I began to earnestly follow the English Premier League in international soccer in the fall of 2014, so I'm a relative newcomer to it. The Premier League began in 1992, although the same clubs competed at the highest level...some for decades...within other leagues before that. The Premier League contains twenty teams and determines its annual championship by who wins the regular season title. Also, each year the three lowest finishing clubs are relegated (demoted) to the next lower league, which is inappropriately called Football League Championship. In turn, that league's top three finishers are promoted to the Premier League for the following season. Because of this, there has been a bit of turnover: since 1992 the English Premier League has seen a total of 49 different clubs! Yet there are some (Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Everton, and Manchester United) who have been there all 27 years. Using a very good Wikipedia list (here's the link), I rearranged the teams to first list this year's lineup of 20 teams (arranged in order of finish the previous year, with the last three being the promoted clubs) and then the other 29, the latter listed in order of number of seasons participating in the Premier League. Following each club's names, in parentheses, is its highest ever finish in the league. To me the English Premier League is the best soccer league in the world. Its top teams measure up well with the best of other leagues while there is top-level play even between the lower clubs. The new 2018-19 season began a week ago: I'm looking forward to another exciting time watching the matches on NBC Sports, whoever happens to be playing...
2018-19 SEASON TEAMS
MANCHESTER CITY (1)
MANCHESTER UNITED (1)
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR (2)
LIVERPOOL (2)
CHELSEA (1)
ARSENAL (1)
BURNLEY (7)
EVERTON (4)
LEICESTER CITY (1)
NEWCASTLE UNITED (2)
CRYSTAL PALACE (10)
BOURNEMOUTH (9)
WEST HAM UNITED (5)
WATFORD (13)
BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION (15)
HUDDERSFIELD TOWN (16)
SOUTHAMPTON (6)
WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS (15)
CARDIFF CITY (20)
FULHAM (7)
PREVIOUS PREMIER LEAGUE TEAMS
BLACKBURN ROVERS (1)
SUNDERLAND (7)
MIDDLESBROUGH (7)
BOLTON WANDERERS (6)
LEEDS UNITED (3)
WEST BROMWICH ALBION (8)
STOKE CITY (9)
COVENTRY CITY (11)
NORWICH CITY (3)
WIMBLEDON (6)
CHARLTON ATHLETIC (7)
SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY (7)
WIGAN ATHLETIC (10)
QUEENS PARK RANGERS (5)
BIRMINGHAM CITY (9)
PORTSMOUTH (8)
SWANSEA CITY (8)
DERBY COUNTY (8)
NOTTINGHAM FOREST (3)
IPSWICH TOWN (5)
HULL CITY (16)
READING (8)
SHEFFIELD UNITED (14)
BRADFORD CITY (17)
OLDHAM ATHLETIC (19)
BARNSLEY (19)
BLACKPOOL (19)
SWINDON TOWN (22)
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