About the premier league

About the premier league

Roles and objectives

The Premier League must:

Manage, continually improve and be regarded as the world's best league football competition - on and off the field.

Increase interest in our competitions, promote accessibility to live games and ensure that media exposure is used to optimum effect.

Generate increased commercial value, using the resulting revenues to further enhance our competitions and strengthen the long-term future of the Premier League and its clubs.

Use our power and influence responsibly to improve the game in this country and abroad through partnership with the FA, UEFA and other bodies.

Create a quality of competition that provides a platform from which our member clubs can achieve unparalleled success in European or World competitions.

Use our resources to develop playing talent that will provide for international success with the England team at all levels - with the status of World Champions being the realistic goal.

Our relationship with the clubs

The Premier League is owned by 20 Shareholders - the member clubs, whose membership in the league is dependent on the performance of their football team in the Barclays Premier League.

The shareholders meet quarterly. Any shareholder can table a motion to be discussed at the meeting. Each shareholder is entitled to one vote and all rule changes and major commercial contracts require the support of two thirds of the clubs voting at a general meeting.

The Football Association is also a special shareholder. They have the right of veto in certain crucial areas, such as the appointment of Chairman and Chief Executive and promotion and relegation, but have no say on other areas of Premier League work.

The day-to-day business and statutory company responsibilities are handled by the Board of Directors, which comprises of Chairman and Chief Executive, and the full-time members of staff at the Premier League.

Shareholder meetings are held every other month during the season and the AGM is a two-day meeting held during the close season.

At the Summer AGM, relegated clubs will transfer their ordinary share to the promoted clubs.

The Premier League & other football bodies

The Barclays Premier League is widely regarded as the elite club competition in world football.

Like every other league in England, the Premier League comes under the jurisdiction of the Football Association (the FA) and must submit its rules each year for approval and sanction.

The FA's primary objective is to develop the game at all levels, from the England national team down to grass-roots football and youth academies. Along with its British partners in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the FA comes under the control of the European governing body - the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA).

Formed in 1954 and based in Geneva, UEFA works and acts on behalf of the member associations to promote football and ensure its well-being on the continent. The organisation is responsible for many high-profile competitions, some involving national teams such as the prestigious European Championships. UEFA's premier club competitions are the European Champions League and the UEFA Cup, in which Premier League clubs aspire to compete and succeed on a yearly basis.

The FA and the 50 other associations of UEFA are all affiliated with the world's governing body - the Federation of International Football Associations, or FIFA.

The scope of FIFA's roles and duties has vastly expanded in recent years, and the body is supported in its task of organising, promoting and developing football by the six confederations across the globe. The AFC in Asia, CAF in Africa, CONCACAF in North and Central America and the Caribbean, CONMEBOL in South America, the OFC in Oceania and UEFA comprise 204 member associations in total.

FIFA, formed in 1904 and now one of the world's biggest sports organisations, strives to safeguard the game's good image and it is responsible for the Laws of the Game, which are based upon the rules that were first ratified in 1886.

The rules and regulations are discussed on a yearly basis by the International Football Association Board, which comprises four representatives of FIFA and one each from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, acknowledging the significance of the British associations in the history of the game.

FIFA can also boast the World Cup as its prized asset the ultimate stage on which a professional footballer can perform and a tournament which captures the imagination of the entire planet.