The English Premier League (EPL) is one of the most prestigious and widely consumed soccer competitions in the world.
Yet it is also manifestly lopsided when it comes to competitive balance. Only a handful of teams are title contenders each season.
The rest mainly aim to avoid relegation to the second-tier Championship, or strive to qualify for lucrative Europe-wide competitions that run alongside the domestic season.
Despite the dominance of a handful of teams, and this year’s title race already being decided in Liverpool’s favour, there is still major fan interest, even among neutrals.
The reason why is prestige and the financial windfalls for the teams that qualify for European leagues.
Soccer’s uneven playing field
Competitiveness in the Premier League has significantly declined since 1997 due to growing overseas investments.
Super-wealthy investors such as Roman Abramovich and Sheikh Mansour have permanently changed the fortunes of Chelsea and Manchester City, respectively. Since foreign acquisitions, these clubs experienced meteoric rises and dominated the league, and in Manchester City’s case, have enjoyed a near-monopoly on the league title in recent years.
Superior financial backing provides unfair advantages in the player transfer market, wage affordability, and modernising training facilities that domestically funded clubs can’t match.
This is probably a major reason why in 33 years of the EPL’s existence, there have only ever been seven different winners.
This isn’t a unique feature of the English competition.
Among the major European leagues, Barcelona and Real Madrid have combined 18 Spanish La Liga titles since 2004, Bayern Munich has won 15 German Bundesliga championships, and in Italy’s Serie A, Juventus (nine), Inter Milan (seven) and AC Milan (two) have shared the vast majority of titles over the past two decades.
This is an illustration of what economists call industrial concentration – market domination by a small number of organisations.
Normally, a fundamental principle when designing a sports league is the idea that every team should have a chance of winning it.
In US sports, such as the National Basketball Association, this is enshrined within the sport’s rules and governance.
One can argue it has been a long time since there was any such equality in English football.
Despite the criticism, there is still major interest in the Premier League, due mainly to the jostling for European qualification.
Why it’s not all about the title
Liverpool and its fans are still celebrating their title win, which they clinched with four games to spare. The victory, the club’s 20th in top-tier English soccer, equals their arch-rival Manchester United’s record.
The league’s often thrilling relegation battle has also already been decided.
But interest in the league’s final few games is still high because many clubs are jostling for European qualification.
These European-wide competitions are, in descending order of prestige, the Champions League, Europa League and the recently launched Conference League.
Organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), these competitions bring together the top teams from each major European soccer league to compete against each other.
This year, the top five English clubs (instead of the usual top four) will be offered a confirmed Champions League position. This is due to the collective best performance of English clubs this season in the Champions League.
At the time of writing, there is only a seven-point spread between the six teams still vying for a top-five finish, with three games left to play.
The sixth team in the league table, and the FA Cup winner, also receives the opportunity to join Europe’s second-tier club league tournament, the Europa League.
And the Carabao Cup winner secures a spot in the third-tier Conference League.
With Newcastle United (Carabao Cup winner) and Manchester City (favourite for FA Cup final) likely to finish in the top five Premier League places, the race for Europe is getting more intense with mathematical permutations suggesting up to ten Premier League places may be open to European league qualification.
This means 12 EPL teams are still fighting for every single point.
European qualification delivers enormous financial incentives. For many of the smaller competing clubs, such as Bournemouth, Nottingham Forest and Fulham, this is a once-in-a-generation opportunity.
Money matters
Champions League qualification offers the largest financial rewards, with a €2.467 billion prize pool (A$4.34 billion), and minimum €18.62 million (A$32.7 million) reward per club for participation.
Each victory during the tournament’s league stage also attracts a further €2.1 million (A$3.69 million) performance bonus, and bonuses for qualifying for the knockout stage range from €1 million to €18.5 million (A$1.75 million to $32.4 million) per club, depending on how far they progress.
For Europa League participation, the reward is €4.31 million (A$7.57 million) per team, and €3.17 million (A$5.57 million) for the Conference League.
This money is vital for clubs’ survival, especially as player wages and the transfer market have skyrocketed in recent years.
For example, Manchester City’s Erling Haaland, the highest-paid Premier League player, earns £500,000 (A$1.028 million) per week.
So, having the financial means to purchase top-quality players and sustain a strong team is becoming incredibly difficult for clubs with limited investments and earnings.
For smaller clubs, qualifying for European competition can be a lifeline, which is why there’s still so much interest in the Premier League’s upper mid-table battles – despite Liverpool already being a week into the title celebrations.
The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
