Big Six (Premier League)

The Big Six is an informal term used to describe a group of six clubs in the Premier League—Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, and Tottenham Hotspur—often recognized for their sustained success and financial strength in the competition. While not an official designation, clubs in this group have typically accounted for at least half of the total annual revenue generated by Premier League clubs since 2004.

The concept first emerged in the 1980s as the Big Five, comprising Arsenal, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United, and Tottenham Hotspur. These clubs dominated between around 1985 and 1991. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, a duopoly formed between Manchester United and Arsenal due to their dominance in league titles. This Big Two was the dominant force of English football from around 1997 and 2003. The term Big Four gained prominence in the early 2000s when Chelsea and Liverpool consistently finished in the league's top four, with the clubs dominating between 2004 and 2009. By the early 2010s, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur were regularly competing at the top end of the table, leading to the informal expansion into the Big Six. The Big Six would dominate the Premier League from 2010 to 2022. As of 2025, the Premier League title was won by a Big Six club in every season since its foundation except in the 1994–95 and 2015–16 seasons which were won by Blackburn Rovers and Leicester City respectively.