Premier League

The Premier League (known for sponsorship reasons as the Barclays Premier League) is the top division of English Football. It contains 20 clubs. Relegated clubs fall to the npower Championship.

It was founded as the FA Premier League on 20th February 1992, in a decision to break away from the Football League for larger TV rights. It is currently the world's most watched sporting league.

A total of 43 clubs have competed in the Premier League, including Queens Park Rangers.

Competition Format
Each club plays 38 matches, one home and one away against each of the 19 other clubs. There are three points for a win, one for a draw and none for losing. League place ties are decided by goal differece, goals scored and then matches between the individual teams.

European Places
If a club finishes inside the top four, they will be entered into the UEFA Champions League. First, second and third places enter automatically into the main draw, while fourth place enters the CL play-off round.

The fifth place club automatically enters the UEFA Europa League at the play-off round. Depending on who won the FA Cup and League Cup, sixth and seventh places may or may not qualify. If a club already qualified by league position wins a national cup, the sixth place club enters the play-off round. If both are won by (a) qualified team(s), the seventh place club enters at the third qualifying round.

There is also the possibility of a club qualifying through the UEFA fair play system.

Relegation
The bottom three clubs are relegated to the Championship automatically.