On this day in 1992, the newly formed Premier League kicked-off featuring 22 clubs that had broken away from the Football League and a lucrative new TV broadcasting deal with Sky Sports.
With this new era in football came new opportunities, new challenges and a new way of consuming football.
To celebrate this milestone, fcbusiness looks at some of the key on pitch and off pitch moments from each year of the last 25 years that have shaped the game we love.
92/93 – Steve Bruce scoring twice for Manchester United to beat Sheffield Wednesday and pretty much claim their first title in 26 years.
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93/94 – Roy Keane becomes the most expensive player signed by an English club after signing for Manchester United from Nottingham Forest.
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94/95 – Jack Walker’s investment sees Blackburn Rovers win the Premier League with Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton leading the line. This season would also see four teams relegated and only 2 promoted as the league reduced to 20 teams.
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95/96 – Liverpool 4-3 Newcastle United. Kevin Keegan’s swashbuckling Newcastle United played out a thrilling tie with Liverpool but narrowly missed out on the title which went to Manchester United once again.
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96/97 – Arsene Wenger joins Arsenal in September 1996, replacing Bruce Rioch and heralding a new era at Arsenal and in English football.
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97/98 – Under the guidance of Arsene Wenger and a new training and nutrition regime, Arsenal do the League and FA Cup double.
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98/99 – Sheffield Wednesday’s fiery Italian Paolo Di Canio’s push on referee Paul Alcock shocked football earning him an 11 match ban and further enhancing his notoriety.
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99/00 – Sunderland’s Kevin Philips fires his way to the European Golden Boot Award after bagging 30 goals for the Wearside club that year.
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00/01 – Leeds paid a record £18m for West Ham’s highly rated defender Rio Ferdinand. He would later be sold to Manchester United for another record fee of around £30m.
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01/02 – Dennis Bergkamp scores ‘that’ goal against Newcastle United.
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02/03 – New kid on the block, Wayne Rooney scores his first Everton goal against Arsenal.
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03/04 – Arsenal Invincibles. Not since Preston North End in 1889 (22 games) had a team gone a full season unbeaten, until Arsene Wenger guided his North London side to the title in dominating style. (38 games)
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04/05 – Having won the Champions League with Porto the previous season Jose Mourinho strutted into Chelsea and proclaimed himself the special one.
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05/06 – Alan Shearer breaks Jackie Milburn’s Newcastle United scoring record against Portsmouth with 206 goals for the club but ends the season through injury. His total of 260 goal remains a Premier League record.
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06/07 – Third Party Ownership came to the fore when Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano controversially joined West Ham United in 2006. The practice would subsequently be banned in the Premier League and worldwide by FIFA.
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07/08 – Derby County would be relegated to the Football League with the lowest points total, beating the previous record set by Sunderland with a streak of 32 games without a win and mustering just one win all season.
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08/09 – Sheikh Mansour buys Manchester City and so begins a new era at Manchester’s other club.
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09/10 – They’d lived the dream but it all came crashing down for Portsmouth who became the first Premier League club to enter administration midway through the season which effectively sealed their relegation and subsequent downward spiral.
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10/11 – A classic match played out at St James’ Park saw Newcastle fighback to draw 4 all with Arsenal, but it was the Magpies’ Cheick Tiote’s goal that will be most remembered. Tiote tragically passed away in June 2017.
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11/12 – Aguerrrrrroooooooo – fires Manchester City to the first Premier League title in the final minutes of a thrilling season to deny Manchester United the crown.
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12/13 – Sir Alex Ferguson retires after 27 seasons at Manchester United, winning 38 trophies including 13 league titles and two Champions League trophies.
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13/14 – Liverpool were on the cusp of winning the title for the first time since 1989/90 but captain Steven Gerrard’s slip against Chelsea effectively ended their title hopes.
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14/15 – Having left Chelsea in the summer, Frank Lampard, having signed for New York City FC but on loan at Manchester City scores against…Chelsea.
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15/16 – 5000/1 at the start of the season to win the title, Claudio Ranieri did the seemingly impossible and pulled off one of the biggest shocks in Premier League and football history to guide Leicester City to the Premier League title.
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16/17 – In his first season in charge Antonio Conte wins the title with Chelsea.