Top 10 interesting facts about Barclays Premier League

top 10 interesting facts about barclays premier league 2016 images

top 10 interesting facts about barclays premier league 2016 images

English Premier League is without any doubt the most exciting league in the world. A great example would be that Premier League minnows Leicester City were eight points clear at the top of the table with three matches to go, but then suddenly after over a century, they were the Champions. Because of its competitiveness, it is also the most popular league in the world. Let us delve into some interesting factoids and cool tidbits about the top tier of the English division.

  1. No English manager has ever won the Premier League title. Since its inception in the year 1992, only seven managers have lifted the trophy. The retired Manchester United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, is the most successful manager with 13 titles. The only other British manager to win the league title since 1992 is, Sir Alex’s fellow Scotsman, Kenny Dalglish. Dalglish won it in 1995 with Blackburn Rovers.
  2. Ryan Giggs has played in every season of the Premier League until the 2013/14 season. He is still actively involved in the beautiful game as the assistant manager of Louis van Gaal at Old Trafford. The Welshman is also the most decorated Premier League player ever, and his record of league titles is far from being broken in near future.
  3. Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal went on a 49 game unbeaten run in the 2003-04 season and in the process, they lifted the first ever Golden Premier League trophy. No other team in the Premier League era has gone a whole season without losing a league match and hence Arsenal’s team were given a moniker ‘Invincibles’.
  4. Speaking of unbeatable, Derby County were the totally opposite in 2007-08 season. Derby went a whopping 32 games without winning a match in the league. At the end of the season, they were relegated to the Championship after finishing last.
  5. Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspurs, Everton, Aston Villa and Liverpool are the only teams to compete in every season of the top division of England since the commencement of the Premier League. However, Aston Villa are now relegated to the second division.
  6. In the Premier League era, Cristiano Ronaldo is the only player to have ever won the FIFA Player of the Year award, while playing in the English league. Also, the Ballon d’Or has been won by only two players playing in the Premier League. Michael Owen (2001), in his Liverpool days and Ronaldo (2008), in his Manchester United days, picked up the awards.
  7. The league’s official name has been changed four times. In the start, it was named the FA Carling Premiership. In 2001, it was altered to the Barclaycard Premiership. Three years later, in 2004, it became the Barclays Premiership and since 2007, it remains the Barclays Premier League.
  8. The second most successful club in England, Liverpool has never a won a Premier League title. The five-time European champions have come close on many occasions, but they have choked in the final games and finished runners-up. Brendan Rodgers’s Liverpool side of 2013-14 came within touching distance of the trophy, but they lost out to Manchester City in the end.
  9. Peter Schmeichel was the first ever goalkeeper in the history of the league to score a goal. Eric Cantona scored the first hat trick of the Premier League, when he used to play for Leeds United and not Manchester United.
  10. Manchester United is the only English team to have won the treble in the Premier League era. The 20-time English champions won it in 1999 and came very close to winning it again in the year 2008.