The Premier League is without a doubt England’s pre-eminent professional league that not only features the top men’s association football clubs but also offers fans and punters an exciting football season that runs from August right through to May every year.
The Premier League was formed in 1992 after discussions were held between soccer authorities, soccer players as well as television broadcasters resulting in the First Division clubs resigning from the Football League in May to take advantage of a lucrative television rights deal.
The first iteration of the Premier League took place in August of the same year, the 22 inaugural members of the new Premier League were Arsenal, Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Chelsea, Coventry City, Crystal Palace, Everton, Ipswich Town, Leeds United, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Middlesbrough, Norwich City, Nottingham Forest, Oldham Athletic, Queens Park Rangers, Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday, Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, and Wimbledon.
Since the Premier League’s inception, a staggering amount of 47 clubs have taken part in the league, with Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Man United, and Spurs participating in every season to date.
The Premier League is currently contested by 20 top-flight clubs that act as the league’s shareholders and operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football League (EFL). The teams that finish in the bottom three places at the end of the season are relegated to EFL Championship while the top two teams from the Championship along with the winner of the play-offs progress on to the Premier League.
During the Premier League season each team faces every other team twice, once at home and once away resulting in each team playing no less than 38 games. Each match win is worth three points, a draw is worth a single point while a loss results in zero points being awarded.
The teams are ranked by their total points, then goal difference and thereafter the amount of goals scored. The various ranking criteria is taken into account to effectively rank teams that may have the same amount of total points at any given time.
The top three performers in the Premier League also qualify for the group stages of the UEFA Champions League with the fourth-placed finisher qualifying for the play-off round. The fifth-placed team in the Premier League along with the winners of the FA Cup and the EFL Cup go onto to qualify for the group stages of the UEFA Europa League.
In terms of popularity, the Premier League is uncontested and is currently ranked as the most-watched sports league in the world. The league is broadcast in at least 212 territories across the world and generates enormous amounts per year in domestic and international television rights.
This bodes extremely well for the burgeoning sports betting industry as soccer punters are afforded the luxury of betting on televised matches from the comfort of their own homes.
Sun International’s online sportsbook, Sunbet offers soccer punters a wealth of betting option when it comes to the Premier League. With a number of betting markets that range from the simplest 3-way bet that requires the punter to predict which team will win or if there will be a draw, all the way to more sophisticated bets such as the Double Chance. This particular bet allows soccer punters to cover two of the three possible outcomes of a particular match that includes home team and draw, away team and draw as well as home team and away team to win the soccer match.
Sunbet also offers all of the popular soccer bets that include, Correct Score, Halftime/Fulltime, European Handicaps, Match Flow and much more.
If that wasn’t enough Sunbet also offer live in-play betting or in-running betting, on a large selection of Premier League matches giving punters the opportunity of assessing the form of each team whilst the match is being played live. Betting live in-play largely removes the guesswork and minimises the risk in comparison to striking a pre-match bet.
Sunbet is the ideal South African online soccer sportsbook that regularly offers soccer promos and competitions, not forgetting an extensive local and international soccer coupon.
