History of the Premier League from 1992 to now

The history of the Premier League runs from a breakaway signed in a London boardroom in 1992 to Arsenal's title in 2025-26, and in 34 completed seasons only seven clubs have been crowned champions. The league was founded on 20 February 1992, and the first ball was kicked that August.

It is now broadcast in 212 territories and its domestic television rights alone are worth £6.7 billion. This is how it started, who has dominated it, and the records that still define it, with the 2026-27 season now under way.

Why was the Premier League formed? The Football League First Division had been England's top flight since 1888, but by the 1980s it was in decline.

Attendances were falling, many grounds were old and unsafe, and hooliganism had become the image of English football abroad. In May 1985, 39 people died before the European Cup final between Liverpool and Juventus at Heysel Stadium in Brussels, and English clubs were banned from European competition for five years.

In April 1989, 97 Liverpool supporters died in the crush at Hillsborough during an FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest. The Taylor Report that followed required top-flight grounds to become all-seater stadiums.

Rebuilding stadiums was expensive, revenues were falling and the game's reputation was damaged. The biggest clubs believed the answer was to keep more of their own television money.

The breakaway from the Football League Under the old structure, television revenue was shared across all four divisions. The leading First Division clubs felt that undervalued them and left them behind the top sides in Spain, Italy and Germany.

The Football Association backed a breakaway, partly in the hope that better-funded clubs would raise the standard of the England team. The Founder Members Agreement was signed in July 1991, the Premier League was founded on 20 February 1992, and on 27 May 1992 the 22 First Division clubs resigned from the Football League together.

How the Sky deal changed Premier League history Sky won the first live rights with a bid of £304 million over five years. Live top-flight football had been rare on British television, and Sky built its schedule around it, with Super Sunday and Monday Night Football turning league games into major events.