The first English Football League matches were played
On this day · 8 September 1888
On September 8, 1888, twelve clubs kicked off the world's first organized football league, a template the sport still follows.
On September 8, 1888, the opening fixtures of the Football League were played across the Midlands and the north of England, launching the first organized league competition in the sport’s history. The idea belonged to William McGregor, an Aston Villa director frustrated by friendlies that kept being canceled; he proposed a fixed schedule of guaranteed matches, and the league was formally founded earlier that year.
Twelve clubs took part: Accrington, Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Burnley, Derby County, Everton, Notts County, Preston North End, Stoke, West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Over 10,000 spectators packed Anfield, then Everton’s home, to watch them beat Accrington 2-1.
Elsewhere Preston North End thrashed Burnley 5-2, beginning a season they would finish unbeaten as the league’s first champions. The format McGregor sketched out — every club playing every other, points decided on the field — became the model copied by leagues around the world.
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