It’s a strategy already adopted by France’s Ligue 1, while the German Bundesliga has resisted temptation to expand. So could the English Premier League join them in the 18-team club? We’re in an era of more is more: more games equal more revenue for everyone, after all. The Champions League has expanded in size, the Club World Cup has expanded, the European Championship has expanded and the FIFA World Cup in 2026 will be the first edition to feature 48 teams, instead of the traditional 36.
So reducing the number of clubs in the Premier League would certainly be a-typical, and perhaps not something that had ever been considered before… until the expansion of continental and international football changed the landscape. As mentioned, other prominent leagues – including France’s Ligue 1 – have reduced in size from 20 clubs to 18 in a bid to tackle fixture congestion. Could the Premier League be next?
Changing Shape
For the time being at least, Premier League chief executive, Richard Masters, will try to resist the urge to downsize. He said.
Since 1994 the Premier League has been 380 matches, 20 clubs. We haven’t changed shape at all. Now we are now starting to redesign our domestic calendar at the altar of European and global expansion.
The ‘redesign’ Masters speaks of is the scrapping of FA Cup replays, as well as the splitting of the Carabao Cup third round over separate gameweeks, to combat the extra fixtures played in UEFA’s three flagship competitions.
The encroachment on the domestic campaign posed by the Club World Cup is another contentious issue. Chelsea will have just three weeks between winning the CWC in scorching American heat and their opening game of the Premier League season in 2025/26. Masters remarked:
When you finish a tournament in mid-July and have to provide the players with three weeks’ break, there is only a week to go before the start of the season. It doesn’t add up. It puts us in unnecessary conflict with our own clubs.
For context, Cole Palmer played 60 games during the 2024/25 season for club and country. He will have three weeks before he’s asked to spearhead Chelsea’s assault on the Premier League and the Champions League… not to mention England’s World Cup bid in 2026 after yet another heavy schedule.
Is it any wonder that the best players are unable to deliver their finest form week in, week out? A reduction of the Premier League from 20 teams to 18 would mean that clubs play four fewer games, which would free up more ‘rest’ weeks for players. Food for thought in the current climate…
Those in Support
Here’s another interesting aside: if the Premier League did have just 18 clubs, those involved would be able to claim a larger share of the prize money pot, as well as the TV revenue that is often used to offset transfer spending. Again, that might just appeal to the biggest clubs – the cabal of powerhouses – for whom relegation is of no concern.
Some notable figures have called for the reduction to 18 clubs. David Dein is the former co-owner of Arsenal who also played a key role in the formation of the Premier League more than three decades ago – he claimed that the EPL was originally ‘mandated’ to be an 18-team division. Dein commented.
When we formed the Premier League, it was mandated to be an 18-club league. Immediately, with the stroke of a pen, you save four games with an 18-club league.
With 18 clubs splitting the television money instead of 20, each club would earn another £15m. They need to think about that.
Former Crystal Palace owner, Simon Jordan, has claimed that an 18-team Premier League is ‘something that certain clubs would like’… and would probably vote for should EPL chiefs ever put the idea out to its members. Bizarrely, there were also reports in 2024 that FIFA wanted to impose 18-team leagues as a mandated rule – in a bid to grease the wheels of its own Club World Cup.
With players at the big clubs now only getting one summer off in four, something has to give. Whether it’s a reduction in Premier League clubs, or something more radical – such as scrapping the League Cup altogether – you sense that a major change is afoot.
Why Does Ligue 1 Only Have 18 Teams?
It was revealed back in the summer of 2021 that Ligue 1 would be reduced from 20 clubs to 18. The reason given, quite specifically, was that players were being asked to play too many games in a season – particularly those competing in UEFA’s continental competitions.
What was compelling about the change was that 19 of the 20 member clubs of Ligue 1 voted in favour of the reduction – the only team to vote against, Metz, was one of those most at danger of being relegated to the second tier. An increase in revenue was another reason, with a cut of the TV money far outweighing the financial loss of two matchdays in the calendar.
But the change did not come without a cost. At the end of the 2022/23 season, four teams were relegated from Ligue 1 and only two promoted from the second tier, while since only two teams are relegated automatically each term – the side that finishes sixteenth plays the third-placed finisher in Ligue 2 in a promotion/relegation playoff.
Why Does the German Bundesliga Have 18 Teams?
Back in 1965, the German Bundesliga was expanded from 16 teams to 18. It has remained that size ever since. Ironically, the debate for Bundesliga chiefs has long been the opposite of the Premier League’s problem: should we expand to 20 teams?
The German Football League (DFL), who are responsible for the operation of the Bundesliga, have yet to show any real interest in an expansion. It was debated in 2015, when a working party returned a verdict that the costs of expanding the league – both financial and competitive – would be greater than the benefits gained.
