[Gunnerman]

Since Beers requested that there should be one I thought I would be kind enough to oblige.

First lesson
The Premier League

The Premiere League is sometimes referred to the English Premier League or shortened to EPL. The proper name though is Premier League. This is the top league in England and is also considered one of the top pro leagues in the world. The sceduling is pretty easy on the surface, each team will play every other team twice, once at home and once away for a total of 38 regualr season matches for each team.

The League consists of 20 teams. There is no end of season playoff, the team that finishes first is the Champion. The three teams that finish in the bottom three spots get relegated to the Championship for the next season. The Championship is the next league down, kind of like being demoted to a AAA league. Three teams from the Championship then get promoted to the Premier League for the next season.

League competition is not the only competitions that the teams play throughout the season. The top four teams get to also participate in the UEFA Champions League. The teams finishing 5, 6, and 7 get to also play in the UEFA Cup. Both of those pit Premier League teams against other pro teams from all across Europe. All Premier League Teams also participate in the 2 domestic cup competitions which are knock-out type competitions. The oldest and more prestigious is the FA Cup the other is called the Carling Cup. Because teams play more than just League games fixtures can be rearranged quite often during the season.

Thus endeth the lesson of the day.