English football leagues and local competitions are highly followed worldwide. Clubs compete for titles and honors on a yearly basis. English clubs are located in 10 regions of England and Wales. The detailed representation of the clubs according to the regions is rarely discussed. Analysis is often restricted to club by club performances. This article presents the data analysis of regional distribution of football clubs in the English top flight or top division or top level from inception to the premier league era. Generally, there is a significant uneven distribution of club across the regions. The North West and West Midlands regions have been represented by clubs since the inception to date. Data analysis revealed that the early days of the English top level league were dominated by clubs from North West and London, whereas the regions of the East of England, South West and Wales are least represented in the top league. Also, there seems to be a ‘Southern shift’ in recent years with increased representation of clubs from Southern England. However, some balance is now maintained given that all the ten regions have been represented by at least one club over the last three seasons; 2016/17 to 2018/19.

football, England, English league, statistics, sports analytics.

Received: September 8, 2022; Accepted: November 21, 2022; Published: April 20, 2023

How to cite this article: Hilary I. Okagbue, Anthony C. Constantinou, Tomilayo P. Iyiola and Adedayo F. Adedotun, Statistical analysis of regional distribution of football clubs in English top flight league, Advances and Applications in Statistics 87(1) (2023), 43-60. http://dx.doi.org/10.17654/0972361723028

This Open Access Article is Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

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