home with a 9-0 win at Southampton in 2019.

Which of these players has NOT scored five goals in a Premier League game, as Andy Cole did against Ipswich in 1995?

Alan Shearer is the other member of the club, with five against Sheffield Wednesday in 1999.

Wayne Rooney's first Premier League goal, against Arsenal in 2002, came five days before which birthday?

He beat David Seaman with a late curler, ended Arsenal's 30-match unbeaten run and briefly became the league's youngest ever scorer.

The Premier League record for goals at a single club, 213, was set by a striker with which team?

He left for Bayern Munich in 2023 as the most expensive signing in Bundesliga history.

The player who set the 38-game record of 32 goals in 2017-18 had joined Liverpool from which club?

He had earlier flopped at Chelsea after an £11 million move in 2014 and been loaned out to Italy.

Which two clubs had never been relegated from the Premier League as of the end of 2024-25?

Brighton came up in 2017 and Brentford in 2021, and neither had gone down by the end of the 2024-25 season.

Which manager has won the most Premier League Manager of the Month awards, with 27?

Jürgen Klopp holds the single-season record with five in 2019-20.

The highest attendance for a Premier League match, 83,222, was set in 2018 at which ground?

Tottenham were playing home games there while their new stadium was built; the game was a 1-0 win over Arsenal.

Who is the oldest player to appear in a Premier League match, at 43 years and 162 days in 1995?

The veteran goalkeeper turned out for Manchester City against QPR; Sheringham is the oldest scorer at 40.

What is the record number of Premier League winner's medals collected by a single player?

He played in all of Manchester United's title-winning seasons under Ferguson, from 1992-93 to 2012-13.

In which season did Leicester City become only the second former champion relegated from the Premier League?

Seven years after their 5000/1 title they finished 18th, though they bounced straight back as Championship winners.

Which club conceded a record 104 goals in the 2023-24 Premier League season?

They also managed just one clean sheet all season and lost to every other team at least once.

Which club holds the record of 20 consecutive Premier League defeats, spanning 2002-03 and 2005-06?

Both of those campaigns ended in relegation; Derby's 2007-08 side went 32 games without a win but did manage draws.

Chelsea's 15 goals conceded in 2004-05 is a Premier League record. Who was their manager that season?

They won the title with 95 points and Petr Čech kept 24 clean sheets.

Which TV executive dined with the 'Big Five' clubs in 1990 to pave the way for the breakaway league?

Dyke ran London Weekend Television, yet ITV lost the first broadcast rights to BSkyB's £304 million bid.

In 1998 which club won Premier League approval to relocate to Dublin before Irish football blocked it?

Talk of Celtic and Rangers joining the league has surfaced periodically in the English media, but nothing has come of it.

A 2021 Leicester v Crystal Palace match was paused for what believed-first reason?

Wesley Fofana and Cheikhou Kouyaté were the players involved on 26 April 2021.