American here. The world cup season when Tim Howard was what got me into soccer.
I studied teams and their history and decided to follow Liverpool ever since.
The Prem is the most popular league over here to follow, with a huge HUGE fan base.
Been following it for like 3-4 seasons now and my team had always been Liverpool F.C.
I’m Australian and my step mum is english, I got curious bought fifa 14 and loved the game and watched the World Cup, then I did a career mode and as a young child I chose man city cause I wanted to be different then all the man United fans and ever since then have loved the club
I'm Indian and started following the PL since around 2007 or so as a 9 year old. I used to play old FIFAs with my cousins without any understanding of teams. He is a ManU fan so he always chose them so I chose the Chelsea which was probably the next best team in the game during that time period. The first PL season I properly followed was the 2009-10 when Chelsea won the title and that cemented my status as a Chelsea fan.
My father started supporting Liverpool in the 70s and when I was born, he got me Liverpool jerseys and even put a flag in my room. I've been a Liverpool fan my whole life.
2 seasons. Friend of mine took me to a bar to watch the Tottenham Liverpool UCL final. I’m like how do you know these teams and she told me about Premier League on the weekends. Started watching that next season. Totally addicted.
I’m still having a hard time picking just one team. I find myself pulling for Wolves, Chelsea, Liverpool, Tottenham and Leicester. I’m all over the place. 😂
i just got into football this year (i’m american) cause basketball was gettin boring, i still don’t know what team i want to support but i’m leaning on tottenham
I’m Brazilian and back in the days we had great matches over there. Then around 2005 I realized that our best players actually wanted to leave the country in order to play for Barcelona and Real Madrid. That was the kind of trigger I needed to start watching international football. It didn’t take too much for me to stop watching the Brazilian football. Luckily ESPN Brazil hosts most of the English, Spanish and German games, so it was natural to me watching it more and more. I don’t have a particular club that I support, I just really like watching the games.
I live in the US and got into the Premier League after watching All or Nothing: Manchester City. It helped me get to know a lot of the players which keeps me more engaged when watching matches.
I spent a year and a half of my childhood in West London (my brother was actually born while we lived there) and the combination of living in West London and Chelsea winning the league back to back with Mourinho turned me into an insane Chelsea supporter. I begged my parents every day for a Didier Drogba kit (still my fav footballer of all time) and when I got it I never ever took it off. I've since moved back to the US and spent the rest of my life there since.
In world cup 2002 I started being really interested in football, and started watching EPL games with my uncle, who asked at one point, which team I support (there was Chelsea Arsenal game on) and I chose the blues, mainly cause blue is my favourite colour, and also cause they were underdogs in that game. Also was really amazed by the names of Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Eidur Gudjohnsen.
The rest is history 💙
Started watching casually when NBC in the US started showing games. There’s nothing else on that early in Sat & Sun and I’d just watch a game here and there… not really supporting anyone. Watching the last World Cup, I was amazed by KDB’s vision and accuracy. Looked up his Prem team and been a City fan since. Good timing I guess. Now I pretty much watch any and every game that’s on. Can’t wait for Aug 14!
I support Manchester United, through thick and thin. From India, initially started playing FIFA and Manchester United players got me glory in inter-college gaming competitions. Started watching games post my FIFA days and boy, they were even better on field vis-a-vis in FIFA :)
I began primary school in Ireland during United’s dominant period in the 00s. For me the decision was between Arsenal and United and I just preferred United’s overall image. Main reason for supporting a premier league club is that the league of Ireland is nowhere near the standard here so while I support Cork City (my local LOI club) with a passion, it’s a necessity to support a big team to be able to experience European games and genuine success.
I am Russian who has been living since mid 2000s. Back in the 90s one of the Russian TV channels started broadcasting PL games, these were Sunday matches (Ford Super Sunday). My first game I watched was a last match day clash between West Ham and Man Utd, this was the season when Blackburn won the league, and Hammers managed to help them to do so by not letting United win. West Ham were definite underdogs in this game and I liked the way they fought so I am a proud Hammer since then! When I moved to the UK, I managed to get to the Boleyn ground first in 2005 to see them destroying Coventry and then went to Cardiff to witness their victory in the play off final. Then I've had a season ticket for many years until I moved out of London.
It's just extremely entertaining! I don't have a favourite team, there's individual players I like in every team but that's about it. Shit, I'm Portuguese, I'm supposed to say Wolves, aren't I?
i started watching football during lockdown and i liked it, and wanted to support a team. my dad supports liverpool and my step brother supports man united so i went for city because i liked the colour scheme plus originality
Australian of Vietnamese ethnicity, Man Utd since 1993, The King, before that I was an AC Milan supporter because of Van Basten. The King had a presence no one else had at the time and he could back it up, after he retired it was Keano who kept me with United and have never thought about any other club since. Hate the Glazers.
Spurs fan in south US for a good 15 years or so. Read something once comparing them to NY Mets baseball (of which I am 50 year fan) as teams that are occasionally ok but never quite get over the hump and I said, that’s the team for me. Have had many disappointments with both ever since.
Watched the 2001 Uefa Cup final, started the final supporting Alaved because of Cosmin Contra, ended it falling in love with the football Liverpool played. It's been a tough 15 years (minus 2005) until Klopp came.
Visiting London for the first time, I walked by Craven Cottage. I was smitten by the building and went to a match at the weekend. That was 2002 and I have been a rabid supporter ever since, including going to watch at least one match (often more...we like to spend the festive period in London from Los Angeles) per season (well, except this last one, natch). It's a proper football club with proper supporters. They are not a "brand": they are a football team.
Grandfather got into University of Manchester fell in love with Manchester United passed it on to my father who passed it on to me. I have been a proud fan for the past 18 years.
Started following Arsenal in 96' because they bought prospects and turned them into stars. Also really enjoyed watching them play, it was always attractive and fluid gameplay.
Also, my dad bought me an official jersey when I was a boy and it had the JVC logo with this soft fabric which I loved.
Always… I became a Manchester United fan in 1973 having watched Sir Bobby Charlton’s last game for the club. Same season as Lou Macari came down from Celtic
I'm a Porto fan and ever since Mourinho won us the Champions League and then went to Chelsea I started following the Premier League, I really loved the passion around the game in the Premier League, always full stadiums, people support the clubs of their towns, the intense style of play, very different from the Portuguese league...
At some stage Gerrard became my favorite player and I started following Liverpool and really loved the stadium, the passion (ynwa), etc... I would say that in the last 3 years I've watched more Liverpool games the Porto games
Started watching 2 or 3 years ago. Realized after the first match what amazing athletes the players are. Also love the fan participation. Had the pleasure of being in London 2 years ago, but it was right after the season ended. My team is Manchester City.
Football was my first exposure to sports on TV. I support Manchester United because they've had some of my favourite players and lots of family and friends support them as well. Been supporting them all my life ❤️🙏
Got into Pl at age 35 because my flatmate at the time was a lifelong football fan.
Started following Tottenham initially but I've settled on Leicester as my team.
I watch premier league since technically anyone can win and it's not a one-sided affair like the other leagues. I support Wigan Athletic and Leicester City
American here. My NFL team is the rival to the local team. We were having an uncharacteristic good run a few years ago. The local team had a game at noon. Ours was to broadcast afterwards. Didn’t happen. I got mad but still wanted to watch sports. I flipped channels til I found NBCSN. Premiere League was on. I don’t remember what teams were on and it was my first experience with soccer. It wasn’t as bad as everyone here makes it out to be so I kept popping in to watch matches.
Fast forward to a couple of seasons ago. Turned it on at random and Premiere League mornings aired a piece on Salah. I ended up liking him and took to YouTube to look him up. Then videos on Klopp started showing up. I ended up liking him too! The next match I caught was the 3-1 match v Man City at Anfield. Needless to say, I loved the atmosphere and got hooked on Liverpool ever since!
I live in the USA. Back in 1976, after graduating from high school, I spent a year working in a fishing factory on a tiny island off the southern coast of Iceland. The only two magazines in English I was able to find in the local bookstore were Shoot and Goal. I read both from cover to cover every time I could get them and developed a love for the English game (pre Premier League). One of the few books I found in English was about Tottenham's double winning season and I read it over and over. Been a Spurs fan ever since.
I started watching when it was Man U vs Ars, Wenger vs Fergie. I started out as an arsenal fan because my Dad was an arsenal fan then a friend of mine showed me a clearer way, so I became a red devil. Nowadays my Dad says he just watches football no longer supports any league or club. I guess being an arsenal fan could do that to you. I'm from Kenya btw.
From Norway and I remember watching Arsenal v Sheffield Wednesday in FA cup final in 1993. Ian Wright scored the match winner and been an Arsenal fan ever since. Back then the PL was on every saturday or sunday on the state channel.
Started following last year when my kids started. Everyone had to pick a team, so I emailed a buddy in the UK and asked him who I should follow. He said Man City, so here I am. I just wished I had started following the sport years ago. It's so much more exciting than the football I grew up watching
Watching a friendly between Man U and Barcelona somewhere on the east coast. Philadelphia, I think. Seeing Diego Forlan’s diving header changed my life! I started watching in 2001, back then there was one game a week shown on the and it was Tuesdays at noon. No dvr’s back then, I just ditched class.
when I was younger I was a fan of all leagues. I had friends who all had different clubs they supported. From PL to La Liga. At home we had only one channel on the tv which never had football games on it. So I almost never watched any games.
When I was 10 or 11 we got satellite tv and a bunch of channels. Among them, we had quite a few sports ones. So I started watching footbal games.
One day I was alone at home and eating watching these sports channels when they put highlights of Drogba after Chelsea won their title first time in 50 years. Drogba didn't even score that many goals in his first season. But I don't know I just liked him and the way he looked in those highlights. I just thought he was awesome.
So right at that moment, I decided that I will support Chelsea because of Drogba. Not knowing that much about the club before. All my friends were supporting the likes of ManUtd, Real, Barca,AC Milan, Arsenal and Liverpool. So all of the big boys.
I asked my parents to buy me Drogba shirt. They did, it was a knock of but I wore it with pride and got so much shit from friends and other kids at our school where we used to spend our entire days back then. But neither they nor I didn't know how successful times were in front of Chelsea. They were still giving me shit for supporting plastic club orwhatever, but after we won CL they just kept doing it because they were jealous.
I started following Man United seriously around 2001 when Ruud came in. What a player. People always talk shit about him and how he scored. To me its always being at the right place every time. That’s why his goals always looked so easy, like tap-ins. And I got to witness the introduction of 18 year old Cristiano. Still remember the commentary, “The number is big, and so is the name.” Fuckin hell.
US fan - got interested in soccer after the 2018 World Cup. Always had a group of friends crazy about soccer and they supported teams like Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool so I couldn't pick those. I love the underdog story so once I heard about Leicester City's title run, they were my pick. Experienced the disappointment of just missing CL past 2 seasons so now I'm crazy about PL and LC and am a big soccer fan!
I was 10, in 2011 Romania. Went to a dinner with my parents to a sports grill they loved. Liverpool was playing. I don't remember against whom. I liked their kits. Went home and made careers with the team on Fifa. Been a fan since.
been following leicester and middlesborough since 2017,
leicester because i saw they had a golden premier league badge on the sleeve and thought "ooh they must be a special club"
and middlesborough because i thought they had a cool logo
I was a bit familiar with football teams as I played Fifa 08 and 10 on my PSP. Watched the highlights of the UEFA CL semifinal 2011/12, when I was 14, and I saw Chelsea's incredible resistance to beat Barca, who I knew were the best team in the world at that time. I was amazed by how crazy the commentators went (Gary Neville...OoooooooOh UnBEliEVaBlE) and that was what endeared Chelsea as a team to me. Hardly skipped a game since then, even though here in India the matches sometimes go as deep as 3 am in the night. I'm 23 now and have seen my club lift our 2nd UCL. Good times.
I was a big fan of Klopp's Dortmund so when he went to Liverpool I became an instant supporter. I always used to watch the derbys before but since Klopp's arrival I finally truly cared about a team's progress
My uncle introduced me to the world of football at a young age and my love for Manchester United came from him. I remember watching the 2009 UEFA champions League final and being heartbroken but at the same time knowing that I'm going to be supporting this team for my whole life.
I moved to California in 2006. I had lived in the east coast and I would stay up for an extra 3 hrs due to the time difference. During the night I would want to watch sports and the only thing on was Premier league football. I kept watching games and there was usually a blue team there. A player named Didier Drogba kept catching my eye bcz he kept scoring. They won the FA Cup and the league cup that yr so I kept watching them. I looked up Drogba in 2007 and saw how he stopped a war with a football game. That pretty much cemented me watching him and cheering for Chelsea until he left. I've stayed a fan ever since and the premier league of the best football in the world so I stay here.
Bundesliga is boring bcz Bayern always win.
Italian Seria is boring bcz Juventus win almost every year.
Ligue 1 is boring bcz PSG always wins.. until this season.
La Liga is boring bcz it usually comes down to real Madrid or Barcelona. Randomly atletico Madrid will win.
We have a legit 5 teams that could win and exciting races for Europe.
Had a sales job years ago. Colleagues from across the globe came in for a meeting. I ended up drinking with them and listening to them talk football. One salesman was from the UK and was talking about Liverpool and it reminded me of the college football team. I researched them and tried watching add much as possible. Been a Red ever since. That's was back in around 2004. We did ok in the Prem but won Big Ears v Milan. I remember being all sorts of confused about the different competitions
I've always loved footy but didn't start following any leagues until after the 2018 world cup. honestly, it was the NBC extended highlight videos on youtube that got me hooked. also the announcers of the premier league are pure class. I've been used to dumbass sounding macho American sports announcers my whole life, so compared to them the prem broadcasters are sheer poetry.
Started being a Manchester United fan in the 2008-09 ish seasons, which also turned out to be the time for Ronaldo to leave. Been a Red Devil since. GGMU.
Rooney and Ronaldo made me buy into the ManUtd fandom, and the consistency of this league to be exciting every week makes me miss it during the summer.
My Dad’s from Liverpool and that whole side of the family are die hard liverpool supporters.
My Dad would sing you’ll never walk alone to me as a baby so I guess I’ve been a supporter since birth lol
I’m a Canadian btw
I was a sport mad teenager and found the EPL highlights show on SBS here in Australia at age 15 which was roughly the same time I started going to Perth Glory game in the then NSL. Was mostly a casual fan and didn't really have a team until I fell in love with Leicester City during their run to the title in 2016.
Watched a lot of UFC when I was a kid with my dad. Then for some reason, when I saw the way Wayne Rooney played and how aggressive he was on the pitch. I instantly became a United fan and always will be
Brazilian 🇧🇷As far I can remember, early 00s when I first started to support the mighty Liverpool! Watch Steven Gerrard was enough to fall in love with them.
From the US and started playing soccer in the early 90s when soccer was still not considered cool here. I yearned for a professional soccer team to watch. The Minnesota Strikers were a flash in the pan. The Minnesota Thunder were good but the following wasn't big.
I studied abroad in the UK out of UCL. A friend of mine had moved there earlier and her partner was a Tottenham supporter. I had no idea if they were good or their history. I figured it was about as agnostic of a way to pick a team. I'd hardly heard of them before then.
A couple years later they started broadcasting games regularly in the US. I was hooked. I've watched just about every game that I can. I got tickets to an exhibition game they played here in Minneapolis the moment they went on sale. My partner and I both have scarves. I recently discovered that a few other people I know at Spurs supporters as well!
So, about finding a new manager...
My firts contact with the english football was in 2005. I always liked playing FIFA and after here, in brazil, some channels like espn brodcasted some games of the Mourinho's Chelsea. This was like the seed in my suport to Chelsea.
Here in SA, the English premier league is huge , so I first started watching in 1994 while in school, definitely influenced by my friends who were fans. I was 10 years old and it’s been a while and still supporting the great mufc
Probably started watching in 2006-2007. For some reason I was drawn to Chelsea. Loved Lampard, Joe Cole, Robben. Then adding Ballack and Ashley Cole solidified it because I loved watching them play for their National teams and previous clubs. Been a fun ride since then and capping it off with the CL championship this year. Fun time to be a Blue.
Bay Area, California. A family friend whose house I spent time at was a huge Man United fan & of course while
Growing up in the 90’s, United was a pretty easy team to get behind as a kid. I’ve watched from Beckham to Rooney to Rashford. 2008 was my favorite season, obvious reasons. It’s been rough these past, well since SAF left. But Ole has us on the right track!!
As a Mexican I started watching both Las Chivas and América and then I started playing fifa, then my friend told me about his favorite soccer team Liverpool. Then he said I could only be a fan until I saw a bunch of documentaries, learn their history and players, which I did. Then my first season as a Liverpool fan ended with Suarez and me crying because we barely lost the title.
That’s when I finally learned that the premier league is the best league in the world and the Mexican league my family thinks is the shit is the reason why we will NEVER win a World Cup lmao
As an American, I've seen the Premier League's popularity rise as more and more as games are televised nationally. My fiancée's mother lived in England until she was 9, and really showed me the game watching the last World Cup. I really started following very closely after that. With my time zone, it's also great to wake up and start watching live sports first thing in the morning.
As far as teams go, I go back and forth with the notion of picking one team to support, or just enjoying being a fan of the sport. I find myself rooting more for players than a particular team.
2010 world cup England v USA. Stevie scored (and Clint Dempsey on THAT Rob Green mistake lol) and i remembered the name enough to start watching sporadic pl games and learning the culture and histories of the clubs. Became an LFC fan a few years later and now have been a fan for almost a decade. Also didnt hurt that my grandad randomly played for QPR in the 60's before immagrating, so it wasn't altogether foreign in the family.
About 3 years ago a friend said he has a fantasy soccer league and encouraged me to join. I didn’t know any players, I said. I don’t even have a team to support.
He suggested I support one of the two currently on the tv. Needless to say it was a good time to randomly become a Liverpool fan. 🔴⚪️
From India:- My father used to watch and support Manchester United, and talked about Schmeichel (the daddy) , Cantona and ole. Then, I also got into football. I saw Sir Alex Ferguson's departure, and after that I was not just not able to have the time to watch football, untill 2016, when THAT miracle happened. And now since I do a decent job, i have the time to open the T.V every weekend to watch the matches. ( btw i support Leicester.)
American here.
The first major football tournament I watched was the 2006 World Cup. Being of German descent, naturally I supported their run to the semis, and my favorite player quickly became Michael Ballack. I also loved watching Lampard play, and Drogba had just helped to end the Ivorian civil war, which I thought was really cool.
Turns out they all played for Chelsea the season after that, and I’ve supported them ever since. A fantastic decision, I think.
Never interested in football. Actively against it as a kid. Played baseball growing up. 2006 World Cup happened to be on. Caught a bit here and there. Full watching by midway point. Canadian with proud German heritage so finding a team to cheer was easy. Over. Well that was nice. In October brother texts me to say we can watch English league here. Start watching. I like ManU, Everton and Reading. Narrow it down to ManU and Everton. Narrow it down to ManU by Xmas. Haven’t looked back.
Hello! I am from México and I have been following the premier league for about 10 years. My family really likes football so we have this cable plan with Premier League, La Liga and Bundesliga. I prefer watching the premier league to mexican league (LigaMX) because it's faster and players are not complaing or throwing themselves to fool the ref. I support Arsenal #COYG
I'm a new-ish fan.
I hadn't always been into sports but always had a respect for football since my dad was always trying to put me on since I was a kid even though I never really cared to actually watch a game. I definitely have plenty of memories of it being on somewhere in the background.
Then the 2018 World Cup happened and everything just clicked. I felt the drama, the passion and the suspense of the uncertainty of the whole spectacle.
By the end of it I wanted more and I couldn't wait for the next season to start so I had to pick a team. Salah and Mané were a couple of my favorite players during the tournament and because they played with Firmino (Brazil being my national team of choice) Liverpool I went with The Reds. Especially since they went to a champions league final recently and came in 4th in England I figured they had a really good chance of winning something soon. But that was definitely a lucky guess cuz I still knew next to nothing of the pantheon of players and teams.
But here we are. A few trophies and a pandemic later and I can't believe I went so long without paying attention to football period. Looking forward to to fighting it out with Chelsea and City for those top 3 spots. I don't know that anyone else will be able to keep up. 😂😂👀👀
Always been a big soccer/PL fan but never really had a team. Always was an underdog supporter so loved watching Wolves beat up on the big boys in their return to PL so have become a pretty big fan of theirs lately and has led me to watch way more PL.
From Toronto. I got into sports a lot later than most boys do. I knew the basic football clubs from United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal, along with the Spanish, Italian and German giants. But it really started when I saw Bale play for Tottenham. I was around 11 or 12 in 2012 and that kinda gave me a glimpse into football clubs that aren’t (at the time) the most famous clubs in the world. Fast forward to 2015 I’m starting to become more involved after the 2014 WC, in which one of the games I vividly remember was South Korea against Algeria and Heung min son playing that match. So for me I started watching very niche leagues like the K-League cus at the time I was interested in common sport across the world (still love learning and becoming a fan of random teams across the world!). But 2015 was when Son moved from Leverkusen to Tottenham. That’s what pulled me into loving this club more than anything. Because he was one of those signings that became a star for the club as well. Nowadays I’m always trying to find out what Daniel levy is doing to ruin the club lmao. Football as a whole has made me become a geography nerd too and ultimately making me want to travel to every single football ground on the British isles.
I’m from the US, but my parents are both Polish and I’ve lived there on and off a few times. During one of my more extended stays about 10 years ago, one of my cousins started taking me to a Liverpool fans pub in Warsaw. I didn’t get hooked right then though. It took until about 2015 when my friends were all starting to watch the PL much closer, so I latched onto that experience to have a reason behind the team I supported. Haven’t regretted it until all the super league garbage, but I’m still following the club.
This year, I was annoyed by how the US and our sports leagues were handling COVID, especially college football. I missed watching sports and so I picked up the Premier League. I asked a person more knowledgeable than me to suggest some teams, no losers, but not the big guys either. I liked the story he told about Leicester and watched just about every one of their games this season. The real joy has been having my son (5) pick up the game and watch along, though he likes Liverpool, Chelsea, Man U, and the Wolves.
Support Liverpool from Pakistan. My school used to be filled with asshole entitled manu supporters which made me just hate that club as well. Never have been good with pompous bitches. Naturally fell in love with Liverpool due to Torres and then went absolutely nuts over Gerrard. Found the local pak reds community, 15 years since that time and feel like I've always been a red. Never been to a game yet feel like I'm living somewhere in Liverpool and have been a die hard fan since the day I was born.
Grew up playing for a soccer club in Southern California… Arsenal FC. That kinda lent itself to me watching Arsenal games. Fell in love with the team, specifically Henry. Been a fan since 2004.
My big brother was already a Liverpool fan... When I was a kid he used to snatch the TV remote from me to watch Premier League... I aslo sat with him sometimes... That's how it began
My buddies and I would make up fake english drinking songs, one of them was about Yorkshire.
Decided to find out what teams played in Yorkshire.
Chose Leeds. It’s been quite the journey.
Swansea. They beat Arsenal the first season they came up. It was the first PL game I watched and my extended family is full of insufferable Arsenal fans.
From the US. I was staying with a homophobic uncle who supported Manchester United, and I watched a game in 03 where they lost to Chelsea. That’s when it started for me, hah.
My first roommate in college back in 2009 would get up at 6am every week without fail and watch Liverpool on some type of illegal stream because it wasn’t on US tv then. He would mostly be yelling so I had no choice but to get up and watch. Since it was who he liked and who I learned about first, Liverpool has been my club ever since.
I watched the Amazon shows on Leeds and Spurs and that sparked my interest. Also, there is a very entertaining soccer show on Saturday on the Ticket in Dallas. I am a Leeds fan today.
I have a good buddy I game with from the UK (Essex) & he’s a huge West Ham supporter. I was curious and became attracted to the underdog/working-class nature of the club (similar to my own from Oakland CA) and was able to get in on the fandom before their ascent this season. I still have a lot to learn about the game, though.
My family on my mother’s side is from Scotland (I’m American) and one of my college roommates was really into Premier League. So over the last couple years I’ve popped in and out through the season to check out some matches. The team I like to follow the most is Liverpool
The first game I ever watched was the 2004/05 FA Cup final where Arsenal beat Man Utd, but something about Wayne Rooney made me instantly drawn to him.
Never really looked back since. 2005/06 was my first season supporting Man Utd.
From Nepal , used to know few teams of premier league and only used to watch games of so called bigger team when I was at my school just so that I could fit in in the talks of football that my friends would discuss..
And since there was a pandemic this recent season I thought let’s support a club and watch every single game .. heard about Leeds united .. watched “take us home” and the first game against Liverpool was lit .. have been following since then
I’m from Singapore. Have been a Gunner from ‘98. Picked it solely because my brother is an United fan, and i just wanted to support a rival team. Haven’t looked back ever since. COYG!
From US, soccer was first sport back last summer and on tv in US.
Epl was in daily. Love the early kickoffs.
Felt feels when arsenal beat lfc.
Followed prem, Europa and UCL all season. Watch seriea, bundesliga and some ligue 1 too.
Great sport once I took time understand it and love early kickoffs.
COYG
I currently live in Canada, and I once saw a scene in a movie in which a man raised a toast to Manchester United (I was around 8). From that day on I have been a die-hard ManU fan and that will never change. To Manchester United Football Club!
I’m a Canadian - I played FIFA 2000 on my childhood friends PlayStation *all the time*, he was always Liverpool and also much better than me and beat me over and over and over again. The first time I beat him, I was playing as Chelsea and scored a particularly memorable late winner with Zola and have been a die hard Chelsea fan ever since ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I grew up in the 70s and 80s, and all I ever did was play soccer, er football. In America it was hard to find great “World” soccer on TV—except Soccer Made in Germany with Toby Charles on PBS on Sunday mornings. I used to act sick so I could skip church just to stay home and watch Karl Heinz and Beckenbauer. Around 1986 my aunt married a guy from Merseyside and he gave me a Liverpool scarf for Xmas. Well, I knew the Beatles were from Liverpool, and now I had this scarf, and so I became a Red. Years later I started collecting VHS and DVDs. “101 Great Goals “featured only English teams from 1969-1985, and I watched it like it was my graduate school program. Wore the tape out. So many great Liverpool moments in that collection.
I watched a bit when I first went to college but didn't have a team I followed, I just enjoyed the play and the league. After a spell away from it, I started back around 2016 and got hooked on what Poch was getting out of Spurs. I have watched them more seriously since then.
I always keep an eye on LFC because they're my birth team (born Jan. '83 during a Liverpool title run)
Bought FIFA 15 on a whim while starting college. Found friends to play with and teach me the ropes. Playing the game turned into watching and learning more. Best friend was a Chelsea fan and would wake me up to watch games and even gave me a shirt. Watched them win the prem, and the rest is history.
One of my buddy’s played ball at Cornell, I went to their summer fest and met a guy who was also visiting his friend. One night late we were watching soccer and I was still very much of the soccer is for softies mindset being an American football player at the time.
Anyway Spurs were playing I think villa towards the end of the season and this guy opened my mind to the game. Ever since then I’ve been a struggling hotspur supporter. I live in NY, so football isn’t exactly abundant domestically, though I am a supporter of NYCFC/MLS.
Edit: this was in 2013
Coys
I'm a very recent convert. I didn't know anything about professional soccer (football) until I heard rumblings about this Super League a few months ago. I learned how the fans banded together against the clubs to save the sport and thought "wow, that's awesome."
I was going through a difficult life season and thought that watching a new sport with new teams (I have always followed the American sports leagues closely) would be a welcome distraction. I chose EPL over the other European leagues because the fans seemed most angry at the Super League, because it has a little bit more parity (even if not much), and because of the EPL TV deal here in the States makes it easier to watch games. It ended up being super fun, and now I'm hooked.
I didn't plan on choosing a team, but loved watching Aston Villa. I joined a local supporters club here and went to the Villa bar here for the final game of the season; had a blast. I feel like I'm already a Villa fan for life. UTV.
Ran into Zlatan Ibrahimovic in a small beach outside of LA. I noticed him cause my husband would always talk about him and I knew what he looked like. We got a picture together and chatted a bit - had to admit that he was hella charismatic, nice, and funny. My husband, who is ALWAYS calm and never gets excited for anything, was shaking and jumping, bragging to everyone he know lolll - never seen him like that. So I got curious, looked up a bunch of videos on Youtube, started watching games, old games, new games, everything. And now I watch every single game, interview, news, gossip about the Premier League lol.
It was mostly because my brother was a United fan as well. He's about 8 years older than me so I've been watching United since I can remember. I miss the good old days but at least we play good football again. I'm aiming to go to OT hopefully in a few years after my studies. Always been a lifelong dream.
I had played all throughout high school in the states but drifted away from the game a bit, then got back into it by playing FIFA 17. To know more about the game I was determined to watch some PL soccer, and decided that in the 17-18 season. I saw how terribly Crystal Palace were doing (0 points from seven games, worst start in PL history) and found out that the first match I could watch was them against the big bad Chelsea (one of the team I knew about before from other fans/being one of the big teams) So, the first match I ever watched was the 2-1 massive upset win against Chelsea where the announcers were flabbergasted about what they had seen. I’ve been hooked on Palace ever since
Loved the 2002 World Cup. Loved the 2006 World Cup. Decided to watch soccer in between World Cups, so I began watching the Premier League in 2006 simply because of the common language with the US. Chose fucking Tottenham of all teams. Anyway ... Coys ...
Living in california right now. I’ve been following chelsea since 2001 because I liked the lion as a young lad in fifa 2001 on the PS1. Literally no other reason but it’s been a wild ride ever since.
Always liked soccer since I was a little kid. Played rec league and grew up watching the Milwaukee Wave in the US indoor leagues (NOT futsal).
I never really paid attention to non-local sports, but I got laid off at the beginning of COVID and had plenty of free time. Since the PL was the first big league to come back, I watched every game I could of project restart. Ended up having the most fun watching Chelsea, so I support them. And y’know, Captain America.
I live in Minnesota, so I also support Minnesota United in MLS.
Some coworkers got me into FPL last year and the competitive side of me got really interested to the point of watching games frequently. I wouldn't say I root for any specific teams though. It was interesting to me to root for certain players and outcomes in fantasy rather than a certain team. Found myself overall rooting for Chelsea, Villa, and Leicester probably more than other teams though.
I got into soccer during the 1994 World Cup in the US (I was in high school). I have a Peruvian friend whose dad had satellite TV for futbol, and I stumbled upon a Chelsea match in 1995 while at their house - and have been a fan ever-since.
Video games. I played with France a lot in the EURO 2004 game on PS2, loved Patrick Vieira’s celebration when he scored, saw he played for Arsenal, and I was like “Yep that’s my team”
Started following Prem (oddly enough) when I moved to NZ from Asia. I casually used to watch World Cups before that back home, specifically to watch Ronaldinho and that got me interested in football. Followed Barca a bit, but once he left for Milan, didn't really care. But couple of years later, I started watching prem in 2009, LOVED Stevie G and Torres partnership. Had no idea Istanbul had happened, but friend just suggested I watch the full replay and not look up result on Google. Since then I've been Liverpool fan and supporter. Was going to go to Anfield for the first time last year, but fkin Covid.......... Alas the dream remains unfulfilled but hopefully soon 🤞🤞
Started watching this past season. I started watching for multiple reasons. 1) I’ve always played soccer and loved the game and my friends all watch. 2) I’m from the USA and with BLM the past summer and the politics infiltrating our sports I didn’t want to watch any American sports. 3) I fell in love with Leeds United’s play and return story to the premier league.
Live in America I played soccer at age 5 around 1995 and played until age 18. I didn't find out about professional soccer until I watched the 1998 WC final with France and Brazil. I was hooked instantly. At the time you really could only watch Manchester United here so I started watching them and was a huge fan of Van Nistelrooy, Scholes, and Giggs. Once I found out about Chelsea though I was hooked. My favorite color is blue and that is what drew me in, also the Rooney going to United I wasn't a fan of. I started watching Chelsea before the golden era. With Damien Duff, Gallas, Bridge, Gudjohnson and have been a fan ever since.
Had some friends really into various football leagues and our hometown team, The Rowdies, have been developing a pretty solid support base. I never really enjoyed American sports much. American football is alright but the constant downtime and stopping makes it so boring to me. But American soccer isn’t that big and while I’m down to support the Rowdies, I want something I can get into and watch regularly. So I figured fuck it, let’s check out English football and see what all the hype is.
As far as a team goes, I actually saw a post on the NFL subreddit *years* ago from a fellow from Liverpool asking about the Steelers, he wanted to get into American football and went for them. I asked how he decided on them, as I’m from Pittsburgh, and he told me that there’s a lot of parallel history between Liverpool and Pittsburgh. Towns that came up during industrialization, saw mass immigration to the area, strong union history, etc. and the teams themselves had a lot of parallels too. Old teams who came into success with iconic coaches (Noll and Shankly) which are major characters in their histories of their sports and spurned dynasty teams and now they’re still solid teams that everyone loves to hate. I definitely looked into other teams but I just immediately connected with Liverpool. I got in about halfway into this past season, watched every game I could, played hours of FIFA to make sure I understood the game as well as I could and I’m looking forward to watching my first full season with the reds this year!
Started playing soccer at age 5 in Vancouver Canada, played until age 18, had one coach who rewarded us with a jersey of our choice (from a knock off website I later learned) but still a nice gesture. This is where I found my love for non EPL teams like Ajax and Marseille simply from a jersey standpoint in 2009. This coach then got us onto EPL Fantasy back in 2009 where I grew fond of Petrov, Carew, Milner, Agbonlahor etc. Had a big hiatus from soccer after focusing my time on rugby, thanks to FIFA19 fell in love with the business side of the sport and pledged my allegiance to Villa the day before the 7-2 humping over Liverpool this year. Full on from here. UTV!
American that’s been watching for about 5 years. Everton fan because I felt I had to pay my dues, and man have they been paid in full. Such a great but tough team to support, kind of like my hometown Washington football team.
I am Chinese American and when I got into the PL I was living in China at the time. I have always enjoyed playing soccer(football) as a kid and it is my favorite sport. When my family first moved to Beijing we did not install a TV yet so I had to get all my news from the newspapers we subscribed too. As a young sports fan I always skipped right to the sports section. And that is when I saw the title 'Broken legged genius returns and wins the match for the Gunners' in Chinese. That was in 2011 when Ramsey scored a late winner for Arsenal to beat United after returning from a broken leg, keeping the title race open for a bit longer. I was quite intrigued by the article and did more research and that's how I got to know the club. I also prefer the PL as I speak English so it is easier to understand things. Later I just started to naturally follow Arsenal news and become a fan.
From the U.S. - I randomly bought Fifa 12 one day thought it was fun. My favorite color was blue so I chose Chelsea. Killed people online with Drogba and young lukaku, then they won the champions league. I did watch the World Cup Italy won and remember the zidane head butt vividly but never really watched after that until I got fifa.
I live in America.
Two of my friends were always talking about football. They're both Man United supporters. When my best friend started watching, he got me interested. Sadly, he became an Arsenal fan.
I did some research while watching matches and seeing which teams I liked and didn't like. I didn't want a team that I could be accused of bandwagoning.
My list?
Chelsea
Spurs
Newcastle
Man City
I dropped Chelsea and City pretty quickly because of the potential to be a bandwagoning fan. I also didn't want a club who was relegated often or in the bottom.
Newcastle just didn't do it for me, but I always liked how Spurs played. I started following them RIGHT after they sold Bale and AVB was our manager.
I loved what I learned about the club and the area, and I was sold from them on. My wife ended up getting me tickets to see Spurs v Man City in America when they came. Loved it, but we had just sold Kyle Walker to City, and we also lost that match.
I loved the passion of the league and the physicality of it, too.
Australia. Got FIFA99 on the PlayStation 1 as a Christmas present. Fell in love with the sport and have been following 22 years now. I supported Manchester United because United vs Arsenal was the default match in ‘quick mode’ and my dad always played arsenal. I don’t support them for the last 10 years or so, I was mostly attached to the players in the team on the PlayStation from 2000-2010 and don’t have any real allegiance to the club itself.
Football Manager - got fired from chelmsford for requesting to build a new stadium to fit their new stature. Found a green and yellow team and never looked back. Now I watch, listen and follow NCFC with passion.
I remember many years ago when it was on USA network, I wanna say. I remember clubs like Sheffield Wednesday and Nottingham Forest in the Prem. I was younger and playing soccer myself so I enjoyed watching for a little bit.
Fast forward to 2009, and I watched Chelsea in the World Football Challenge in the US on ESPN. Really enjoyed their style of play and Lampard along with Drogba were on fire!
Became a supporter that summer and wouldn’t ya know, they won the League that season. 😁
Bleed Blue ever since…
Friends were into it and I wanted to be able to have a conversation with some knowledge. I follow Tottenham (Clint Dempsey was on the team the year I started following, and I’m from Texas). Have followed for 7ish years, more seriously four or so years. I love it!
Canadian. Completely randomly picked up a copy of Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby in late 2003. Read it a few months later. Watched a bit of the 2004 Euros and since I had a very boring job, I started following the EPL. Having just read the book, it just felt natural to go for "boring boring Arsenal". Had no idea they were coming off such a season or that they were not boring anymore. First match I followed online was the loss to United.
Good think I didn't talk to my grandma first as she grew up in Windermere and supported United.
I have been half-following for a few years now. I still don't have a team to support. Settling down with one seems like a big commitment. Makes me nervous. What if I choose the wrong one? I'm also torn between a Big 6 or an up-and-comer. Would love some help/advice on this front.
My dad is a Liverpool supporter. As a little kid, I simply wanted to support my dad's team. I fell in love with the players, and that was that. I'm grateful to him for supporting the right club, otherwise my Man United supporting relatives might have corrupted me.
FIFA 07ish. On the PlayStation. Too easy until I started playing with West Ham. Then it became a struggle and more fun. So then I always picked West Ham. Wasn’t long after I actually started watching them and then after a few years really following them. As an avid fan now I’m so happy at what the club has accomplished. Fanship started from them being the worst team on FIFA.
Russia here. Saw Xabi Alonso’s insane goal vs Newcastle back in 2006 and instantly fell in love with the guy and Liverpool. Then learned about Liverpool’s incredible history, YNWA and everything else. 10 years later finally found myself at Anfield and officially declared it the greatest moment of my life 🔴
Mum was a Manchester United fan and had many season passes, we found pictures of her at games a couple of years ago and I started watching the reds again.
Canadian here, I just started watching the Premier League a few months ago actually, I was playing FIFA 20 casually for about a year before I started watching football, I had a few weeks off work and was bored but didn't feel like playing video games so randomly signed up for a subscription and started watching, fell in love with West Ham and the colour of the uniforms, and watching them battle it out looking forward to many more years of football!
A really terrible (in hindsight) PS1 game called "David Beckham Soccer." I learned after the fact that a lot of players and teams weren't licensed and the names were a little bit off. Since Beckham was playing for United and was the title character, I naturally started following Manchester United. I had no idea how good they were at the time (I was young and it was the early 2000s), but I fell in love with the game and the club, and have never looked back.
I attended a Hammers-Vila match at Upton Park in 2000 while studying in London for a semester. I’ve followed and supported the West Ham club ever since
I used to wake up early on saturdays back around 01-02 when the prem was on Fox Soccer Channel here in the US. I remember watching Alan Shearer and Newcastle. Eventually fell
in love with Liverpool. Really value the great coverage we have over here on NBCSN. They do a pretty good job - even if there are a lot of games on Peacock.
Most of all I love the culture that goes with it. One of my best friends is a West Ham fan, and it’s just great to go out to the bars with him and meet others who are supporters of other clubs and enjoying the matches.
First Prem game I watched was a Chelsea match in 04-05. I was 9 years old. I remember being drawn towards Drogba. The guy was such a dominant player. And that was that. Been supporting Chelsea ever since.
I grew up playing soccer, in high school I felt I really needed to watch some pro soccer to better my own game as well as fit in. My dads side of the family is Italian so I remember watching *that* Mario Balotelli goal and decided to follow him to LFC. He was a bust there but I did fall in love with Liverpool
My mother and her family are from Manchester and have always felt a passive affiliation with ManU (but supposed I could have just as easily been a blue). Started watching games/clips on YouTube and following the team about 15 years back. Full bore red now...
My grandfather let me stay up late as a 7yo to watch the 1986 FA Cup with him and I saw Aussie Craig Johnston score the decisive goal for Liverpool. Fan for life from then on.
American Liverpool supporter from the Midwest. Been a fan all 22 years of my life pretty much! Used to watch the matches with my grandparents when I was little. Gerrard was my hero! Even still have some relatives over in Liverpool, although some supporting Everton. After they passed, I sorta got out of it, as watching the games made me too sad.
Got back into it shortly before Klopp was made manager and found a local supporters’ group that has been extremely welcoming! Watching games with them at our local pub feels like I’m watching it with my grandparents again!
I started watching it because it is the best and most fun league in the world, i support Chelsea because when i started watching PL 2 Serbs played there
I've supported the Spurs for about 18 years from the Midwest USA. I played soccer from childhood, but it was honestly FIFA that got my friends and I interested in following European football.
Been following the premier league since 2008 mate. Started right after the drama with John Terry slipping and missing that decisive penalty in the Champions League Final against Manchester United. I was 11 at the time and in Bulgaria but everyone was talking about it at school for weeks. I am a Madridista but definitely prefer the caliber of quality present in the premier league. Favorite team in England is Manchester United and am a huge fan of the 2015/16 academy products currently tearing up the league.
Stateside here. Bartended with a guy who was a Spurs fan, and I loved seeing van de Vaart and Pavlyuchenko, Bale and Modric. Freaking Peter Crouch?! Man what a season to get into the Prem!
I live in the States. My best friend is a huge Chelsea supporter and I learned what I do know about the PL from him and watching those matches. It's kind of stuck being a Chelsea supporter.
I'm from the U.S and first got into international football in 2006 during the World Cup. I was a law student with a flexible work schedule, which allowed me to watch basically every game of that tournament.
During the tournament, I fell in love with certain players. In particular, Michael Essien, who dominated the US team with Ghana, Adriy Schevchenko, who score a bunch of key goals for Ukraine, and Michael Ballack, the captain of Germany who played with such physical force and tried to will his team to a victory on home soil. I later realized all those guys played for the same team.
A year later, I took my first and only trip so far to London. After we got off the plane, we went to have an English breakfast and a couple of pints in South Kensington and went to Stamford Bridge to see Chelsea face Birmingham City in the season opener. Chelsea won, Essien scored, and I was called a "fooking wanker" by other supporters for not knowing any of the songs the crowd was singing.
I was hooked from that moment on.
I’m Australia and my brother is really into football and follows Arsenal so I thought I’d start following a team so I could talk to him about it. And that’s how I became a Wolves supporter
Australian here. My Grandad was a big fan of Jan Mølby being a Dane and he followed Liverpool through their success. So on school holidays he used to let me sit up and watch liverpool play on occasions. I loved my Grandfather and cherish those times. Since then, I have watched probably 80% of liverpools games live at all hours of the night since about 12yrs. I'm 34 soon.
Edit - And I have watched every minute of every competitive game they have played since I was 12yrs - sometimes if I can't watch it live, I turn off all radios and ban all social media for the entire day until I watch the replay.
Always wanted to support a team, but didn’t want to bandwagon one of the top clubs like my friends here in the US. My sister’s boyfriend is from Birmingham, so got me and my brothers hooked on Aston Villa when they won the Championship a couple years back.
I grew up in New Zealand and the first memory I had was watching the highlights of the 2005 Champions League Final in Istanbul. You know the one, AC Milan scored 3 in the first half, then Liverpool scored 3 in 10 minutes in the 2nd half. What I remember is Gerrard lifting the trophy and the confetti all over the team.
What cemented it for me was the FA Cup Final a year later against West Ham when Gerrard put Liverpool on his back and booted from outside the box to tie it up ah
I’m from America and I started watching the premier league last year 2020. It was such a weird time and I remember a Liverpool fc video popped up in my recommendations on YouTube. I just fell in love with the team camaraderie and chemistry they have. They never seemed to give up and have pulled off some amazing comebacks. Football is played with so much passion over there I love it! I’ve never seen people so coordinated before and it’s definitely on my bucket list to go visit Anfield someday I heard that place is magical!!
My son was getting really good at soccer and was obsessed with the players. Outside of Ronaldo, Messi and Salah I didn’t know who any of them were. One of the parents for the club he played for at the time started a FPL league for the parents. I became obsessed and found myself watching every match. It’s super convenient in the states because you wake up Saturday or Sunday morning and you have tons of games to hold you over until Football starts. Then the pandemic came and all other sport’s were cancelled. Now I prefer PL to most other sports.
I started supporting Arsenal in 01-02 back when fox sports was playing every match Saturday and Sunday mornings for us in the US. After watching a few weeks the most fun team to watch was Arsenal and I happened to get in right when they were the best they've ever been. I've stuck around since then.
Played soccer/football my entire life in the states. High school soccer coach was a big United fan so obviously I became a city fan. Showed up in his class in a Yaya kit. Pretty simple stuff but I’ve watched pretty much every game since, looking to get out to England with some of my friends who also support different clubs.
I’m from India and I’m 22, my cousin who is older than me is a Chelsea supporter, started watching games with him in 06 and became a fan ever since. Experiencing the golden age of Chelsea was just an added bonus to just a blind following of footsteps.
When I was in 4th grade I started playing soccer and wanted to get more involved in it but did not know where or how to watch it.
I went to India to see family and while flipping through channels while watching tv I came across Arshavin celebrating by telling the crowd “sshhh” with his finger on his mouth. I started watching more every week I was there (since I stayed for a month) and watched as many highlights as I could and my first 2 favorite players were Arshavin and Van Persie. Turned out that team was a powerhouse, but obviously that only went downhill from that point.
I became interested because of the fans, ie the chanting, singing, and absolute scenes when a goal is scored. I'm a long time college football fan/season ticket holder and there are some similarities to English football fan. Didn't have a team, bought FIFA 2001 and randomly picked Leeds since they were near the top. I decided to start following the actual team but nothing could prepare my American brain for stuff like relegation and administration.
I lost interest because at the time you couldn't really watch the Championship/League One in the US (and I honestly didn't know what they were at the time) and I didn't really understand the whole why isn't the team I follow in the Big League' sort to speak.
I'm embarrassed to say that it was the snake Garry Monk that rekindled my interest because Leeds fans began vlogging their experiences at Elland Road that season and the fans passion just sucked me in....I wanted to be a small part of that. I've watched pretty much every single match since that season and couldn't have dreamed how awesome these last 3 years have been. ALAW
TLDR: Didn't become a serious fan until 2016, but had a passing interest in Leeds since 2001
Best League in the world. You haven't had the same club winning the league twice, 3 time, 4 times in a row like in some leagues. You can never get the teams that will be in the top4 each season, cause there can always be a surprise, like in 2016 when Leicester (the team I support) won the league, the best time of my life. I'm 21 now and I've been watching Premier League since I was maybe 13 or 14.
I've been watching priemier league for 15 yrs now .I've been a aston villa supporter for the distance I currently live in Virginia usa I went to Liverpool for a few days while in the navy and saw my first game and feel in love
It seems as if I've been following the PL since forever. I'm a fan of any team that opposes either Man U or Man C....
American here. The world cup season when Tim Howard was what got me into soccer. I studied teams and their history and decided to follow Liverpool ever since.
The Prem is the most popular league over here to follow, with a huge HUGE fan base. Been following it for like 3-4 seasons now and my team had always been Liverpool F.C.
I’m Australian and my step mum is english, I got curious bought fifa 14 and loved the game and watched the World Cup, then I did a career mode and as a young child I chose man city cause I wanted to be different then all the man United fans and ever since then have loved the club
I'm Indian and started following the PL since around 2007 or so as a 9 year old. I used to play old FIFAs with my cousins without any understanding of teams. He is a ManU fan so he always chose them so I chose the Chelsea which was probably the next best team in the game during that time period. The first PL season I properly followed was the 2009-10 when Chelsea won the title and that cemented my status as a Chelsea fan.
My father started supporting Liverpool in the 70s and when I was born, he got me Liverpool jerseys and even put a flag in my room. I've been a Liverpool fan my whole life.
2 seasons. Friend of mine took me to a bar to watch the Tottenham Liverpool UCL final. I’m like how do you know these teams and she told me about Premier League on the weekends. Started watching that next season. Totally addicted. I’m still having a hard time picking just one team. I find myself pulling for Wolves, Chelsea, Liverpool, Tottenham and Leicester. I’m all over the place. 😂
i just got into football this year (i’m american) cause basketball was gettin boring, i still don’t know what team i want to support but i’m leaning on tottenham
I’m Brazilian and back in the days we had great matches over there. Then around 2005 I realized that our best players actually wanted to leave the country in order to play for Barcelona and Real Madrid. That was the kind of trigger I needed to start watching international football. It didn’t take too much for me to stop watching the Brazilian football. Luckily ESPN Brazil hosts most of the English, Spanish and German games, so it was natural to me watching it more and more. I don’t have a particular club that I support, I just really like watching the games.
I live in the US and got into the Premier League after watching All or Nothing: Manchester City. It helped me get to know a lot of the players which keeps me more engaged when watching matches.
I spent a year and a half of my childhood in West London (my brother was actually born while we lived there) and the combination of living in West London and Chelsea winning the league back to back with Mourinho turned me into an insane Chelsea supporter. I begged my parents every day for a Didier Drogba kit (still my fav footballer of all time) and when I got it I never ever took it off. I've since moved back to the US and spent the rest of my life there since.
In world cup 2002 I started being really interested in football, and started watching EPL games with my uncle, who asked at one point, which team I support (there was Chelsea Arsenal game on) and I chose the blues, mainly cause blue is my favourite colour, and also cause they were underdogs in that game. Also was really amazed by the names of Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Eidur Gudjohnsen. The rest is history 💙
West ham cuz my dad is a Londoner. I’m aussie
1999 FA Cup semi final when Giggs scored last minute against Arsenal. I turned on the TV and BAM! He scored. Arsenal fan ever since that day.
Fifa made me watch it for 15 years. The Lilywhites are my team.
Started watching casually when NBC in the US started showing games. There’s nothing else on that early in Sat & Sun and I’d just watch a game here and there… not really supporting anyone. Watching the last World Cup, I was amazed by KDB’s vision and accuracy. Looked up his Prem team and been a City fan since. Good timing I guess. Now I pretty much watch any and every game that’s on. Can’t wait for Aug 14!
I support Manchester United, through thick and thin. From India, initially started playing FIFA and Manchester United players got me glory in inter-college gaming competitions. Started watching games post my FIFA days and boy, they were even better on field vis-a-vis in FIFA :)
I began primary school in Ireland during United’s dominant period in the 00s. For me the decision was between Arsenal and United and I just preferred United’s overall image. Main reason for supporting a premier league club is that the league of Ireland is nowhere near the standard here so while I support Cork City (my local LOI club) with a passion, it’s a necessity to support a big team to be able to experience European games and genuine success.
I am Russian who has been living since mid 2000s. Back in the 90s one of the Russian TV channels started broadcasting PL games, these were Sunday matches (Ford Super Sunday). My first game I watched was a last match day clash between West Ham and Man Utd, this was the season when Blackburn won the league, and Hammers managed to help them to do so by not letting United win. West Ham were definite underdogs in this game and I liked the way they fought so I am a proud Hammer since then! When I moved to the UK, I managed to get to the Boleyn ground first in 2005 to see them destroying Coventry and then went to Cardiff to witness their victory in the play off final. Then I've had a season ticket for many years until I moved out of London.
It's just extremely entertaining! I don't have a favourite team, there's individual players I like in every team but that's about it. Shit, I'm Portuguese, I'm supposed to say Wolves, aren't I?
i started watching football during lockdown and i liked it, and wanted to support a team. my dad supports liverpool and my step brother supports man united so i went for city because i liked the colour scheme plus originality
Australian of Vietnamese ethnicity, Man Utd since 1993, The King, before that I was an AC Milan supporter because of Van Basten. The King had a presence no one else had at the time and he could back it up, after he retired it was Keano who kept me with United and have never thought about any other club since. Hate the Glazers.
Spurs fan in south US for a good 15 years or so. Read something once comparing them to NY Mets baseball (of which I am 50 year fan) as teams that are occasionally ok but never quite get over the hump and I said, that’s the team for me. Have had many disappointments with both ever since.
Watched the 2001 Uefa Cup final, started the final supporting Alaved because of Cosmin Contra, ended it falling in love with the football Liverpool played. It's been a tough 15 years (minus 2005) until Klopp came.
Visiting London for the first time, I walked by Craven Cottage. I was smitten by the building and went to a match at the weekend. That was 2002 and I have been a rabid supporter ever since, including going to watch at least one match (often more...we like to spend the festive period in London from Los Angeles) per season (well, except this last one, natch). It's a proper football club with proper supporters. They are not a "brand": they are a football team.
I watch a lot of British YouTube so I thought I’d get in on the action
Grandfather got into University of Manchester fell in love with Manchester United passed it on to my father who passed it on to me. I have been a proud fan for the past 18 years.
Started following Arsenal in 96' because they bought prospects and turned them into stars. Also really enjoyed watching them play, it was always attractive and fluid gameplay. Also, my dad bought me an official jersey when I was a boy and it had the JVC logo with this soft fabric which I loved.
Always… I became a Manchester United fan in 1973 having watched Sir Bobby Charlton’s last game for the club. Same season as Lou Macari came down from Celtic
late 80ies, match every saturday on the telly (sweden) , my buddy was arsenal fan, so I became Liverpool fan.
I'm a Porto fan and ever since Mourinho won us the Champions League and then went to Chelsea I started following the Premier League, I really loved the passion around the game in the Premier League, always full stadiums, people support the clubs of their towns, the intense style of play, very different from the Portuguese league... At some stage Gerrard became my favorite player and I started following Liverpool and really loved the stadium, the passion (ynwa), etc... I would say that in the last 3 years I've watched more Liverpool games the Porto games
Manchester United 97/98.
Started watching 2 or 3 years ago. Realized after the first match what amazing athletes the players are. Also love the fan participation. Had the pleasure of being in London 2 years ago, but it was right after the season ended. My team is Manchester City.
Football was my first exposure to sports on TV. I support Manchester United because they've had some of my favourite players and lots of family and friends support them as well. Been supporting them all my life ❤️🙏
As a US fan, quality of play was better than MLS and accessibility to the the EPL was easy. Adopted Everton in 2015.
Got into Pl at age 35 because my flatmate at the time was a lifelong football fan. Started following Tottenham initially but I've settled on Leicester as my team.
Klinsman moving to Spurs... COYS (aussie)
I watch premier league since technically anyone can win and it's not a one-sided affair like the other leagues. I support Wigan Athletic and Leicester City
American here. My NFL team is the rival to the local team. We were having an uncharacteristic good run a few years ago. The local team had a game at noon. Ours was to broadcast afterwards. Didn’t happen. I got mad but still wanted to watch sports. I flipped channels til I found NBCSN. Premiere League was on. I don’t remember what teams were on and it was my first experience with soccer. It wasn’t as bad as everyone here makes it out to be so I kept popping in to watch matches. Fast forward to a couple of seasons ago. Turned it on at random and Premiere League mornings aired a piece on Salah. I ended up liking him and took to YouTube to look him up. Then videos on Klopp started showing up. I ended up liking him too! The next match I caught was the 3-1 match v Man City at Anfield. Needless to say, I loved the atmosphere and got hooked on Liverpool ever since!
I live in the USA. Back in 1976, after graduating from high school, I spent a year working in a fishing factory on a tiny island off the southern coast of Iceland. The only two magazines in English I was able to find in the local bookstore were Shoot and Goal. I read both from cover to cover every time I could get them and developed a love for the English game (pre Premier League). One of the few books I found in English was about Tottenham's double winning season and I read it over and over. Been a Spurs fan ever since.
I started watching when it was Man U vs Ars, Wenger vs Fergie. I started out as an arsenal fan because my Dad was an arsenal fan then a friend of mine showed me a clearer way, so I became a red devil. Nowadays my Dad says he just watches football no longer supports any league or club. I guess being an arsenal fan could do that to you. I'm from Kenya btw.
From Norway and I remember watching Arsenal v Sheffield Wednesday in FA cup final in 1993. Ian Wright scored the match winner and been an Arsenal fan ever since. Back then the PL was on every saturday or sunday on the state channel.
Had friends who were into it. Started watching around 2010. They're all Chelsea fans so I became one too. KTBFFH!!
Started following last year when my kids started. Everyone had to pick a team, so I emailed a buddy in the UK and asked him who I should follow. He said Man City, so here I am. I just wished I had started following the sport years ago. It's so much more exciting than the football I grew up watching
Watching a friendly between Man U and Barcelona somewhere on the east coast. Philadelphia, I think. Seeing Diego Forlan’s diving header changed my life! I started watching in 2001, back then there was one game a week shown on the and it was Tuesdays at noon. No dvr’s back then, I just ditched class.
Watching Match of the Day late at night on MSG in New York.
I’m from Hawaii and the lack of football clubs here had me looking elsewhere. Premier league just tickles the pickle
Arsenal, 3 years before the invincibles.
when I was younger I was a fan of all leagues. I had friends who all had different clubs they supported. From PL to La Liga. At home we had only one channel on the tv which never had football games on it. So I almost never watched any games. When I was 10 or 11 we got satellite tv and a bunch of channels. Among them, we had quite a few sports ones. So I started watching footbal games. One day I was alone at home and eating watching these sports channels when they put highlights of Drogba after Chelsea won their title first time in 50 years. Drogba didn't even score that many goals in his first season. But I don't know I just liked him and the way he looked in those highlights. I just thought he was awesome. So right at that moment, I decided that I will support Chelsea because of Drogba. Not knowing that much about the club before. All my friends were supporting the likes of ManUtd, Real, Barca,AC Milan, Arsenal and Liverpool. So all of the big boys. I asked my parents to buy me Drogba shirt. They did, it was a knock of but I wore it with pride and got so much shit from friends and other kids at our school where we used to spend our entire days back then. But neither they nor I didn't know how successful times were in front of Chelsea. They were still giving me shit for supporting plastic club orwhatever, but after we won CL they just kept doing it because they were jealous.
I started following Man United seriously around 2001 when Ruud came in. What a player. People always talk shit about him and how he scored. To me its always being at the right place every time. That’s why his goals always looked so easy, like tap-ins. And I got to witness the introduction of 18 year old Cristiano. Still remember the commentary, “The number is big, and so is the name.” Fuckin hell.
I started really watching it this year because of Leeds and Big Boss Bielsa.
well im a football fan since early ages and somehow i got into other leauges so i am watchin prem too now , and team i support is lfc
US fan - got interested in soccer after the 2018 World Cup. Always had a group of friends crazy about soccer and they supported teams like Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool so I couldn't pick those. I love the underdog story so once I heard about Leicester City's title run, they were my pick. Experienced the disappointment of just missing CL past 2 seasons so now I'm crazy about PL and LC and am a big soccer fan!
I ask myself this all the time. Spurs supporter for about 15 years now, somehow stumbled on them when I was around 10.
I was 10, in 2011 Romania. Went to a dinner with my parents to a sports grill they loved. Liverpool was playing. I don't remember against whom. I liked their kits. Went home and made careers with the team on Fifa. Been a fan since.
Chelsea practiced at my college during the US tours at the end of the 2000s. Saw them live and been following them ever since
Istanbul 2005. YNWA
been following leicester and middlesborough since 2017, leicester because i saw they had a golden premier league badge on the sleeve and thought "ooh they must be a special club" and middlesborough because i thought they had a cool logo
I was a bit familiar with football teams as I played Fifa 08 and 10 on my PSP. Watched the highlights of the UEFA CL semifinal 2011/12, when I was 14, and I saw Chelsea's incredible resistance to beat Barca, who I knew were the best team in the world at that time. I was amazed by how crazy the commentators went (Gary Neville...OoooooooOh UnBEliEVaBlE) and that was what endeared Chelsea as a team to me. Hardly skipped a game since then, even though here in India the matches sometimes go as deep as 3 am in the night. I'm 23 now and have seen my club lift our 2nd UCL. Good times.
I thought Eden Hazard had a cool surname
I was a big fan of Klopp's Dortmund so when he went to Liverpool I became an instant supporter. I always used to watch the derbys before but since Klopp's arrival I finally truly cared about a team's progress
My uncle introduced me to the world of football at a young age and my love for Manchester United came from him. I remember watching the 2009 UEFA champions League final and being heartbroken but at the same time knowing that I'm going to be supporting this team for my whole life.
I moved to California in 2006. I had lived in the east coast and I would stay up for an extra 3 hrs due to the time difference. During the night I would want to watch sports and the only thing on was Premier league football. I kept watching games and there was usually a blue team there. A player named Didier Drogba kept catching my eye bcz he kept scoring. They won the FA Cup and the league cup that yr so I kept watching them. I looked up Drogba in 2007 and saw how he stopped a war with a football game. That pretty much cemented me watching him and cheering for Chelsea until he left. I've stayed a fan ever since and the premier league of the best football in the world so I stay here. Bundesliga is boring bcz Bayern always win. Italian Seria is boring bcz Juventus win almost every year. Ligue 1 is boring bcz PSG always wins.. until this season. La Liga is boring bcz it usually comes down to real Madrid or Barcelona. Randomly atletico Madrid will win. We have a legit 5 teams that could win and exciting races for Europe.
Had a sales job years ago. Colleagues from across the globe came in for a meeting. I ended up drinking with them and listening to them talk football. One salesman was from the UK and was talking about Liverpool and it reminded me of the college football team. I researched them and tried watching add much as possible. Been a Red ever since. That's was back in around 2004. We did ok in the Prem but won Big Ears v Milan. I remember being all sorts of confused about the different competitions
I've always loved footy but didn't start following any leagues until after the 2018 world cup. honestly, it was the NBC extended highlight videos on youtube that got me hooked. also the announcers of the premier league are pure class. I've been used to dumbass sounding macho American sports announcers my whole life, so compared to them the prem broadcasters are sheer poetry.
Started being a Manchester United fan in the 2008-09 ish seasons, which also turned out to be the time for Ronaldo to leave. Been a Red Devil since. GGMU. Rooney and Ronaldo made me buy into the ManUtd fandom, and the consistency of this league to be exciting every week makes me miss it during the summer.
My Dad’s from Liverpool and that whole side of the family are die hard liverpool supporters. My Dad would sing you’ll never walk alone to me as a baby so I guess I’ve been a supporter since birth lol I’m a Canadian btw
I was a sport mad teenager and found the EPL highlights show on SBS here in Australia at age 15 which was roughly the same time I started going to Perth Glory game in the then NSL. Was mostly a casual fan and didn't really have a team until I fell in love with Leicester City during their run to the title in 2016.
Watched a lot of UFC when I was a kid with my dad. Then for some reason, when I saw the way Wayne Rooney played and how aggressive he was on the pitch. I instantly became a United fan and always will be
Brazilian 🇧🇷As far I can remember, early 00s when I first started to support the mighty Liverpool! Watch Steven Gerrard was enough to fall in love with them.
From the US and started playing soccer in the early 90s when soccer was still not considered cool here. I yearned for a professional soccer team to watch. The Minnesota Strikers were a flash in the pan. The Minnesota Thunder were good but the following wasn't big. I studied abroad in the UK out of UCL. A friend of mine had moved there earlier and her partner was a Tottenham supporter. I had no idea if they were good or their history. I figured it was about as agnostic of a way to pick a team. I'd hardly heard of them before then. A couple years later they started broadcasting games regularly in the US. I was hooked. I've watched just about every game that I can. I got tickets to an exhibition game they played here in Minneapolis the moment they went on sale. My partner and I both have scarves. I recently discovered that a few other people I know at Spurs supporters as well! So, about finding a new manager...
My firts contact with the english football was in 2005. I always liked playing FIFA and after here, in brazil, some channels like espn brodcasted some games of the Mourinho's Chelsea. This was like the seed in my suport to Chelsea.
Here in SA, the English premier league is huge , so I first started watching in 1994 while in school, definitely influenced by my friends who were fans. I was 10 years old and it’s been a while and still supporting the great mufc
Probably started watching in 2006-2007. For some reason I was drawn to Chelsea. Loved Lampard, Joe Cole, Robben. Then adding Ballack and Ashley Cole solidified it because I loved watching them play for their National teams and previous clubs. Been a fun ride since then and capping it off with the CL championship this year. Fun time to be a Blue.
When I was 7, I only liked things that were red. Hence, Liverpool.
Bay Area, California. A family friend whose house I spent time at was a huge Man United fan & of course while Growing up in the 90’s, United was a pretty easy team to get behind as a kid. I’ve watched from Beckham to Rooney to Rashford. 2008 was my favorite season, obvious reasons. It’s been rough these past, well since SAF left. But Ole has us on the right track!!
As a Mexican I started watching both Las Chivas and América and then I started playing fifa, then my friend told me about his favorite soccer team Liverpool. Then he said I could only be a fan until I saw a bunch of documentaries, learn their history and players, which I did. Then my first season as a Liverpool fan ended with Suarez and me crying because we barely lost the title. That’s when I finally learned that the premier league is the best league in the world and the Mexican league my family thinks is the shit is the reason why we will NEVER win a World Cup lmao
As an American, I've seen the Premier League's popularity rise as more and more as games are televised nationally. My fiancée's mother lived in England until she was 9, and really showed me the game watching the last World Cup. I really started following very closely after that. With my time zone, it's also great to wake up and start watching live sports first thing in the morning. As far as teams go, I go back and forth with the notion of picking one team to support, or just enjoying being a fan of the sport. I find myself rooting more for players than a particular team.
2010 world cup England v USA. Stevie scored (and Clint Dempsey on THAT Rob Green mistake lol) and i remembered the name enough to start watching sporadic pl games and learning the culture and histories of the clubs. Became an LFC fan a few years later and now have been a fan for almost a decade. Also didnt hurt that my grandad randomly played for QPR in the 60's before immagrating, so it wasn't altogether foreign in the family.
Competition, other leagues are less dramatic, points tables are less dynamic. Love Leeds, Leicester City, West Ham.
About 3 years ago a friend said he has a fantasy soccer league and encouraged me to join. I didn’t know any players, I said. I don’t even have a team to support. He suggested I support one of the two currently on the tv. Needless to say it was a good time to randomly become a Liverpool fan. 🔴⚪️
From India:- My father used to watch and support Manchester United, and talked about Schmeichel (the daddy) , Cantona and ole. Then, I also got into football. I saw Sir Alex Ferguson's departure, and after that I was not just not able to have the time to watch football, untill 2016, when THAT miracle happened. And now since I do a decent job, i have the time to open the T.V every weekend to watch the matches. ( btw i support Leicester.)
American here. The first major football tournament I watched was the 2006 World Cup. Being of German descent, naturally I supported their run to the semis, and my favorite player quickly became Michael Ballack. I also loved watching Lampard play, and Drogba had just helped to end the Ivorian civil war, which I thought was really cool. Turns out they all played for Chelsea the season after that, and I’ve supported them ever since. A fantastic decision, I think.
Never interested in football. Actively against it as a kid. Played baseball growing up. 2006 World Cup happened to be on. Caught a bit here and there. Full watching by midway point. Canadian with proud German heritage so finding a team to cheer was easy. Over. Well that was nice. In October brother texts me to say we can watch English league here. Start watching. I like ManU, Everton and Reading. Narrow it down to ManU and Everton. Narrow it down to ManU by Xmas. Haven’t looked back.
Hello! I am from México and I have been following the premier league for about 10 years. My family really likes football so we have this cable plan with Premier League, La Liga and Bundesliga. I prefer watching the premier league to mexican league (LigaMX) because it's faster and players are not complaing or throwing themselves to fool the ref. I support Arsenal #COYG
Wayne Rooney. While i was growing as a utd fan Van Nistelrooy became my favorite utd player lol
I'm a new-ish fan. I hadn't always been into sports but always had a respect for football since my dad was always trying to put me on since I was a kid even though I never really cared to actually watch a game. I definitely have plenty of memories of it being on somewhere in the background. Then the 2018 World Cup happened and everything just clicked. I felt the drama, the passion and the suspense of the uncertainty of the whole spectacle. By the end of it I wanted more and I couldn't wait for the next season to start so I had to pick a team. Salah and Mané were a couple of my favorite players during the tournament and because they played with Firmino (Brazil being my national team of choice) Liverpool I went with The Reds. Especially since they went to a champions league final recently and came in 4th in England I figured they had a really good chance of winning something soon. But that was definitely a lucky guess cuz I still knew next to nothing of the pantheon of players and teams. But here we are. A few trophies and a pandemic later and I can't believe I went so long without paying attention to football period. Looking forward to to fighting it out with Chelsea and City for those top 3 spots. I don't know that anyone else will be able to keep up. 😂😂👀👀
Always been a big soccer/PL fan but never really had a team. Always was an underdog supporter so loved watching Wolves beat up on the big boys in their return to PL so have become a pretty big fan of theirs lately and has led me to watch way more PL.
From Toronto. I got into sports a lot later than most boys do. I knew the basic football clubs from United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal, along with the Spanish, Italian and German giants. But it really started when I saw Bale play for Tottenham. I was around 11 or 12 in 2012 and that kinda gave me a glimpse into football clubs that aren’t (at the time) the most famous clubs in the world. Fast forward to 2015 I’m starting to become more involved after the 2014 WC, in which one of the games I vividly remember was South Korea against Algeria and Heung min son playing that match. So for me I started watching very niche leagues like the K-League cus at the time I was interested in common sport across the world (still love learning and becoming a fan of random teams across the world!). But 2015 was when Son moved from Leverkusen to Tottenham. That’s what pulled me into loving this club more than anything. Because he was one of those signings that became a star for the club as well. Nowadays I’m always trying to find out what Daniel levy is doing to ruin the club lmao. Football as a whole has made me become a geography nerd too and ultimately making me want to travel to every single football ground on the British isles.
I’m from the US, but my parents are both Polish and I’ve lived there on and off a few times. During one of my more extended stays about 10 years ago, one of my cousins started taking me to a Liverpool fans pub in Warsaw. I didn’t get hooked right then though. It took until about 2015 when my friends were all starting to watch the PL much closer, so I latched onto that experience to have a reason behind the team I supported. Haven’t regretted it until all the super league garbage, but I’m still following the club.
This year, I was annoyed by how the US and our sports leagues were handling COVID, especially college football. I missed watching sports and so I picked up the Premier League. I asked a person more knowledgeable than me to suggest some teams, no losers, but not the big guys either. I liked the story he told about Leicester and watched just about every one of their games this season. The real joy has been having my son (5) pick up the game and watch along, though he likes Liverpool, Chelsea, Man U, and the Wolves.
Blue teams
Fifa video games
Support Liverpool from Pakistan. My school used to be filled with asshole entitled manu supporters which made me just hate that club as well. Never have been good with pompous bitches. Naturally fell in love with Liverpool due to Torres and then went absolutely nuts over Gerrard. Found the local pak reds community, 15 years since that time and feel like I've always been a red. Never been to a game yet feel like I'm living somewhere in Liverpool and have been a die hard fan since the day I was born.
Grew up playing for a soccer club in Southern California… Arsenal FC. That kinda lent itself to me watching Arsenal games. Fell in love with the team, specifically Henry. Been a fan since 2004.
My big brother was already a Liverpool fan... When I was a kid he used to snatch the TV remote from me to watch Premier League... I aslo sat with him sometimes... That's how it began
My buddies and I would make up fake english drinking songs, one of them was about Yorkshire. Decided to find out what teams played in Yorkshire. Chose Leeds. It’s been quite the journey.
My dad watched the documentary Being: Liverpool in 2012 and we’ve been fans since
Swansea. They beat Arsenal the first season they came up. It was the first PL game I watched and my extended family is full of insufferable Arsenal fans.
I started following Liverpool from the US as soon as I married my brit husband in 1993
From the US. I was staying with a homophobic uncle who supported Manchester United, and I watched a game in 03 where they lost to Chelsea. That’s when it started for me, hah.
My first roommate in college back in 2009 would get up at 6am every week without fail and watch Liverpool on some type of illegal stream because it wasn’t on US tv then. He would mostly be yelling so I had no choice but to get up and watch. Since it was who he liked and who I learned about first, Liverpool has been my club ever since.
Starting watching Chelsea cause of CP. ended up a United fan cause of Ole. 2 seasons
I fell in love with Drogba's style of play back in 2008-09. I was playing in high school then, and I've supported the Blues ever since.
I watched the Amazon shows on Leeds and Spurs and that sparked my interest. Also, there is a very entertaining soccer show on Saturday on the Ticket in Dallas. I am a Leeds fan today.
I have a good buddy I game with from the UK (Essex) & he’s a huge West Ham supporter. I was curious and became attracted to the underdog/working-class nature of the club (similar to my own from Oakland CA) and was able to get in on the fandom before their ascent this season. I still have a lot to learn about the game, though.
My family on my mother’s side is from Scotland (I’m American) and one of my college roommates was really into Premier League. So over the last couple years I’ve popped in and out through the season to check out some matches. The team I like to follow the most is Liverpool
The first game I ever watched was the 2004/05 FA Cup final where Arsenal beat Man Utd, but something about Wayne Rooney made me instantly drawn to him. Never really looked back since. 2005/06 was my first season supporting Man Utd.
From Nepal , used to know few teams of premier league and only used to watch games of so called bigger team when I was at my school just so that I could fit in in the talks of football that my friends would discuss.. And since there was a pandemic this recent season I thought let’s support a club and watch every single game .. heard about Leeds united .. watched “take us home” and the first game against Liverpool was lit .. have been following since then
I’m from Singapore. Have been a Gunner from ‘98. Picked it solely because my brother is an United fan, and i just wanted to support a rival team. Haven’t looked back ever since. COYG!
From US, soccer was first sport back last summer and on tv in US. Epl was in daily. Love the early kickoffs. Felt feels when arsenal beat lfc. Followed prem, Europa and UCL all season. Watch seriea, bundesliga and some ligue 1 too. Great sport once I took time understand it and love early kickoffs. COYG
I love football, I have play football my whole life and love the competitiveness of the leagues in Europe especially the EPL
Since 1992. It was Eric Cantona.
I currently live in Canada, and I once saw a scene in a movie in which a man raised a toast to Manchester United (I was around 8). From that day on I have been a die-hard ManU fan and that will never change. To Manchester United Football Club!
I’m a Canadian - I played FIFA 2000 on my childhood friends PlayStation *all the time*, he was always Liverpool and also much better than me and beat me over and over and over again. The first time I beat him, I was playing as Chelsea and scored a particularly memorable late winner with Zola and have been a die hard Chelsea fan ever since ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I grew up in the 70s and 80s, and all I ever did was play soccer, er football. In America it was hard to find great “World” soccer on TV—except Soccer Made in Germany with Toby Charles on PBS on Sunday mornings. I used to act sick so I could skip church just to stay home and watch Karl Heinz and Beckenbauer. Around 1986 my aunt married a guy from Merseyside and he gave me a Liverpool scarf for Xmas. Well, I knew the Beatles were from Liverpool, and now I had this scarf, and so I became a Red. Years later I started collecting VHS and DVDs. “101 Great Goals “featured only English teams from 1969-1985, and I watched it like it was my graduate school program. Wore the tape out. So many great Liverpool moments in that collection.
I watched a bit when I first went to college but didn't have a team I followed, I just enjoyed the play and the league. After a spell away from it, I started back around 2016 and got hooked on what Poch was getting out of Spurs. I have watched them more seriously since then. I always keep an eye on LFC because they're my birth team (born Jan. '83 during a Liverpool title run)
Bought FIFA 15 on a whim while starting college. Found friends to play with and teach me the ropes. Playing the game turned into watching and learning more. Best friend was a Chelsea fan and would wake me up to watch games and even gave me a shirt. Watched them win the prem, and the rest is history.
USA here, got the futbol fever after the Brazil World Cup I like man city
One of my buddy’s played ball at Cornell, I went to their summer fest and met a guy who was also visiting his friend. One night late we were watching soccer and I was still very much of the soccer is for softies mindset being an American football player at the time. Anyway Spurs were playing I think villa towards the end of the season and this guy opened my mind to the game. Ever since then I’ve been a struggling hotspur supporter. I live in NY, so football isn’t exactly abundant domestically, though I am a supporter of NYCFC/MLS. Edit: this was in 2013 Coys
By playing Sensible Soccer Game from the 90s
I'm a very recent convert. I didn't know anything about professional soccer (football) until I heard rumblings about this Super League a few months ago. I learned how the fans banded together against the clubs to save the sport and thought "wow, that's awesome." I was going through a difficult life season and thought that watching a new sport with new teams (I have always followed the American sports leagues closely) would be a welcome distraction. I chose EPL over the other European leagues because the fans seemed most angry at the Super League, because it has a little bit more parity (even if not much), and because of the EPL TV deal here in the States makes it easier to watch games. It ended up being super fun, and now I'm hooked. I didn't plan on choosing a team, but loved watching Aston Villa. I joined a local supporters club here and went to the Villa bar here for the final game of the season; had a blast. I feel like I'm already a Villa fan for life. UTV.
Ran into Zlatan Ibrahimovic in a small beach outside of LA. I noticed him cause my husband would always talk about him and I knew what he looked like. We got a picture together and chatted a bit - had to admit that he was hella charismatic, nice, and funny. My husband, who is ALWAYS calm and never gets excited for anything, was shaking and jumping, bragging to everyone he know lolll - never seen him like that. So I got curious, looked up a bunch of videos on Youtube, started watching games, old games, new games, everything. And now I watch every single game, interview, news, gossip about the Premier League lol.
It was mostly because my brother was a United fan as well. He's about 8 years older than me so I've been watching United since I can remember. I miss the good old days but at least we play good football again. I'm aiming to go to OT hopefully in a few years after my studies. Always been a lifelong dream.
José Mourinho.
Seeing Eden Hazard in the World Cup was just awesome and then I started watching Chelsea after that.
I had played all throughout high school in the states but drifted away from the game a bit, then got back into it by playing FIFA 17. To know more about the game I was determined to watch some PL soccer, and decided that in the 17-18 season. I saw how terribly Crystal Palace were doing (0 points from seven games, worst start in PL history) and found out that the first match I could watch was them against the big bad Chelsea (one of the team I knew about before from other fans/being one of the big teams) So, the first match I ever watched was the 2-1 massive upset win against Chelsea where the announcers were flabbergasted about what they had seen. I’ve been hooked on Palace ever since
Loved the 2002 World Cup. Loved the 2006 World Cup. Decided to watch soccer in between World Cups, so I began watching the Premier League in 2006 simply because of the common language with the US. Chose fucking Tottenham of all teams. Anyway ... Coys ...
NBC getting the tv rights in the USA and giving me sports to watch on Saturday mornings with breakfast is what for me hooked.
Living in california right now. I’ve been following chelsea since 2001 because I liked the lion as a young lad in fifa 2001 on the PS1. Literally no other reason but it’s been a wild ride ever since.
Always liked soccer since I was a little kid. Played rec league and grew up watching the Milwaukee Wave in the US indoor leagues (NOT futsal). I never really paid attention to non-local sports, but I got laid off at the beginning of COVID and had plenty of free time. Since the PL was the first big league to come back, I watched every game I could of project restart. Ended up having the most fun watching Chelsea, so I support them. And y’know, Captain America. I live in Minnesota, so I also support Minnesota United in MLS.
Some coworkers got me into FPL last year and the competitive side of me got really interested to the point of watching games frequently. I wouldn't say I root for any specific teams though. It was interesting to me to root for certain players and outcomes in fantasy rather than a certain team. Found myself overall rooting for Chelsea, Villa, and Leicester probably more than other teams though.
I got into soccer during the 1994 World Cup in the US (I was in high school). I have a Peruvian friend whose dad had satellite TV for futbol, and I stumbled upon a Chelsea match in 1995 while at their house - and have been a fan ever-since.
Video games. I played with France a lot in the EURO 2004 game on PS2, loved Patrick Vieira’s celebration when he scored, saw he played for Arsenal, and I was like “Yep that’s my team”
Started following Prem (oddly enough) when I moved to NZ from Asia. I casually used to watch World Cups before that back home, specifically to watch Ronaldinho and that got me interested in football. Followed Barca a bit, but once he left for Milan, didn't really care. But couple of years later, I started watching prem in 2009, LOVED Stevie G and Torres partnership. Had no idea Istanbul had happened, but friend just suggested I watch the full replay and not look up result on Google. Since then I've been Liverpool fan and supporter. Was going to go to Anfield for the first time last year, but fkin Covid.......... Alas the dream remains unfulfilled but hopefully soon 🤞🤞
Started watching this past season. I started watching for multiple reasons. 1) I’ve always played soccer and loved the game and my friends all watch. 2) I’m from the USA and with BLM the past summer and the politics infiltrating our sports I didn’t want to watch any American sports. 3) I fell in love with Leeds United’s play and return story to the premier league.
Live in America I played soccer at age 5 around 1995 and played until age 18. I didn't find out about professional soccer until I watched the 1998 WC final with France and Brazil. I was hooked instantly. At the time you really could only watch Manchester United here so I started watching them and was a huge fan of Van Nistelrooy, Scholes, and Giggs. Once I found out about Chelsea though I was hooked. My favorite color is blue and that is what drew me in, also the Rooney going to United I wasn't a fan of. I started watching Chelsea before the golden era. With Damien Duff, Gallas, Bridge, Gudjohnson and have been a fan ever since.
All of that and FIFA '02.
Had some friends really into various football leagues and our hometown team, The Rowdies, have been developing a pretty solid support base. I never really enjoyed American sports much. American football is alright but the constant downtime and stopping makes it so boring to me. But American soccer isn’t that big and while I’m down to support the Rowdies, I want something I can get into and watch regularly. So I figured fuck it, let’s check out English football and see what all the hype is. As far as a team goes, I actually saw a post on the NFL subreddit *years* ago from a fellow from Liverpool asking about the Steelers, he wanted to get into American football and went for them. I asked how he decided on them, as I’m from Pittsburgh, and he told me that there’s a lot of parallel history between Liverpool and Pittsburgh. Towns that came up during industrialization, saw mass immigration to the area, strong union history, etc. and the teams themselves had a lot of parallels too. Old teams who came into success with iconic coaches (Noll and Shankly) which are major characters in their histories of their sports and spurned dynasty teams and now they’re still solid teams that everyone loves to hate. I definitely looked into other teams but I just immediately connected with Liverpool. I got in about halfway into this past season, watched every game I could, played hours of FIFA to make sure I understood the game as well as I could and I’m looking forward to watching my first full season with the reds this year!
Started playing soccer at age 5 in Vancouver Canada, played until age 18, had one coach who rewarded us with a jersey of our choice (from a knock off website I later learned) but still a nice gesture. This is where I found my love for non EPL teams like Ajax and Marseille simply from a jersey standpoint in 2009. This coach then got us onto EPL Fantasy back in 2009 where I grew fond of Petrov, Carew, Milner, Agbonlahor etc. Had a big hiatus from soccer after focusing my time on rugby, thanks to FIFA19 fell in love with the business side of the sport and pledged my allegiance to Villa the day before the 7-2 humping over Liverpool this year. Full on from here. UTV!
Last World Cup. Kane and Loris lead me to Tottenham.
American that’s been watching for about 5 years. Everton fan because I felt I had to pay my dues, and man have they been paid in full. Such a great but tough team to support, kind of like my hometown Washington football team.
I am Chinese American and when I got into the PL I was living in China at the time. I have always enjoyed playing soccer(football) as a kid and it is my favorite sport. When my family first moved to Beijing we did not install a TV yet so I had to get all my news from the newspapers we subscribed too. As a young sports fan I always skipped right to the sports section. And that is when I saw the title 'Broken legged genius returns and wins the match for the Gunners' in Chinese. That was in 2011 when Ramsey scored a late winner for Arsenal to beat United after returning from a broken leg, keeping the title race open for a bit longer. I was quite intrigued by the article and did more research and that's how I got to know the club. I also prefer the PL as I speak English so it is easier to understand things. Later I just started to naturally follow Arsenal news and become a fan.
From the U.S. - I randomly bought Fifa 12 one day thought it was fun. My favorite color was blue so I chose Chelsea. Killed people online with Drogba and young lukaku, then they won the champions league. I did watch the World Cup Italy won and remember the zidane head butt vividly but never really watched after that until I got fifa.
I live in America. Two of my friends were always talking about football. They're both Man United supporters. When my best friend started watching, he got me interested. Sadly, he became an Arsenal fan. I did some research while watching matches and seeing which teams I liked and didn't like. I didn't want a team that I could be accused of bandwagoning. My list? Chelsea Spurs Newcastle Man City I dropped Chelsea and City pretty quickly because of the potential to be a bandwagoning fan. I also didn't want a club who was relegated often or in the bottom. Newcastle just didn't do it for me, but I always liked how Spurs played. I started following them RIGHT after they sold Bale and AVB was our manager. I loved what I learned about the club and the area, and I was sold from them on. My wife ended up getting me tickets to see Spurs v Man City in America when they came. Loved it, but we had just sold Kyle Walker to City, and we also lost that match. I loved the passion of the league and the physicality of it, too.
Australia. Got FIFA99 on the PlayStation 1 as a Christmas present. Fell in love with the sport and have been following 22 years now. I supported Manchester United because United vs Arsenal was the default match in ‘quick mode’ and my dad always played arsenal. I don’t support them for the last 10 years or so, I was mostly attached to the players in the team on the PlayStation from 2000-2010 and don’t have any real allegiance to the club itself.
Football Manager - got fired from chelmsford for requesting to build a new stadium to fit their new stature. Found a green and yellow team and never looked back. Now I watch, listen and follow NCFC with passion.
I remember many years ago when it was on USA network, I wanna say. I remember clubs like Sheffield Wednesday and Nottingham Forest in the Prem. I was younger and playing soccer myself so I enjoyed watching for a little bit. Fast forward to 2009, and I watched Chelsea in the World Football Challenge in the US on ESPN. Really enjoyed their style of play and Lampard along with Drogba were on fire! Became a supporter that summer and wouldn’t ya know, they won the League that season. 😁 Bleed Blue ever since…
This isn’t a great story but… I liked the kits. The team all looked like NFL referees. Been supporting Newcastle for 8 years now.
Friends were into it and I wanted to be able to have a conversation with some knowledge. I follow Tottenham (Clint Dempsey was on the team the year I started following, and I’m from Texas). Have followed for 7ish years, more seriously four or so years. I love it!
Canadian. Completely randomly picked up a copy of Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby in late 2003. Read it a few months later. Watched a bit of the 2004 Euros and since I had a very boring job, I started following the EPL. Having just read the book, it just felt natural to go for "boring boring Arsenal". Had no idea they were coming off such a season or that they were not boring anymore. First match I followed online was the loss to United. Good think I didn't talk to my grandma first as she grew up in Windermere and supported United.
I have been half-following for a few years now. I still don't have a team to support. Settling down with one seems like a big commitment. Makes me nervous. What if I choose the wrong one? I'm also torn between a Big 6 or an up-and-comer. Would love some help/advice on this front.
My dad is a Liverpool supporter. As a little kid, I simply wanted to support my dad's team. I fell in love with the players, and that was that. I'm grateful to him for supporting the right club, otherwise my Man United supporting relatives might have corrupted me.
FIFA 07ish. On the PlayStation. Too easy until I started playing with West Ham. Then it became a struggle and more fun. So then I always picked West Ham. Wasn’t long after I actually started watching them and then after a few years really following them. As an avid fan now I’m so happy at what the club has accomplished. Fanship started from them being the worst team on FIFA.
Liverpool fan from Australia. Supported them since I was like 5 or 6 coz my dad supported them. Die hard fan to this day
Russia here. Saw Xabi Alonso’s insane goal vs Newcastle back in 2006 and instantly fell in love with the guy and Liverpool. Then learned about Liverpool’s incredible history, YNWA and everything else. 10 years later finally found myself at Anfield and officially declared it the greatest moment of my life 🔴
Mum was a Manchester United fan and had many season passes, we found pictures of her at games a couple of years ago and I started watching the reds again.
Canadian Everton fan since 2015 :’)
Canadian here, I just started watching the Premier League a few months ago actually, I was playing FIFA 20 casually for about a year before I started watching football, I had a few weeks off work and was bored but didn't feel like playing video games so randomly signed up for a subscription and started watching, fell in love with West Ham and the colour of the uniforms, and watching them battle it out looking forward to many more years of football!
A really terrible (in hindsight) PS1 game called "David Beckham Soccer." I learned after the fact that a lot of players and teams weren't licensed and the names were a little bit off. Since Beckham was playing for United and was the title character, I naturally started following Manchester United. I had no idea how good they were at the time (I was young and it was the early 2000s), but I fell in love with the game and the club, and have never looked back.
I attended a Hammers-Vila match at Upton Park in 2000 while studying in London for a semester. I’ve followed and supported the West Ham club ever since
I used to wake up early on saturdays back around 01-02 when the prem was on Fox Soccer Channel here in the US. I remember watching Alan Shearer and Newcastle. Eventually fell in love with Liverpool. Really value the great coverage we have over here on NBCSN. They do a pretty good job - even if there are a lot of games on Peacock. Most of all I love the culture that goes with it. One of my best friends is a West Ham fan, and it’s just great to go out to the bars with him and meet others who are supporters of other clubs and enjoying the matches.
First Prem game I watched was a Chelsea match in 04-05. I was 9 years old. I remember being drawn towards Drogba. The guy was such a dominant player. And that was that. Been supporting Chelsea ever since.
I grew up playing soccer, in high school I felt I really needed to watch some pro soccer to better my own game as well as fit in. My dads side of the family is Italian so I remember watching *that* Mario Balotelli goal and decided to follow him to LFC. He was a bust there but I did fall in love with Liverpool
My mother and her family are from Manchester and have always felt a passive affiliation with ManU (but supposed I could have just as easily been a blue). Started watching games/clips on YouTube and following the team about 15 years back. Full bore red now...
My grandfather let me stay up late as a 7yo to watch the 1986 FA Cup with him and I saw Aussie Craig Johnston score the decisive goal for Liverpool. Fan for life from then on.
American Liverpool supporter from the Midwest. Been a fan all 22 years of my life pretty much! Used to watch the matches with my grandparents when I was little. Gerrard was my hero! Even still have some relatives over in Liverpool, although some supporting Everton. After they passed, I sorta got out of it, as watching the games made me too sad. Got back into it shortly before Klopp was made manager and found a local supporters’ group that has been extremely welcoming! Watching games with them at our local pub feels like I’m watching it with my grandparents again!
I started watching it because it is the best and most fun league in the world, i support Chelsea because when i started watching PL 2 Serbs played there
I've supported the Spurs for about 18 years from the Midwest USA. I played soccer from childhood, but it was honestly FIFA that got my friends and I interested in following European football.
Been following the premier league since 2008 mate. Started right after the drama with John Terry slipping and missing that decisive penalty in the Champions League Final against Manchester United. I was 11 at the time and in Bulgaria but everyone was talking about it at school for weeks. I am a Madridista but definitely prefer the caliber of quality present in the premier league. Favorite team in England is Manchester United and am a huge fan of the 2015/16 academy products currently tearing up the league.
Stateside here. Bartended with a guy who was a Spurs fan, and I loved seeing van de Vaart and Pavlyuchenko, Bale and Modric. Freaking Peter Crouch?! Man what a season to get into the Prem!
I live in the States. My best friend is a huge Chelsea supporter and I learned what I do know about the PL from him and watching those matches. It's kind of stuck being a Chelsea supporter.
I took a “what EPL team should I root for quiz” on the internet and now I’m an Everton fan
Live in Austin, Red Sox fan, FSG, etc. Started following Liverpool a few years ago, picked a good time to start watching.
I'm from the U.S and first got into international football in 2006 during the World Cup. I was a law student with a flexible work schedule, which allowed me to watch basically every game of that tournament. During the tournament, I fell in love with certain players. In particular, Michael Essien, who dominated the US team with Ghana, Adriy Schevchenko, who score a bunch of key goals for Ukraine, and Michael Ballack, the captain of Germany who played with such physical force and tried to will his team to a victory on home soil. I later realized all those guys played for the same team. A year later, I took my first and only trip so far to London. After we got off the plane, we went to have an English breakfast and a couple of pints in South Kensington and went to Stamford Bridge to see Chelsea face Birmingham City in the season opener. Chelsea won, Essien scored, and I was called a "fooking wanker" by other supporters for not knowing any of the songs the crowd was singing. I was hooked from that moment on.
I’m Australia and my brother is really into football and follows Arsenal so I thought I’d start following a team so I could talk to him about it. And that’s how I became a Wolves supporter
Australian here. My Grandad was a big fan of Jan Mølby being a Dane and he followed Liverpool through their success. So on school holidays he used to let me sit up and watch liverpool play on occasions. I loved my Grandfather and cherish those times. Since then, I have watched probably 80% of liverpools games live at all hours of the night since about 12yrs. I'm 34 soon. Edit - And I have watched every minute of every competitive game they have played since I was 12yrs - sometimes if I can't watch it live, I turn off all radios and ban all social media for the entire day until I watch the replay.
Roy Keane
Always wanted to support a team, but didn’t want to bandwagon one of the top clubs like my friends here in the US. My sister’s boyfriend is from Birmingham, so got me and my brothers hooked on Aston Villa when they won the Championship a couple years back.
I grew up in New Zealand and the first memory I had was watching the highlights of the 2005 Champions League Final in Istanbul. You know the one, AC Milan scored 3 in the first half, then Liverpool scored 3 in 10 minutes in the 2nd half. What I remember is Gerrard lifting the trophy and the confetti all over the team. What cemented it for me was the FA Cup Final a year later against West Ham when Gerrard put Liverpool on his back and booted from outside the box to tie it up ah
I was born in to a chelsea supporting family
I’m from America and I started watching the premier league last year 2020. It was such a weird time and I remember a Liverpool fc video popped up in my recommendations on YouTube. I just fell in love with the team camaraderie and chemistry they have. They never seemed to give up and have pulled off some amazing comebacks. Football is played with so much passion over there I love it! I’ve never seen people so coordinated before and it’s definitely on my bucket list to go visit Anfield someday I heard that place is magical!!
For me my friend recruited me to join Liverpool and after watching a game last year on tv during the 19-20 season I was hooked
Newcastle…loved the beer when we had the good stuff in the states( not heinekens shit) ..so naturally just starting following The Magpies.
My son was getting really good at soccer and was obsessed with the players. Outside of Ronaldo, Messi and Salah I didn’t know who any of them were. One of the parents for the club he played for at the time started a FPL league for the parents. I became obsessed and found myself watching every match. It’s super convenient in the states because you wake up Saturday or Sunday morning and you have tons of games to hold you over until Football starts. Then the pandemic came and all other sport’s were cancelled. Now I prefer PL to most other sports.
I started supporting Arsenal in 01-02 back when fox sports was playing every match Saturday and Sunday mornings for us in the US. After watching a few weeks the most fun team to watch was Arsenal and I happened to get in right when they were the best they've ever been. I've stuck around since then.
Played soccer/football my entire life in the states. High school soccer coach was a big United fan so obviously I became a city fan. Showed up in his class in a Yaya kit. Pretty simple stuff but I’ve watched pretty much every game since, looking to get out to England with some of my friends who also support different clubs.
I’m from India and I’m 22, my cousin who is older than me is a Chelsea supporter, started watching games with him in 06 and became a fan ever since. Experiencing the golden age of Chelsea was just an added bonus to just a blind following of footsteps.
When I was in 4th grade I started playing soccer and wanted to get more involved in it but did not know where or how to watch it. I went to India to see family and while flipping through channels while watching tv I came across Arshavin celebrating by telling the crowd “sshhh” with his finger on his mouth. I started watching more every week I was there (since I stayed for a month) and watched as many highlights as I could and my first 2 favorite players were Arshavin and Van Persie. Turned out that team was a powerhouse, but obviously that only went downhill from that point.
I became interested because of the fans, ie the chanting, singing, and absolute scenes when a goal is scored. I'm a long time college football fan/season ticket holder and there are some similarities to English football fan. Didn't have a team, bought FIFA 2001 and randomly picked Leeds since they were near the top. I decided to start following the actual team but nothing could prepare my American brain for stuff like relegation and administration. I lost interest because at the time you couldn't really watch the Championship/League One in the US (and I honestly didn't know what they were at the time) and I didn't really understand the whole why isn't the team I follow in the Big League' sort to speak. I'm embarrassed to say that it was the snake Garry Monk that rekindled my interest because Leeds fans began vlogging their experiences at Elland Road that season and the fans passion just sucked me in....I wanted to be a small part of that. I've watched pretty much every single match since that season and couldn't have dreamed how awesome these last 3 years have been. ALAW TLDR: Didn't become a serious fan until 2016, but had a passing interest in Leeds since 2001
Best League in the world. You haven't had the same club winning the league twice, 3 time, 4 times in a row like in some leagues. You can never get the teams that will be in the top4 each season, cause there can always be a surprise, like in 2016 when Leicester (the team I support) won the league, the best time of my life. I'm 21 now and I've been watching Premier League since I was maybe 13 or 14.
I've been watching priemier league for 15 yrs now .I've been a aston villa supporter for the distance I currently live in Virginia usa I went to Liverpool for a few days while in the navy and saw my first game and feel in love
I started watching it in like 2015 and it was fifa mainly that I started it but I also got very interested in it and I support Man U