It really is generally accepted that the first officially organised league competition on earth was the (English) Football League formed in 1888. Then, it contains 12 clubs most of whom were perfectly located at the North and also the Midlands of England. The 1st winners of the Football League Championship were Preston North End.

In 1992 with the influx of megabucks from BSkyB (now called Sky TV), the very best teams broke away to form their own league called the FA Premier League.

Today, the initial Football League has 3 divisions called; the Championship, Division 1 and Division 2.

To ensure that England today features a total of four professional football leagues, with teams moving up (promotion) or down (relegation) through the leagues depending on their points tally at the conclusion of each season.

The very first Football Association Cup (FA Cup)

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The very first FA Cup final was took part in England in 1872 between Royal Engineers and Wanderers before 2,000 spectators. Wanderers ran out 1-0 winners partly because Royal Engineers -- who have been the favourites -- lost a new player through injury, at the beginning of the match, coupled with to try out on with only 10 men since substitutes were not allowed then. The "Challenge Cup", since it was known originally, was the brainchild of Mr. C. W. Alcock of Sunderland who proposed merely the year before that "A challenge cup should be established associated with the Association"; the "Association" being the Football Association, hence the FA Cup.

The Oldest Football Club on earth

There have been many arguments on the oldest soccer club on earth. Here are a few things to consider though...

The oldest, continuously documented, "football" club on the planet is Dublin University Football Club, inside the Republic of Ireland, that has been founded in 1854. However, the club now plays Rugby Union, not Association Football. For this reason it isn't officially recognized as the oldest soccer club on earth.

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Sheffield Football team -- Sheffield FC -- founded in England in 1857, is recognised by the English FA and FIFA as being the oldest, continuously documented soccer club on the planet still playing Association Football. They play in the Northern Premier League Division 1 South in England. So they are often now recognised being the oldest football club on the planet.

But, there is documentation of your "football club" in Edinburgh, Scotland between 1824 and 1841. Several documents continue to exist today which reference the "Foot Ball Club" and it's really rules. It worked rather being a golf club where members selected teams using their membership to experience the other person. The club has been now been reconstituted and plays as of "The Foot Ball Club of Edinburgh" within an amateur capacity.

The initial International Football Match

The initial international football match was played between Scotland and England in Glasgow, Scotland on 30th November 1872, facing 4,000 spectators. The end result was a hard-fought 0-0 draw. As well as the 110 games played between 1872 and 1999 when the fixture was disbanded, Scotland had won 41, England 45, and 24 games had ended in a draw.

The initial Trainer's Dugout

The very first ever recorded use of a sunken covered enclosure beside the pitch (the dugout) is at early 1920s at Pittodrie Stadium, Aberdeen, Scotland. The trainer at the time, Donald Coleman, been there designed to protect himself as they took detailed notes of his players during matches, as was his practice, and, was partly sunken in to the ground so as not to block spectators' views of the game. Visiting teams were so impressed the idea soon spread throughout the united kingdom and therefore the rest of the world.