List of English football champions

List of English football champions
Football League (1888–1892)
Football League First Division (1892–1992)
Premier League (1992–present)
Country
 England
Founded
1888
Number of teams
24 winners
Current champions
Liverpool (20th title) (2024–25)
Most successful club(s)
Liverpool
Manchester United
(20 titles each)

The English football champions are the annual winners of the top-tier competition in the English football league system. Following the codification of professional football by the Football Association in 1885,[1] the Football League was established in 1888, after meetings initiated by Aston Villa director William McGregor.[2]

The new league's inaugural season was 1888–89, and the first club to be crowned champions was Preston North End, whose team completed its fixtures unbeaten.[3] In its first four seasons, with only twelve to fourteen clubs involved, the league was a single entity in which all the teams were from the North or the Midlands. Professionalism had been embraced more readily in those areas than in the South of England.[4] The Football League expanded its membership in 1892 when it absorbed the rival Football Alliance. With 28 members, the league was split into two divisions. Most of the former Alliance clubs joined the new Second Division, while the original league became the First Division, with promotion and relegation between the two.[5]

Rules stipulating a maximum wage for players were abolished in 1961. This resulted in a shift of power towards bigger clubs with more financial means.[6] Financial considerations became an even bigger influence from 1992, when the clubs then in the First Division defected to form the FA Premier League, which became the new top tier.[7] A series of progressively larger television contracts has put unprecedented wealth into the hands of top flight clubs.[8]

A total of 24 different clubs have won the English top-flight league since 1888. Only five clubs have won the title three times in a row: Huddersfield Town, Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United (twice) and Manchester City, with Manchester City being the only club to have won it four times in succession.[9]

  1. ^ "The History of the Football League". The Football League. Archived from the original on 11 February 2007. Retrieved 15 February 2006.
  2. ^ Inglis 1988, pp. 6–8.
  3. ^ Titford, Roger (November 2005). "Football League, 1888–89". When Saturday Comes. Archived from the original on 29 May 2009. Retrieved 6 June 2009.
  4. ^ Goldblatt, David (2007). The Ball is Round: A Global History of Football. London: Penguin. p. 58. ISBN 978-0-14-101582-8.
  5. ^ Inglis 1988, p. 25.
  6. ^ Dart, Tom (25 May 2009). "Burnley: little town, big traditions". The Times. London. Retrieved 18 January 2025.
  7. ^ "A History of The Premier League". Premier League. Archived from the original on 18 November 2011. Retrieved 7 June 2009.
  8. ^ Harris, Nick (7 February 2009). "£1.78bn: Record Premier League TV deal defies economic slump". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 28 August 2017. Retrieved 15 June 2009.
  9. ^ "Manchester City beat West Ham to win record fourth straight Premier League title". BBC Sport. 19 May 2024. Retrieved 22 August 2025.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.