The Football Leagues Explained

Don’t know your Premier League from your UEFA Champions League? Well this article should help you understand the various competitions that the major English clubs compete in. Have a read, then head down to your local sports bar, order a Carlsberg and become "part of the game".

Here we will be talking about the major competitions that an English Football Club can be involved in. They are:

    •    The English Premier League
    •    The FA Cup
    •    The League Cup
    •    The UEFA Champions League
    •    The UEFA Cup

The English Premier League

The Premier League, colloquially referred to as the Premiership, is an English professional league for football clubs. At the top of the English football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. It is contested by the top 20 teams in England and includes famous teams such as Manchester United, Chelsea and Carlsberg’s very own Liverpool.

In the Premiership, each team will play the other team twice for a total of 38 games. Teams are given 3 points for a win, one point for a draw and no points for a loss. The winner is the team at the end of the season that has the most points.

The FA Cup is also an all-English competition run by the Football Association. It is the oldest football competition in the world, commencing in 1871–72.

There are two major differences between the FA Cup and the Premiership:

    1.    The FA Cup is a knockout competition, meaning if you lose once, you are out of the competition.
    2.    Clubs of all standards are allowed to join the FA Cup (not just the Premiership teams). In the 2008 - 2009 FA Cup, a record 762  teams have been accepted.

The combination of elimination and the participation of the “minnows” opens up the possibility of major upsets happening. A team in a lower division could potentially knock out the best team in England with a lucky goal. This “giant killing” aspect creates an atmosphere of romance around the FA Cup.

The League Cup (Carling Cup)

Like the FA Cup, the League Cup is an elimination competition. However, unlike the FA Cup that has 762 teams, The League Cup is restricted to the top 20 teams (The Premiership Teams) plus another 72 of the best clubs. Games are on a single game elimination basis, except for semi-finals which are played over two legs.

The League Cup is less prestigious than the FA Cup and is seen by many clubs as a much lower priority.

The UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) Champions League is a competition organized for the most successful club teams from all over Europe. The prize, the European Champion Clubs' Cup (more commonly known as the European Cup), is the most prestigious club trophy in the sport.

Qualification for the Champion’s League is quite complicated (for a complete explanation you can go here), however it is generally fought between the top clubs from the top nations. Top clubs from less powerful football nations also have the chance to compete, though qualification is not necessarily automatic.

After three qualifying rounds, 32 teams contest a group stage, divided into eight groups of four. The group winners and runners-up advance to the knockout stages.

The 16 remaining teams (the top two of the eight groups) then play elimination with ties decided over two matches on a home and away basis. The final is then one game played at a predetermined location (much like the Super Bowl).

The UEFA Cup

The UEFA Cup is the second most prestigious European Club Cup after the Champions League. Like the Champion’s League, qualification is based on performance in national leagues and club competitions.

Usually, places are awarded to teams who finish in various runners-up places in the top-flight leagues of Europe and the winners of the main cup competitions. A team that has qualified for the Champions League cannot play in the UEFA Cup (but they can join later if they are eliminated from the group stage of The Champions League).

The group stage of the UEFA Cup is a round robin competition, which then evolves into a knockout stage.


So there you go! We hope that clears it all up. Generally, the competitions to keep your eye on if you want to sound informed, are the English Premier League, The FA Cup and the UEFA Champions League.

Carlsberg – Part of the game.