Premier League's TV contract extends to 208 countries

The Premier League's overseas television contract, worth an incredible £2.7 billion over the next three years, is spread over a staggering total of 208 nations.

Lately, we've seen how much the Asian fans love English football with the pre-season visits of Premiership clubs to their continent. Indeed, the Asians have played a big part in this phenomenal rise in popularity of the English game.

The Premiership has reached a level whereby most of the world's leading players are keen on playing in England. No individual can jump off the bandwagon and make a big difference... the English game is the top attraction nowadays.

Manchester United's success last season showed that the Premiership will never be a one-horse race following back-to-back titles for Chelsea.

The 2007-08 campaign could be more balanced with other clubs in the chase for glory.

Yet, as was to be expected, there has also been an increase in players' wages. The latest top salary is that handed out by Chelsea to their skipper John Terry, who will receive a hefty pay packet of £135,000 a week.

The media campaigns which urged clubs to see this fortuitous TV windfall as a chance to cut spiralling seat prices fell on deaf ears. Only a handful of clubs have decided to slash ticket prices.

Foreign owners

FA Premier chief executive Richard Scudamore believes that the growing number of foreign owners is beneficial for the Premier League.

At present, nine of England's 20 top-flight clubs are owned by overseas investors.

Scudamore suggested that foreign investors would bring a "new level of professionalism".

Shirt makers and sponsors

The 20 clubs in the Premiership will don their sponsored shirts as follows:

Arsenal - Nike; Emirates.
Aston Villa - Nike; 32red.
Birmingham - Umbro; F&C Investments.
Blackburn - Umbro; Bet 24.
Bolton - Reebok; Reebok.

Chelsea - Adidas; Samsung.
Derby - Adidas; Derbyshire Building Society.
Everton - Umbro; Chang Beer.
Fulham - Nike; LG.
Liverpool - Adidas; Carlsberg.

Manchester City - Le Coq Sportif; Thomas Cook.
Manchester United - Nike; AIG.
Middlesbrough - Errea; Garmin.
Newcastle - Adidas; Northern Rock.
Portsmouth - Canterbury; Oki.

Reading - Puma; Kyocera.
Sunderland - Umbro; boylesport.com
Tottenham - Puma; Mansion Casino.
West Ham - Umbro; XL Airways.
Wigan Athletic - Umbro; JJB Sport.

Arsenal
Manager: Arsene Wenger.
Ins: Lukasz Fabianski (Poland), gk from Legia Warsaw - £1.5m; Niklas Bendtner, fwd from Birmingham - end of loan; Havard Nordveit (Norway), def from FK Haugesund - £2m; Eduardo da Silva (Croatia), fwd from Dinamo Zagreb - £16.25m; Bacary Sagna (France), def from Auxerre - £6m; Pedro (Brazil), mf from Figueirense - £1.2m; Angel di Maria (Argentina), fwd from Rosario Central - £2m.

Aston Villa
Manager: Martin O'Neill.
Ins: Nigel Reo-Coker, mf from West Ham - £8.5m; Harry Forrester, 16, mf from Watford - £500,000; Marlon Harewood, fwd from West Ham - £3.75m; Eric Lichaj (US), def from Chicago Magic - free.

Birmingham City
Manager: Steve Bruce.
Ins: Fabrice Muamba, mf from Arsenal - £4m; Stuart Parnaby, mf from Middlesbrough - free; Garry O'Connor, fwd from Lok. Moscow - £2.65m; Richard Kingston (Ghana), gk from Antalyaspor - £600,000; Olivier Kapo (France), mf from Juventus - £3m; Rafael Schmitz (Brazil), def from Lille - loan; Daniel de Ridder (Holland), fwd from Celta Vigo - free; Frank Queudrue, def from Fulham - £2.5m; Liam Ridgewell, def from Aston Villa - £2m.

Blackburn Rovers
Manager: Mark Hughes.
Ins: Maceo Rigters (Holland), fwd from NAC Breda - £900,000; Gunnar Nielson (Denmark), gk from BK Frem - £250,000; Roque Santa Cruz (Paraguay), fwd from Bayern Munich - £3.5m.

Bolton Wanderers
Manager: Sammy Lee.
Ins: Zoltan Harsanyi*, fwd from FC Senec - £500,000; J. Lloyd Samuel, def from Aston Villa - free; Gerald Cid (France), def from Bordeaux - free; Gavin McCann, mf from Aston Villa - £1m; Danny Guthrie, mf from Liverpool - loan; Blerim Dzemaili (Macedonia), mf from FC Zurich - £600,000; Mikel Alonso (Spain), mf from Real Sociedad - loan; Heidar Helguson, fwd from Fulham - £1; Christian Wilhelmsson (Sweden) from Nantes - loan; Daniel Braaten (Norway), fwd from Rosenborg - £500,000.

Chelsea
Manager: Jose Mourinho.
Ins: Danny Philliskirk, 16, mf from Oldham - £500,000; Claudio Pizarro (Peru), fwd from Bayern Munich - free; Steve Sidwell, mf from Reading - free; Ben Gordon, mf from Leeds - £1.5m; Tal Ben Haim, def from Bolton - free; Jacob Mellis, fwd from Sheffield United - £1.3m; Florent Malouda (France), mf from Lyon - £13m; Alex (Brazil), def from PSV Eindhoven - end of loan.

Derby County
Manager: Billy Davies.
Ins: Robert Earnshaw, fwd from Norwich - £3.5m; Claude Davis (Jamaica), def from Sheffield United - £3m; Tyrone Mears, def from West Ham - £1m; Andy Todd, def from Blackburn - free; Lewis Price, gk from Ipswich - £600,000; Andy Griffin, def from Portsmouth - £700,000.

Everton
Manager: David Moyes.
Ins: Phil Jagielka, mf from Sheffield United - £4m; Steven Pienaar (South Africa), mf from Borussia Dortmund - loan.

Fulham
Manager: Lawrie Sanchez.
Ins: Aaron Hughes, def from Aston Villa - £1m; Steven Davis, mf from Aston Villa - £4m; Diomansy Kamara, fwd from West Brom - £6m; Chris Baird, def from Southampton - £3m; Lee Cook, fwd from QPR - £2.5m; Paul Konchesky, def from West Ham - £3.25m; David Healy, fwd from Leeds - £1.5m; Adrian Leijer (Australia), def from Melbourne Victory - free.

Liverpool
Manager: Rafael Benitez.
Ins: Andriy Voronin (Ukraine), fwd from B. Leverkusen - free; Andras Simon (Hungary), fwd from MTK Hungaria - £250,000; Krisztian Nemeth (Hungary), fwd from MTK Hungaria - £250,000; Lucas Leiva (Brazil), mf from Gremio - £6.5m; Alexander Kocaniklic (Sweden), mf from Helsingborg - £300,000; Nikolay Mihaylov (Bulgaria), gk from Levski Sofia - £1m; Ben Robinson, 14, gk from Notts County - £500,000; Fernando Torres (Spain), fwd from Atletico Madrid - £20.5m; Dani Pacheco (Spain), 16, from Barcelona - £450,000; Mihail Alexandrov (Bulgaria), 16, mf from CSKA Sofia - £500,000; Yossi Benayoun, mf from West Ham - £5m; Mikel San Jose (Spain), 18 from Ath Bilbao - £270,000. David Amoo, 17, fwd from Millwall - £500,000; Ryan Babel (Holland), fwd from Ajax - £11.5m; Ryan Crowther, mf from Colchester - £450,000; Sebastian Leto (Argentina), fwd from Lanus - £2m.

Manchester City
Manager: Sven-Goran Eriksson.
Ins: Rolando Bianchi (Italy), fwd from Reggina - £8.8m; Gelson Fernandes (Switzerland), mf from FC Sion - £3.5m; Geovanni (Brazil), mf from Cruzeiro - free; Martin Petrov (Bulgaria), fwd from Atletico Madrid - £4.7m; Elano (Brazil), mf from Shakhtar Donetsk - £8m; Javier Garrido (Spain), def from Real Sociedad - £1.5m; Vedran Corluka (Croatia), def from Dinamo Zagreb - £7m; Valeri Bojinov (Bulgaria), fwd from Fiorentina - £7m.

Manchester United
Manager: Alex Ferguson.
Ins: Owen Hargreaves, mf from Bayern Munich - £20.2m; Anderson (Brazil), mf from FC Porto - £20.4m; Nani (Portugal), fwd from Sporting Lisbon - £17.3m; Tomasz Kusczak*, gk from West Brom - £2m; Carlos Tevez, fwd from West Ham - £2m (two-season loan period).

Middlesbrough
Manager: Gareth Southgate.
Ins: Jonathan Woodgate, def from Real Madrid - £7m; Jeremie Aliadiere, fwd from Arsenal - £2m; Tuncay Sanli (Turkey), fwd from Fenerbahce - free; Luke Young, def from Charlton - £2.5m.

Newcastle United
Manager: Sam Allardyce.
Ins: Oguchi Onyewu*, def from Standard Liege - £500,000; Joey Barton, mf from Manchester City - £5.8m; Geremi, mf from Chelsea - free; David Rozehnal (Czech Rep.), def from Paris St Germain - £2.9m; Mark Viduka, fwd from Middlesbrough - free; Alan Smith, fwd from Manchester United - £6m; Claudio Cacapa (Brazil), def from Lyon - free; Jose Enrique (Spain), def from Villarreal - £4m.

Portsmouth
Manager: Harry Redknapp.
Ins: Sylvain Distin, def from Manchester City - free; Hermann Hreidarsson, def from Charlton - free; Sulley Muntari (Ghana), mf from Udinese - £7m; Martin Cranie, def from Southampton - £1m; Arnold Mvuemba*, mf from Rennes - £1.5m; David Nugent, fwd from Preston - £6m; John Utaka (Nigeria), fwd from Rennes - £7m; Paris Cowan-Hall, fwd from Rushden - £500,000; Callum Reynolds, def from Rushden - £500,000.

Reading
Manager: Steve Coppell.
Ins: Kalifa Cisse (France), mf from Boavista - £1m; Andre Bikey*, def from Lok Moscow - £1.15m; South Korean youth internationals Nam Taehee, Ji Dongwon (forwards), Kim Wonsik (midfielder) from Korean FA - season loan; Emerse Fae (Ivory Coast), mf from Nantes - £2.5m.

Sunderland
Manager: Roy Keane.
Ins: Greg Halford, def from Reading - £3m; Russell Anderson, def from Aberdeen - £1m; Michael Chopra, fwd from Cardiff - £5m; Dickson Etuhu, mf from Norwich - £1.5m; Kieran Richardson, fwd from Manchester United - £5.5m; Paul McShane, def from West Brom - £1.5m.

Tottenham Hotspur
Manager: Martin Jol.
Ins: Gareth Bale, def from Southampton - £10m; Adel Taarabt*, mf from Lens - £1m; Yuri Berchiche (Spain), 17, def from Athletic Bilbao - £500,000; Darren Bent, fwd from Charlton - £16.5m; Younes Kaboul (France), def from Auxerre - £8m; Kevin-Prince Boateng (Germany), mf from Hertha Berlin - £5.4m; Danny Rose, 17, mf from Leeds - £350,000.

West Ham United
Manager: Alan Curbishley.
Ins: Scott Parker, mf from Newcastle - £7m; Julien Faubert (France), mf from Bordeaux - £6.1m; Richard Wright, gk from Everton - free; Craig Bellamy, fwd from Liverpool - £7.5m; Freddie Ljungberg, mf from Arsenal - £3m.

Wigan Athletic
Manager: Chris Hutchings.
Ins: Titus Bramble, def from Newcastle - free; Antoine Sibierski, fwd from Newcastle - free; Mario Melchiot, def from Rennes - free; Andreas Granqvist*, def from Helsingborg - £630,000; Carlo Nash, gk from Preston - £300,000; Jason Koumas, mf from West Brom - £5.3m; Michael Brown, mf from Fulham - £2m.

* Denotes that player was on loan before and has now signed permanently. Only loans for a period of a whole season are included.