premiership

Premiership is a term used in professional sports to denote the top division of a national league or the championship awarded to the season’s winners. The word derives from premier, meaning first in rank or authority, and in many contexts the premiership functions as both the league organization and the title for the season’s champions.

In association football, the term has historical prominence in England, where the top-tier competition came to be known officially as the Premier League after 1992. The label “Premiership” is still encountered in older sources and in media usage, and it is sometimes used to describe top-flight leagues in other countries or seasons, though official names may vary.

In rugby union, Premiership Rugby refers to the top professional league in England. The competition operates with a regular season and playoffs, culminating in a final whose winner is the premiership champion.

In rugby league, Australia has used the term NRL Premiership to describe the top professional competition, with the season’s end culminating in the Grand Final to determine the premiership winner.

Across other sports and regions, premiership can refer to either the league itself or the championship title awarded to the season’s champions, depending on local naming conventions and historical usage. The term is most common in Commonwealth countries and often signals the highest level of competition within a sport for a given country.