2008–09 Premier League
Template:Future sport The 2008–09 Premier League season (known as the Barclays Premier League for sponsorship reasons) will be the seventeenth since its establishment. Manchester United are the defending champions, having won their 17th league title on the final day of the previous season. It will begin on Saturday August 16th 2008, and will end in May of 2009.[citation needed] A total of 20 teams will contest the league, 17 of which will have contested in the 2007-08 season, and three of which will have been promoted from the Football League Championship (the league immediately below the Premier League). Starting with this season, clubs will now be allowed to name seven substitutes on the bench instead of five.[1]
Promotion and Relegation
Teams promoted from 2007-08 Football League Championship:
- Champions West Bromwich Albion
- Runners up Stoke City
- One from among these teams in the play-offs: Bristol City, Hull City, Watford, Crystal Palace
Teams relegated to 2008-09 Football League Championship:
League Table
In the table are the clubs guaranteed of playing in the 2008-09 Premier League -1st to 4th (plus holder, which an english club will win) qualifying a ECL -5th to 7th (plus FA Cup and Carling Cup, if English club winning a cup) qualifying UEFA Cup
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One of the following four clubs - Bristol City, Crystal Palace, Hull City or Watford - will contest the 2008-09 Premiership via means of a promotion from the 2007-08 Football League Championship playoff.
Kits
Nine teams have already announced new kits for 2008/09.
- Arsenal will have a modified version of the red home kit, made by Nike and sponsored by Emirates. They will also have a new away kit, rumoured to be yellow and blue, with the current white away kit becoming the third kit.
- Chelsea will have a new version of their blue home set made by adidas and sponsored by Samsung (with the full company sponsoring instead of their mobile phone division). This kit will debut in the final match of the 07-08 season. They will also have a new away kit, rumoured to be yellow with blue trim and a new third kit, rumoured to be black with white trim.
- Liverpool will have a new version of their red home kit made by adidas and sponsored by Carlsberg. They debuted the new kit in their final home game of the 07-08 season. They will also have a new away kit, rumoured to be grey with red trim and a new third kit, rumoured to be green.
- Manchester United will have a new modified home shirt and also will have a new white away kit, with the current black away kit becoming the third kit.
- Middlesbrough will have a new home kit designed by Errea, with a new swoosh on the white chestband and white trim down the sides.
- Portsmouth will have new home and away kits designed by Canterbury of New Zealand, with a new club crest.
- Stoke City will have a new kit designed by Le Coq Sportif.
- Sunderland will have a new kit designed by Umbro with a new shirt design and the traditional red socks replacing black. The new away shirt will be black and blue stripes with last seasons away shirt becoming the 3rd shirt.
- Tottenham Hotspur will have a newly modified home, away and completely new third/UEFA Cup kit designed by Puma. The away shirt will be blue and the 3rd kit will be black.
In addition, Blackburn Rovers will have a new kit sponsor in Crown Paints, replacing Bet 24, while Aston Villa have announced that they are going to forgo £2 million from current sponsor 32Red and have the Acorns Children's Hospice charity on their shirts for the season. [2]
See also
