Football fans all over the world will be counting down the days until the start of the new Premier League season on August 13^th. In England, football has always been a massive part of British culture and studying in the UK will give you the chance to witness and be part of it. The Premier League is the most watched football league in the world, and the average match attendance is over 36,000. Despite the British love affair with football, the players and managers in the Premier League represent a large number of different nationalities which adds to the worldwide appeal of the sport. As well as having many English players, the most represented nations in the Premier League are France, Spain, Holland and Belgium.

This season welcomes the return of José Mourinho who will be managing Manchester United, as well as the high profile management additions of Pep Guardiola (Manchester City) and Antonio Conte (Chelsea). There is of course the Premier League Champions Leicester City, and the newly promoted sides; Burnley, Middlesbrough, and Hull City. Some of the world’s biggest stars will be coming up against each other on a weekly basis – with the likes of Wayne Rooney, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Sergio Agüero and Mesut Özil sure to provide plenty of entertainment!

The capital city London is surrounded by many universities and football teams, there are five London clubs currently playing in the Premier League; the most famous being Arsenal and Chelsea. The Gunners (Arsenal) will be looking to win their first title since 2004, and Chelsea will be hoping to return to the Champions League next season. The other London clubs are Tottenham, West Ham and Crystal Palace, who have all made good progress in recent years. One of the other main cities in England is Manchester, and they have two of the top football teams in the country. Manchester United and Manchester City will be amongst the teams going head to head to win the title. Manchester United play at Old Trafford, which is the largest club stadium of any football team in the UK with a capacity of 75,000, and is a top tourist destination for many of our students either for a stadium tour or to join the stands and cheer the team on match day.

Every weekend thousands of fans go to stadiums or watch their team on television and no matter where you are going to university, you are likely to get caught up in the excitement and drama. The Premier League will be shown regularly in pubs and bars all across the country; although English football also extends beyond the Premier League and some of the top UK cities and university destinations don’t have a team in the Premier League but still have a song football following. This includes cities such as Birmingham, Leeds, Nottingham and Sheffield. On top of this the university you attend will have a local team, so the football culture will never be too far away!