Big Six (Premier League)

Location of the Big Six in England

The Big Six is an informal term used to describe a group of six clubs in the Premier League—Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, and Tottenham Hotspur—often recognized for their sustained success and financial strength in the competition.[1][2] While not an official designation, clubs in this group have typically accounted for at least half of the total annual revenue generated by Premier League clubs since 2004.[3]

The concept first emerged in the 1980s as the Big Five, comprising Arsenal, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United, and Tottenham Hotspur.[1] These clubs dominated between around 1985 and 1991. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, a duopoly formed between Manchester United and Arsenal due to their dominance in league titles.[4][5] This Big Two was the dominant force of English football from around 1997 and 2003. The term Big Four gained prominence in the early 2000s when Chelsea and Liverpool consistently finished in the league's top four, with the clubs dominating between 2004 and 2009.[4][6] By the early 2010s, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur were regularly competing at the top end of the table, leading to the informal expansion into the Big Six.[7][8] The Big Six would dominate the Premier League from 2010 to 2022. As of 2025, the Premier League title was won by a Big Six club in every season since its foundation except in the 1994–95 and 2015–16 seasons which were won by Blackburn Rovers and Leicester City respectively.[9] Of the Big Six, only Tottenham Hotspur have never won a Premier League title since its foundation.[9]

History

Finishing places of the Big Six in the Premier League since 2009
Season ARS CHE LIV MCI MUN TOT
2009–10 3 1 7 5 2 4
2010–11 4 2 6 3 1 5
2011–12 3 6 8 1 2 4
2012–13 4 3 7 2 1 5
2013–14 4 3 2 1 7 6
2014–15 3 1 6 2 4 5
2015–16 2 10 8 4 5 3
2016–17 5 1 4 3 6 2
2017–18 6 5 4 1 2 3
2018–19 5 3 2 1 6 4
2019–20 8 4 1 2 3 6
2020–21 8 4 3 1 2 7
2021–22 5 3 2 1 6 4
2022–23 2 12 5 1 3 8
2023–24 2 6 3 1 8 5
2024–25 2 4 1 3 15 17
  League champions
  Champions League
  Europa League
  Conference League

Origins

Before the 1980s the elite of English football would regularly fluctuate. Despite this, teams could go through lengthy periods of success, such as Huddersfield Town winning the First Division three times in a row between 1924 and 1926 and Nottingham Forest winning the European Cup consecutively in both 1979 and 1980.[10][11] However, it was much rarer for teams to dominate the top positions over lengthy periods. For example, in the 1960s, there were seven different First Division winners, compared with four in the 1980s and three in the 2000s.[12]

In the 1980s, a Big Five—consisting of Manchester United, Liverpool, Everton, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur—emerged.[13][14] The clubs dominated major competitions in the 1980s. Three of the clubs (Arsenal, Everton and Liverpool) dominated the First Division title during this period.[15] In October 1990, representatives of the Big Five met with media executive Greg Dyke to discuss the foundation of the Premier League, leading to its establishment in 1992.[16][14]

Manchester United finished first in five of the first seven seasons, and second in the other two. Following the appointment of Arsène Wenger as its head coach in 1996, Arsenal began to engage in higher levels of competitiveness with Manchester United, with the two clubs dominating the Premier League's top-two positions between 1998 and 2003. As a result, they were recognized as the Big Two of the Premier League by mainstream media.[17][4] Manchester United won five league titles (1999–2000, 2000–01, 2002–03, 2006–07, 2007–08), while Arsenal secured two (2001–02, 2003–04).[9] Arsenal's unbeaten 2003–04 season led to the nickname "The Invincibles," the only team to achieve this in the Premier League era.[18]

Emergence of the Big Four (2000s)

Liverpool began to challenge the Big Two from 2001, due to their "treble" win of the UEFA Cup, Football League Cup and FA Cup, along with its striker Michael Owen winning the Ballon d'Or the same year, in addition to the club finishing in the top six of the Premier League in the early 2000s consistently.[17] However, the Big Two continued to dominate in the Premier League. The following year, Liverpool finished second, becoming the first club outside the Big Two since Newcastle United in 1997 to finish in the top two of the Premier League, though the Big Two would dominate the top two places once more the following season.

In 2003, Chelsea was bought by Russian businessman Roman Abramovich in 2003, something which guided the club to improved performances and higher recognition. That, alongside Liverpool's increasing success, eventually formed a Big Four with Arsenal and Manchester United. Between 2004 and 2009, the Big Four dominated the top four of the Premier League, with Everton in 2005 being the only occurrence of a club outside the Big Four finishing in the top four during that time. From 2005 to 2012, the Big Four clubs appeared in seven of eight Champions League finals, with Liverpool, Manchester United, and Chelsea each winning one title, while Arsenal finished as runners-up in 2006.[19]

Emergence of the Big Six (2010s)

Following an acquisition by Abu Dhabi United Group and subsequent increase in spending funds, Manchester City started to purchase elite players and qualified for the UEFA Champions League in 2011, for the first time in its history as well as winning the Premier League title in the 2011–12 season.[17] Tottenham Hotspur, under the management of Harry Redknapp from 2009 to 2012, finished in 4th and 5th place consistently, leading to its addition to the Big Four with Manchester City to form the Big Six.[17][20] The 2010–11 season of the Premier League was the first time in the competition's history all six clubs finished in the top six.[13]

The Big Six dominated the finishing places of the top four in the Premier League between 2010 and 2022, with the 2015–16 season being the only one without a top-four finish by a Big Six club, as it ended with Leicester City becoming the champions for first time.[21] In seasons between 2010 and 2024, there were twelve occurrences of a Big Six club not finishing in the top six, and between 2019 and 2024, there was one season in which the Big Six clubs finished in the top six of the league, shifting from the 2016–17 to 2019–20 seasons, when the Big Six occupied all top-six places.[21]

European Super League and future of the Big Six (2020s)

In 2021, the European Super League (ESL), a competition created with the purpose of replacing the UEFA Champions League, was founded, consisting of the Big Six and six other clubs from Europe's Big Five leagues.[22][23] After receiving backlash from the UK government, the Football Association and the Premier League, the Big Six clubs withdrew their memberships from the ESL and were fined a total of £22 million by the latter two organizations, in addition to being subjected to potential penalties including a 30-point deduction and a fine of £25 million for future attempts of joining a similar league.[24] An independent fan-led regulatory body was subsequently formed by the government, tasking Premier League clubs with handling a substantial portion of its funding.[25]

In 2022 and 2023, the Big Six clubs each generated an annual revenue between £372 million to £713 million.[26] In 2021, the Big Six clubs' average spending on transfers was £50.9 million, more than twice the amount spent by any other club in the league.[27] The Herald described them as clubs with "the biggest bank balances and the biggest fanbases".[28] Since around 2023, there have been discussions about a potential successor to the Big Six.[4]

One successor that has been discussed is a Big Seven featuring the Big Six and Newcastle United, something which gained traction in early 2023 following the club's takeover by Saudi Arabia's public investment fund in October 2021.[29][30] In July 2024, Sky Sports began referring to the Big Seven rather than the Big Six.[31] Another potential successor that has been discussed is the Big Eight. The term first emerged around May 2023 referring to every Big Six club except Chelsea, Aston Villa, Brighton & Hove Albion and Newcastle United.[32] However, the term re-emerged in April 2024 consisting of Chelsea rather than Brighton.[33][34] In May 2025, an article was published on the Premier League website stating that the "strength of mid-tier clubs marks the end of the Big Six era".[35] In that same article, it also suggested that it is "reasonable now to talk about a Big Eight", before adding that "Brighton & Hove Albion might even challenge that".[35]

Rivalries

Multiple rivalries exist among the Big Six clubs. Arsenal has London-based rivalries with Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur, and league-based rivalries with Manchester City and Manchester United, while the club's relationship with Liverpool was noted as "friendly and sporting" by the Guardian.[36] The rivalries of Chelsea, in addition to Arsenal include Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham,[37] while Liverpool's rivalries encompass Manchester City and Manchester United, both of which share an intracity rivalry, known as the Manchester derby. Chelsea's rivalry with Manchester City emerged from the clubs' successes in the UEFA Champions League in the early 2020s.[38]

Players

Seven players have played for three or more Big Six clubs. Nicolas Anelka and Raheem Sterling are the only players to have played for four, both representing Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City, while Kolo Touré, William Gallas, Yossi Benayoun, Emmanuel Adebayor and Daniel Sturridge each played for three.[39][40] Since the foundation of the Premier League until August 2022, there were 77 player transfers between two Big Six clubs.[41]

List of footballers of three or more Big Six clubs
Player Clubs
ARS CHE LIV MCI MNU TOT
Emmanuel Adebayor 2006–2009 – – 2009–2012 – 2012–2015
Nicolas Anelka 1997–1999 2008–2012 2001–2002 2002–2005 – –
Yossi Benayoun 2011–2012 2010–2013 2007–2010 – – –
William Gallas 2006–2010 2001–2006 – – – 2010–2013
Raheem Sterling 2024–2025 2022– 2012–2015 2015–2022 – –
Daniel Sturridge – 2009–2013 2013–2019 2006–2009 – –
Kolo Touré 2002–2009 – 2013–2016 2009–2013 – –

Honours

As of 13 June 2025

Each club has won the Premier League or First Division at least once, with Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United winning it more than ten times.[9] Arsenal and Manchester United have won the FA Cup ten or more times,[42] while Liverpool has won the UEFA Champions League/European Cup and the UEFA Europa League/UEFA Cup titles the most among the Big Six.[43] The FA Community Shield has been won by Manchester United on twenty or more occasions.[44]

Premier League's Big Six[7]
Club Stadium Capacity City Manager Honours
L1 FA LC CS UCL UEL UECL UCW USC WC Total
Arsenal Emirates Stadium 60,704 London Mikel Arteta 13 14 2 17 0 0 0 1 0 0 47
Chelsea Stamford Bridge 40,173 London Enzo Maresca 6 8 5 4 2 2 1 2 2 1 33
Liverpool Anfield 61,276 Liverpool Arne Slot 20 8 10 16 6 3 0 0 4 1 68
Manchester City Etihad Stadium 52,900 Manchester Pep Guardiola 10 7 8 7 1 0 0 1 1 1 36
Manchester United Old Trafford 74,197 Manchester Ruben Amorim 20 13 6 21 3 1 0 1 1 2 68
Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Stadium 62,850 London Thomas Frank 2 8 4 7 0 3 0 1 0 0 25

See also

References

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