2011–12 Premier League
20th season of the Premier League
The 2011–12 Premier League (known as the Barclays Premier League for sponsorship reasons) was the 20th season of the Premier League since its establishment in 1992. The season began on 13 August 2011 and ended on 13 May 2012, with Manchester City stealing the club's third league title – its first since 1968 – by beating Queens Park Rangers 3–2 on the last day. The title was City's first Premier League success, making it the fifth club to win the Premier League in its 20-year history. The City team finished level on 89 points with Manchester United, but they had a superior goal difference to their local rivals, making it the first and (to date) only time the Premier League had been won on goal difference.
The league was contested by 20 teams, 17 returning from the 2010–11 season and three promoted from the Football League Championship. Championship winners Queens Park Rangers and runners-up Norwich City gained automatic promotion, while Swansea City gained promotion through the Football League Championship play-offs by beating Reading 4–2 in May 2011, becoming the first non-English team to play in the Premier League. All three promoted clubs avoided relegation for the first time since the 2001–02 campaign. The season was voted as the greatest Premier League season in the Premier League 20 Seasons Awards.
Season summary
Manchester City won the title in a tense finale, the club's first championship since 1968. City's local rivals Manchester United were the early pace-setters, leading the table until October, when they drew at Liverpool, allowing Manchester City to overtake them.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “2011–12 Premier League” as 20th season of the Premier League. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as 20th season of the Premier League. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1489492. Authority coordinates are 53.000, -1.000. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2011, 1992, 2012 and 1968.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “2011–12 Premier League”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow 2011–12 Premier League primary sources, 2011–12 Premier League archive and Premier research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “2011–12 Premier League”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “2011–12 Premier League” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.