and many others have all played at least five
seasons in the Premier League. It is true that
the biggest names such as Lionel Messi, Kaka
and Zinedine Zidane preferred Spain, and
Ronaldo has now gone there too, but the Premier
League attractsmanyplayers justbelowthat level,
such as Mario Balotelli, Fernando Torres and Dimitar
Berbatov. It also retains its own. In1992, Des Walker,
Paul Gascoigne and David Platt, three of England’s leading
players in their run to the semi-finals of the1990 World
Cup, played in Serie A. Their modern equivalents, Wayne
Rooney, Rio Ferdinand and Steven Gerrard, have spent
their entire careers in England.
One consequence of this is that English clubs are, once
again, major players in Europe. Twenty years ago they were
still finding their way following the lifting of the Heysel ban.
There was no danger of fixture congestion in the Premier
League’s opening season as all English clubs had been
dumped out of Europe by the first week of November,
with Leeds United despatched embarrassingly by
Scottish champions Rangers.
Now England’s Champions League quartet customarily
cruise through the group stage and are regular finalists.
Indeed, between1992 and 2001 English clubs made just
one appearance in the final: Manchester United in1999.
In the past ten seasons they have made seven, more than
any other country. England now lead the UEFA coefficient
rankings, ahead of Spain and Germany. In 2000 England
were fifth; in1992 – in part due to the post-Heysel ban –
they were a lowly13th.
The UEFA Cup/Europa League is a different matter.
Such are the financial rewards for the big clubs of reaching
the Champions League qualifying places, and the cost of
relegation for smaller clubs, weakened teams are routinely
fielded in UEFA’s lesser competition to help keep key
players fit for domestic league matches.
Champions League success, combined with the multi-
national nature of the Premier League and its all-action
nature, has turned the competition into the world’s most-
watched sports league, with South Sudan recently becoming
the 212th territory to take broadcasts. The rising value of
overseas television rights (from £60m in 2001-02 to a
mammoth £460m last season – more than the other four
major leagues combined) has counterbalanced a relative
stagnation in UK fees (£594m last season).
None of this has happened by accident. The Premier
League conducts market research in 30 countries with
a view to understanding and expanding the competition’s
attraction. This gives rise to such products as Premier League
Match Attax trading cards (similar to Panini) being produced
in Vietnamese and Russian. During this pre-season, clubs
played more than 40 friendlies in a dozen overseas countries
spanning five continents. Even Arsenal, who usually prepare in
seclusion in Austria, headed for the Far East, with a reluctant
Arsene Wenger admitting: “For a long time I resisted, but as
the Premier League becomes more and more a world league,
it’s important we develop our fan base. China is a massive
country where football is developing and the Premier League
is a world brand. You do not want to miss out [on] so many
potential fans.”
Arsenal are among several clubs with foreign language
websites. There has even been the occasional misguided
marketing-related signing: witness Manchester United’s
Chinese striker Dong Fangzhuo, Arsenal’sJapanese midfielder
Junichi Inamoto and Everton’s abortive attempts to recruit a
Thai capable of playing in the Premier League.
Manchester United have led the way in monetising their
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