The dominance of the English Premier League over rival European competitions like the Bundesliga, Ligue 1, La Liga and Serie A has been set out in a new report.
An analysis of the economic and social impact of the top flight has revealed the unrivalled popularity of top-flight English football – and highlighted the contribution the competition makes to the UK economy.
Despite trailing our rivals on the pitch in international competitions for decades, the domestic game has left Germany, France, Spain and Italy way behind.
Premier League is the richest league in the world and a new report underlines its dominance
An eye-popping 3.2 billion viewers watched Premier League matches around the world in 2019-20, with games beamed into 878 million homes world-wide, according to a study carried out by EY financial services, on behalf of the top flight,
In addition, 528,000 people travelled to the UK to watch matches, despite Covid having a major impact on the season.
As previously reported by Sportsmail, the success of Premier League football contributed £7.6 billion to the UK economy during the 2019/20 season, which was suspended for more than three months due to the pandemic.
Premier League Chief Executive Richard Masters said: 'Our clubs produce exciting, competitive football featuring the best players and managers in the world, which is followed by billions of fans globally and supporters filling stadiums each week.
'This success and popularity enables us to continue investing in the competition and provide unparalleled support to the whole game and communities, ensuring the positive impact of the Premier League is felt far beyond what we see on the pitch.'
The report, published today, is a 'tour de force' for the top flight.
It comes at a time that the league is fighting a rear-guard action against proposals for the creation of an independent regulator for football, which would shift power from the Premier League, EFL and FA to a new body.
The regulator has been recommended in an extensive, fan-led review of football governance by former sports minister and Conservative MP, Tracey Crouch.
The League and its clubs generated a total tax contribution of £3.6 billion to the UK Exchequer in 2019/20, £1.4 billion of which was accounted for by Premier League players, according to the new analysis.
The success of the Premier League is underpinned by its global appeal.
Overseas TV income in the Covid-affected season was £1.4BN, almost half of the UK's total earnings from television programmes sold abroad in 2019-20. It was also more than double the overseas TV income of the other four major European football leagues added together, which amounted to £1.2BN.
The annual report concludes that the popularity of English football among international fans stems from its competitive nature. While financial
