Football season started on Aug. 17, though many in Alabama were unaware of it. It started with a tweet of a whistle and a kick of a ball just like it always does—in the Barclay’s Premier League.

Soccer, though growing leaps and bounds in popularity here in the United States, is still a relatively unattractive sport to Americans.  So when the season began in mid-August many people probably did not take notice.  

The Premier League consists of the top 20 teams from across England and Wales.  Each of the 20 teams plays every other team twice, once at home and once away, ending in 38 games total.  A win earns a team three points, a draw earns each team one point and a loss earns nothing.  At the end of the season the bottom three teams are relegated or sent back down to the league just below the Premier League, and the top three teams from that league are promoted to the Premier League.

Television coverage in the U.S. of the Premier League has grown and expanded over the years. Just a year ago, ESPN televised games live on Saturday mornings and Monday afternoons while many of the other games could be found on Fox’s soccer-specific channel. This season NBC has picked up the coverage on their newly-launched NBC Sports channel, as well as NBC.

The Premier League is generally recognized as the best professional league in the sport, said Jennifer Osmond, a player on the university’s soccer team.

“The Premier League has a lot of the best players in the world,” Osmond said.  “And even some of the smaller teams produce a lot of young talent that then goes on to play for the (England) national team.”

Being the best professional league for the world’s most popular sport is no easy feat. Other professional leagues such as the Bundesliga in Germany or La Liga in Spain contain popular teams and world famous players, but those teams and players are head and shoulders above their respective competition, Jennifer Osmond said.

“In the Barclay’s Premier League every team from the top of the table to the bottom can be competitive on any given day,” said UNA soccer’s Melanie Leonida.  “The smaller clubs can compete with the larger clubs with all the money.”

One of the most popular clubs in the Premier League is defending champion Manchester United.  At the end of last season their head coach, Sir Alex Ferguson, retired after 27 years with the club.  Another club that consistently competes for the league title is Chelsea, and they brought back a former manager in Jose Mourinho.

Julia Osmond of UNA’s soccer team said these are big changes in the league this year.

“I’m a Southampton fan so I want to see them do well, but I think that Manchester United will repeat.”

Her sister, Jennifer, has some different predictions.

“I think Manchester City will win it all this year,” Osmond said.  “And I think Chelsea will flop. They have a lot of expectations and pressure to win this year but I don’t think they will win the league.”

Perhaps soccer will never be as popular here in America as it is everywhere else in the world, but Jennifer Osmond said there are plenty of reasons to pay attention to the Premier League.

“If you play the game and you want to get better, all you have to do is watch one of the matches and you can learn so much in just five minutes,” Osmond said.  “The talent level is so good in the league.”