Football: New English Premier League Seaso

By Prof Dr Ian Blackshaw

The 31^st English Premier League season 2022-2023 begins on 5 August 2022.

This is earlier than usual because of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, which will take place from 21 November – 18 December 2022 and in which 32 countries will compete.

During this time, the English Premier League will take a break, and it will be interesting to see how the League fares as a result!

Also, for the new season, there will be some new rules.

The most important change is that each team will be able to make five substitutions (up from three) per game, from a bench of nine players, including the option to make them at half-time, after which no further substitutions may be made.

Also, players may only take the knee before selected games.

Further, the League will introduce a multi-ball system (10 balls in total) to reduce delays when the ball is out of play.

One familiar team will be missing during the new season, namely Burnley, and there are, of course, some new signings, including the 22-year-old Norwegian striker, Erling Haarland, from Borussia Dortmund to Manchester City, the current League champions.

Interestingly, despite the economic crisis, the League and its twenty clubs have, it is reported, contributed £3.3 billion in taxes to the UK Treasury; supported100,000 jobs; contributed to tourism with 686,000 people travelling to the UK to watch a League club; and added £7.6 billion to the value of the UK economy.

Impressive financial statistics indeed!

Prof Dr Ian Blackshaw may be contacted by e-mail at ‘This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.’