"at the end of the 1986-87 season. In 1992, the Football League Fourth Division changed its name to the Third Division following the creation of the Premier League and the transfer to it of all the clubs of the First Division. The Isthmian League de-regionalised its second division to create new Second and Third Divisions. In 2003, playoffs were introduced for clubs finishing 2nd–5th in the Conference, allowing two clubs to go up to the Football League for the first time. In 2004, the Football League renamed Football League Division Three to Football League Two as part of a rebranding"
"In the 1991–92 season, following two years of widespread speculation about the leading clubs of English football forming a breakaway league from the Football League, the 22 clubs competing in the First Division resigned ""en masse"" from the Football League, forming a new top-level competition, The FA Premier League, overseen by the FA, largely to capitalise upon their status as the biggest and most wealthy clubs in the country, and negotiate more profitable television rights. The new league came into force for the 1992–93 season. Its first champions were Manchester United, who ended their 26-year wait for a top division"
"1888–89 Football League Founded in 1888, the Football League is the oldest such competition in world football. The 1888–89 Football League was the first edition of the Football League, which ran from the autumn of 1888 until the spring of 1889. The Football League was formally created and named in Manchester during a meeting on 17 April 1888. The season began on 8 September 1888 with 12 member clubs from the Midlands and North of England: Accrington, Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Burnley, Derby County, Everton, Notts County, Preston North End, Stoke, West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers. Each"
"cent for a three-division gap. The Football League was founded in 1888, 16 years after the first FA Cup competition. Since the creation of The Football League, Tottenham Hotspur is the only non-league ""giant-killer"" to win the Cup, taking the 1901 FA Cup with a victory over reigning league runners-up Sheffield United: although at that time, there were only two divisions and 36 clubs in the Football League, and Spurs were champions of the next strongest football league – the Southern League and probably already good enough for the First Division (as was shown when they joined the Second Division"
"self–evident that crowds for friendly fixtures were much lower and of course this meant a reduction in revenue and consequent struggle to pay wages. Aston Villa’s Scottish director William McGregor sought a solution by asking the other professional clubs to arrange annual home and away fixtures on a competitive basis, with points to be awarded for winning and drawing. Following a conference between club directors on 23 March 1888, the English Football League was founded on 17 April 1888 as one division of 12 clubs: Accrington (founded in 1876; folded in 1896), Aston Villa (founded in 1874), Blackburn Rovers, Bolton"
"was founded in 1992 after England's top clubs broke away from the Football League in a successful effort aimed at increasing their income at the expense of clubs in the lower divisions. Links with The Football League were maintained, and each season the bottom three clubs are relegated from the Premier League and replaced by the top three from the Championship. The Premier League is contested between 20 clubs each season. Each club in the Premier League in any given season owns one twentieth of a share in the league itself, meaning that they are all supposedly equal owners with"
"old First and Second Divisions with three teams relegated from the league and three promoted. The league held its first season in 1992–93. It was composed of 22 clubs for that season. The first Premier League goal was scored by Brian Deane of Sheffield United in a 2–1 win against Manchester United. The 22 inaugural members of the new Premier League were Arsenal, Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Chelsea, Coventry City, Crystal Palace, Everton, Ipswich Town, Leeds United, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Middlesbrough, Norwich City, Nottingham Forest, Oldham Athletic, Queens Park Rangers, Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday, Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, and"
"professional teams, which was roughly aligned along a North-South divide. Northern clubs were keen to adopt professionalism as workers could not afford to play on an amateur basis, while Southern clubs by the large part stuck by traditional ""Corinthian"" values of amateurism. Eventually, in 1885 the FA legalised professionalism, and when Aston Villa director William McGregor organised a meeting of representatives of England's leading clubs, this led to the formation of the Football League in 1888. Preston North End were inaugural winners in 1888–89, and were also the first club to complete the double of both winning the league and"
"League, last being out of the division in the 2007–08 season when they were relegated from League Two. The last attempt to create a fully national league underneath the English Football League had been the Football Alliance, which was absorbed as Football League Second Division in 1892. The league was formed as the ""Alliance Premier League"" in 1979, coming into force for the 1979–80 season. The league drew its clubs from the Northern Premier League and the Southern League. It greatly improved the quality of football at this lower level, as well as improving the financial status of the top"
"Foundation of the Premier League The foundation of the Premier League in English football occurred in the early 1990s. The first major step to its formation occurred in October 1990, when the managing director of London Weekend Television (LWT) Greg Dyke met with the representatives of the ""big five"" clubs - David Dein of Arsenal, Philip Carter of Everton, Noel White of Liverpool, Martin Edwards of Manchester United and Irving Scholar of Tottenham Hotspur.. The meeting was to pave the way for a breakaway from the Football League. Dyke believed that it would be more lucrative for ITV if only"
"time, Preston beat Hyde 26–0 in the first round of the FA Cup in 1887–88, which to this day remains an English first-class football record. The Football League was founded in 1888; North End were one of the founder members and went on to make history. In the League's first season (1888–89), North End were inaugural league champions, achieving the feat without losing a match. On top of this, they completed the league and cup 'Double', winning the FA Cup without conceding a single goal, defeating Wolverhampton Wanderers 3–0 in the final. Preston were the first club to achieve the"
"Association being governed by private law. Foundation of the Premier League The foundation of the Premier League in English football occurred in the early 1990s. The first major step to its formation occurred in October 1990, when the managing director of London Weekend Television (LWT) Greg Dyke met with the representatives of the ""big five"" clubs - David Dein of Arsenal, Philip Carter of Everton, Noel White of Liverpool, Martin Edwards of Manchester United and Irving Scholar of Tottenham Hotspur.. The meeting was to pave the way for a breakaway from the Football League. Dyke believed that it would be"
"that one undisputed set of laws was required. The two associations had played 16 inter-association matches under differing rules; the Sheffield Rules, the London Rules and Mixed Rules. In April 1877, those laws were set with a number of Sheffield Rules being incorporated. In 1992, the Football Association took control of the newly created Premier League which consisted of 22 clubs who had broken away from the First Division of the Football League. The Premier League reduced to 20 clubs in 1995 and is one of the richest football leagues in the world. The Football Association celebrated their 150th year"
"1992–93 Football League The 1992–1993 season was the 94th completed season of the Football League. This season saw the birth of the Premier League. In 1992, all of the First Division clubs resigned from the Football League and, on 27 May 1992, the FA Premier League was formed as a limited company, which worked out of an office at the Football Association’s then headquarters, Lancaster Gate. Hence, the 104-year-old Football League was reduced from four divisions to three, with the old Second, Third and Fourth Divisions becoming the new First, Second and Third Divisions respectively. The league was sponsored this"
"three divisions (down from an all-time high of 92 clubs in four divisions). Since the 1992–93 season, it has become only the second-most important league competition, behind the FA Premier League in the English football league system. England finished second in the 1889 British Home Championship, which was won by Scotland. John Yates, of Burnley, scored 3 goals against Ireland in his only appearance for England. Key 1888–89 in English football The 1888–1889 season was the 18th season of competitive association football in England. A new competition, The Football League, started this season. The Football League was open to clubs"
"the Founder Members Agreement on 17 July 1991, clubs handing a joint notice of resignation from the Football League, and the final go-ahead from the FA who administered affairs. The Premier League was created ""to prevent the top clubs from losing income to the lower leagues"", but also served the purpose of maximising the clubs' bargaining position for when the next television contract was up for renewal. ITV held exclusive rights to live Football League matches, having paid £44 million over a four-year period (1988–1992). The arrangement came after the withdrawal of a joint bid made by the BBC and"
"Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has three divisions - the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system) - and Division One East and Division One West (which both stand at level 8). Geographically, the league covers all of Northern England and the northern/central areas of the Midlands. Originally a single-division competition, a second division was added in 1987: Division One, and in 2007 a third was added when Division One split into two geographic sections - Division One North and Division"
"to the Championship. They were replaced by Reading, Southampton, and West Ham. The two former teams had won automatic promotion, while the latter occupied the last promotion spot when they defeated Cardiff 5-0 on aggregate in the semifinals, and defeated Blackpool 2-1 at the final in Wembley Stadium. The system originated in England in 1888 when twelve clubs decided to create a professional Football League. It then expanded by merging with the Football Alliance in 1892, with the majority of the Alliance teams occupying the lower Second Division, due to the divergent strengths of the teams. As this differential was"
"Wigan Athletic, Mansfield Town and Preston North End went down to Division Three. 1992–93 Football League The 1992–1993 season was the 94th completed season of the Football League. This season saw the birth of the Premier League. In 1992, all of the First Division clubs resigned from the Football League and, on 27 May 1992, the FA Premier League was formed as a limited company, which worked out of an office at the Football Association’s then headquarters, Lancaster Gate. Hence, the 104-year-old Football League was reduced from four divisions to three, with the old Second, Third and Fourth Divisions becoming"
"of the Football League in 1888, the final has never been contested by two teams from outside the top division, and there have only been eight winners who were not in the top flight: Notts County (1894); Tottenham Hotspur (1901); Wolverhampton Wanderers (1908); Barnsley (1912); West Bromwich Albion (1931); Sunderland (1973), Southampton (1976) and West Ham United (1980). With the exception of Tottenham, these clubs were all playing in the second tier (the old Second Division) – Tottenham were playing in the Southern League and were only elected to the Football League in 1908, meaning they are the only non-League"
"much earlier success in the last season, 1914–15. It was not until the early years of the 20th century, and the expansion of both Leagues to 20 clubs (in 1905), that further southern clubs such as Chelsea and Clapton Orient (1905), Fulham (1907) and Tottenham Hotspur (1908) established themselves in the League. There would be a further wait until 1931 before a southern club, Arsenal, would win the League for the first time. Unlike in most other Leagues in Europe, no single English club managed to remain an ever-present in the division during the one hundred and four years of"
"Premier League began at the start of the 1992–93 season, its member teams have received larger amounts of money in TV rights than their Football League colleagues. Prior to the formation of the Premier League, television revenues from top flight matches were shared between the 92 Football League clubs across four unified national professional divisions. The breakaway of 22 clubs to form the Premier League resulted in top flight revenues being shared exclusively between Premier League clubs. The Premier League agreed to maintain the promotion and relegation of three clubs with the Football League, but the Football League was now"
"league at the end of the 1914–15 season when League football was suspended due to the First World War that started a year earlier. During the war years, White Hart Lane was taken over by the government and turned into a factory for making gas masks, gunnery and protection equipment. The London clubs organised their own matches, and Tottenham would play their home matches at Arsenal's Highbury and Clapton Orient's Homerton grounds. When football resumed in 1919, the First Division was expanded from 20 to 22 teams. The Football League extended one of the additional places to 19th-place Chelsea (who"
"point of a renaissance in English football; the ban on English clubs playing in European football was lifted a year later and a new top-flight division – the Premier League, was formed in 1992 which generated more revenue for clubs. The title decider also formed the centrepiece of Nick Hornby's book ""Fever Pitch"". The 1988–89 season marked the 100th anniversary of the Football League. A season earlier, the body commemorated its founding by organising an exhibition game between a Football League-select XI, and a World XI (captained by Diego Maradona), followed by a Football Festival in April 1988. The celebrations"
"League and FA Cup double winners are highlighted in bold. When the Football League was first established, all 12 clubs played in just one division. In 1892 the Football League absorbed 11 of the 12 clubs in the rival Football Alliance after it folded, meaning the League now had enough clubs to form another division. The existing division was renamed the First Division and the new division was called the Second Division. In 1920 the Football League admitted the clubs from the first division of the Southern League (the Southern League continued with its remaining clubs) and Grimsby Town, who"
"league year after year would permit each club owner to monopolize fan bases in their respective exclusive territories and give them the confidence to invest in infrastructure, such as improved ballparks. This in turn would guarantee the revenues needed to support traveling across the continent. In contrast, the shorter distances between urban areas in England allowed more clubs to develop large fan bases without incurring the same travel costs as in North America. When The Football League, now known as the English Football League, was founded in 1888, it was not intended to be a rival of The Football Association"
"British Football Association if the FA did not permit professionalism. A schism was avoided in July 1885 when professionalism was formally legalised in English football. The Football League was founded in 1888, and marked its independence from the London-based Football Association (FA) by establishing headquarters in Preston – the League retained a Northern identity even after it accepted several Southern teams into its ranks. Organised women's football followed as the workforces of majority-female factories of Northern England in the First World War entered the 1917–18 Tyne, Wear & Tees Munition Girls Cup – the world's first women's football tournament. However,"
"to see whether the FA were receptive to the idea. The FA did not enjoy an amicable relationship with the Football League at the time and considered it as a way to weaken the Football League's position. At the close of the 1991 season, a proposal was tabled for the establishment of a new league that would bring more money into the game overall. The Founder Members Agreement, signed on 17 July 1991 by the game's top-flight clubs, established the basic principles for setting up the FA Premier League. The newly formed top division would have commercial independence from The"
"the top teams needed to play each other in a league much like American baseball teams did. McGregor wrote to the twelve leading clubs in England proposing the formation of a league, what would later be known as the English Football League. Aston Villa were one of the dozen teams that competed in the inaugural Football League in 1888. Villa's first League game came on 8 September 1888, when they drew 1–1 Wolverhampton Wanderers as Tom Green scored the club's first League goal. Villa finished runners-up to Preston North End in that inaugural season. It did not take long for"
"Ham United moved from the Boleyn Ground into the ~60,000 capacity Olympic Stadium at the end of the 2015-16 season. The English Football League, established in 1888 as The Football League by Aston Villa director William McGregor and renamed ""English Football League"" in 2016, was the first professional football league in the world. Since its founding, however, many other leagues have been founded in England. Sunday leagues are played each weekend by clubs, the study made by the FA sees to this. Over the years there has been an increasing effort to link all these leagues together in a Pyramidal"
"Football League Fourth Division The Fourth Division (or Division Four) of the Football League was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Whilst the division disappeared in name in 1992, the 4th tier of English football continued as the Football League Third Division, and later became known as Football League Two. The Fourth Division was created in 1958 alongside a new Third Division by merging the regionalised Third Division North and Third Division South. The original economic reasons for having the two"
"in 1908 and immediately won promotion to the First.) Only two other actual non-League clubs have even reached the final since the founding of the League: Sheffield Wednesday in 1890 (champions of the Football Alliance, a rival league which was already effectively the Second Division, which it formally became in 1892 – Wednesday being let straight into the First Division), and Southampton in 1900 and 1902 (in which years they were also Southern League champions, proving the strength of that league: again, they were probably of equivalent standard to a First Division club at the time, but Southampton's form subsequently"
"1888–89 in English football The 1888–1889 season was the 18th season of competitive association football in England. A new competition, The Football League, started this season. The Football League was open to clubs all over the United Kingdom, but the first twelve entrants (Accrington, Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Burnley, Derby County, Everton, Notts County, Preston North End, Stoke (now Stoke City), West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers) were all from the Midlands or North of England (in later years the competition became the de facto English league, though some clubs from outside England still compete in it). Each"