On this day 1992 – Premier League is born

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On 15 August 1992, football fans were treated to the start of the first ever Premier League.

Leicester City’s N’Golo Kante lifts the trophy as they celebrate winning the 24th Barclays Premier League

Ever since 1888, the Football League had consisted of the top four divisions of English football.

However, during the 1991/92 season all of the First Division clubs resigned from the Football League and formed the Premier League.

In practice, the Premier League was identical to the old First Division in all but name.

But in terms of finances, the Premier League was a completely different kettle of fish.

The breakaway was bankrolled by a five-year, £305 million deal with BSkyB. At the time, this was the largest broadcasting rights contract in the world, though in comparison the current Premier League deal with Sky and BT Sport is worth £5.1 billion.

The improved financial clout of the Premier League clubs facilitated a raft of big-money deals during the summer of 1992, including Alan Shearer’s move from Southampton to Blackburn for a British record fee of £3.6 million.

Alan Shearer parading the 1994/95 Premier league trophy won by Blackburn

The honour of the first ever Premier League goal fell to Sheffield United striker Brian Deane who headed in after just five minutes of his side’s clash with Manchester United.

He was to score a second goal which would see his side to a 2-1 win.

Despite the club’s inauspicious start, Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United would go on to become the Premier League’s inaugural champions, thereby ending a 26-year league title drought.

Sir Alex Ferguson (R) masterminded United to 13 Premier League titles in 21 seasons

They would retain the title the following year and have now won 13 Premier League titles in total.

In the 24 years since its inception, the Premier League has gone on to become one of the, if not the, biggest football league in the world.

In addition to the aforesaid increase in broadcasting rights, Totalsportek have calculated the Premier League is narrowly behind La Liga in the fight to be the world’s number one League – though apocryphally many would say that the Premier League is undoubtedly top of the pile in this regard.