⚽ Breaking
  • Arsenal host Fulham in crucial Premier League clash
  • Liverpool target Nico Schlotterbeck in £42m deal
  • Salah delivers masterclass in Liverpool's 2-0 win over Newcastle
  • Evan Ferguson linked with West Ham amid Arsenal interest
  • Barcelona eyeing Thomas Partey in summer swoop
  • Arsenal vs Nottingham Forest – Top 4 six-pointer this weekend
  • Arsenal host Fulham in crucial Premier League clash
  • Liverpool target Nico Schlotterbeck in £42m deal
  • Salah delivers masterclass in Liverpool's 2-0 win over Newcastle
  • Evan Ferguson linked with West Ham amid Arsenal interest
  • Barcelona eyeing Thomas Partey in summer swoop
  • Arsenal vs Nottingham Forest – Top 4 six-pointer this weekend

Premier League & Champions League FAQ

Clear answers to the questions football fans search most, covering Premier League rules, transfer windows, the new Champions League format, and how to follow every fixture with us.

Premier League basics

The Premier League consists of 20 teams. At the end of each season, the bottom three clubs are relegated to the EFL Championship and replaced by three promoted clubs.

Each club plays 38 matches per season — one home and one away fixture against every other team in the league. 

The three clubs finishing at the bottom of the Premier League table (18th, 19th, and 20th) are relegated to the Championship. They are replaced by the Championship’s top two automatically promoted sides plus the winner of the play-off final between the third-, fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-placed teams. 

Premier League fixtures are typically played on weekends, with kick-offs commonly at 12:30, 15:00, 17:30, and occasionally 14:00 or 16:30 (UK time) on Saturdays and Sundays. Midweek rounds usually kick off at 19:45 or 20:00. For upcoming fixtures involving specific clubs, check our Arsenal, Liverpool, or Chelsea team pages. 

Teams earn 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, and 0 points for a loss. Final league position is decided by total points, then goal difference, then goals scored if teams are still level. 

Manchester United and Manchester City are among the most successful clubs in Premier League history, with United having historically led the all-time title count. Check our Premier League section for the latest standings and title race coverage, or head straight to our Manchester United and Manchester City pages for club-specific news.

The Premier League is widely regarded as the world’s most competitive and financially powerful domestic league, alongside Spain’s La Liga, Germany’s Bundesliga, Italy’s Serie A, and France’s Ligue 1. 

Transfers & Transfer Windows

The Premier League summer transfer window traditionally closes at the end of August (typically 11pm UK time on deadline day), though exact dates are confirmed by the Premier League each year. 

The winter transfer window usually opens on 1 January and closes on 31 January (or the following working day if it falls on a weekend). 

No, clubs cannot register new signings once a transfer window has closed, with rare exceptions such as free agents (out-of-contract players) or emergency loan signings in specific circumstances.

A medical is a series of fitness and health assessments a player undergoes with their new club before a transfer is finalised, checking for injury risks or fitness concerns. 

“Here we go” is a phrase popularised by journalist Fabrizio Romano, used to confirm that a transfer deal is fully agreed and imminent, rather than just being negotiated. Follow our Transfer News section for the latest confirmed and rumoured deals. 

A loan allows a player to temporarily join another club while remaining under contract with their parent club. Loans can include options or obligations to buy permanently at the end of the loan period. 

Spending varies season to season, but clubs competing for Champions League places or fighting relegation are typically the most active. Our Transfer News hub tracks the latest activity across Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Tottenham, Newcastle, and Aston Villa. 

Yes — European giants such as Real Madrid and Barcelona regularly target Premier League players, and their transfer interest is a recurring storyline in our Transfer News coverage.  

UEFA Champions League

The Champions League league phase features 36 teams. Twenty-nine qualify directly through their domestic league position or cup wins, and the remaining seven come through a qualifying and play-off route held in July and August. Follow the latest fixtures and results in our Champions League section.

Since the 2024/25 season, the Champions League has replaced its old group stage with a single 36-team “league phase” (also called the Swiss model). Instead of being split into groups of four, all 36 clubs are ranked in one combined table. Each team plays eight matches — four at home, four away — against eight different opponents, rather than the old six-game, three-opponent group format. 

League phase standings decide three outcomes: the top 8 teams advance directly to the round of 16, teams ranked 9th–24th enter a two-legged knockout play-off round for the remaining round of 16 spots, and teams ranked 25th–36th are eliminated from Europe entirely, with no drop into the Europa League. 

Under the current league phase format, each club plays 8 league phase matches. Teams that finish 9th–24th play 2 additional play-off matches to reach the round of 16. 

Premier League clubs typically qualify by finishing in the top four to six positions in the table, depending on England’s current UEFA coefficient ranking, plus an additional route for the reigning Champions League or Europa League winner if they finish outside the automatic qualification places domestically. Track the race for Champions League places all season in our Premier League coverage. 

The number varies by season based on UEFA’s coefficient rankings, which can allow more than the traditional four Premier League clubs to qualify in a given year, alongside any English side that qualifies automatically as Champions League or Europa League title holders. See which English clubs are competing in Europe via our Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea, and Newcastle pages. 

The Champions League features Europe’s strongest clubs based on domestic league finishes and cup wins, while the Europa League is the second-tier continental competition for clubs that narrowly miss out on Champions League qualification. The Champions League is considered the higher-prestige and financially bigger competition.  

Since the switch to the league phase format, teams finishing in the bottom 12 (25th–36th) are eliminated from European competition altogether for that season, with no safety net into the Europa League, unlike the old group-stage system. 

Paris Saint-Germain won the 2025–26 UEFA Champions League, beating Arsenal 4–3 on penalties after a 1–1 draw in the final at the Puskás Aréna in Budapest, becoming the second club — after Real Madrid — to retain the title in the Champions League era. Relive the tournament and follow the next campaign in our Champions League hub. 

The Champions League runs from early July, when qualifying rounds begin, through to a final in late May or early June the following year. The league phase itself typically runs from September to January, with the knockout rounds — from the play-off round through to the final — played between February and June. 

UEFA selects Champions League final host stadiums several years in advance through a bidding process open to top-tier venues across UEFA member associations. 

No. Once a club qualifies for the league phase, they are guaranteed to play out their full fixture list. Elimination only affects progression to the knockout rounds, not participation in already-scheduled league phase matches. 

Round of 16 seeding is determined by league phase finishing position: the 8 teams that qualified directly are seeded against the 8 winners of the knockout play-off round, with the highest-ranked league phase team facing the lowest-ranked play-off winner, and so on down the list.

Other Competitions

World Cup qualification varies by confederation (UEFA, CONMEBOL, CAF, etc.), with teams competing in regional qualifying groups or play-offs over roughly two years to earn a place at the finals tournament. Follow England’s route through qualifying and the tournament itself in our World Cup section. 

Since the 2026 tournament, the FIFA World Cup finals feature 48 teams, expanded from the previous 32-team format. Catch all the latest World Cup news, previews, and player analysis on our site. 

La Liga, Serie A, and the Bundesliga are domestic leagues contested by clubs within a single country, while the Champions League is a continental competition bringing together the best-performing clubs from all of these leagues each season. 

Rules & Terminology

VAR (Video Assistant Referee) is a video review system used to assist on-field referees with decisions on goals, penalties, red cards, and cases of mistaken identity. VAR is used across the Premier League, Champions League, and World Cup. 

A player is offside if they are nearer to the opponent’s goal line than both the ball and the second-last opponent (usually the last defender) at the moment the ball is played to them, and are involved in active play. 

Premier League clubs can name up to nine substitutes on the bench and use a maximum of five substitutions during a match (across three stoppages in play, plus half-time). 

In league matches, a draw stands and both teams receive 1 point each. Cup competitions and knockout rounds of the Champions League typically use extra time and penalty shootouts to determine a winner if a match is level after 90 minutes. 

Following the Action

Visit our Transfer News category for daily updates on rumours, deals, and confirmed signings. 

Check our Premier League section for team news, predicted line-ups, and match predictions ahead of every fixture. 

Our dedicated Champions League section covers the league phase table, knockout draws, and match analysis throughout the season. 

Browse our team-specific pages — including Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham, Newcastle, and Aston Villa — for the latest club-specific coverage.

Yes. Alongside the Premier League, we cover La Liga, the Bundesliga, Serie A, and Europe’s biggest clubs including Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Visit our Football History category for retrospectives on classic matches, iconic upsets, and past World Cup tournaments. 

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