It came the same season that the UEFA Champions League was launched as the new identity for the European Cup. The impact of the new Premier League in England has arguably made a greater impact.

A century previously, the sport had been dominated by amateur teams who established the Football Association (FA) Challenge Cup, now the FA Cup, in 1871-1972.

It remains the oldest club football competition in the world and celebrated its 150th anniversary this year.

Then in 1888 came the Football League, where footballers were paid although a strict maximum wage remained in force.

Preston North End won the new competition without losing a match and these first "invincibles" added the FA Cup without conceding a goal.

In the pre-television era, crowds flocked to football. Television really took off after the 1966 FIFA World Cup.

As fans travelled to away matches in ever larger numbers, hooliganism became a major problem, first as a domestic phenomenon but as European football grew, so the violence spread to the continent where it was described as "the English disease".

Attending a football match in the 1970s and 1980s could prove a distinctly unpleasant experience.

In 1985, Liverpool prepared to meet Juventus in the European final at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels. Horrific violence erupted before the match.

Thirty-nine people died after a wall collapsed, and Liverpool fans were seen as largely responsible.

This was the final straw for the rest of Europe and English clubs were banned from European competition for five years.

Star players such as Gary Lineker, Chris Waddle, Glenn Hoddle and others sought their fortune overseas as the prestige of the domestic game plummeted still further.

Fences had also been installed at most major football grounds in England, but in 1989 came the catastrophe at Hillsborough in Sheffield before the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.

Ninety-seven Liverpool fans eventually lost their lives, many were unable to escape a crush on the terraces because fences barred their means of escape. 

The repercussions of the tragedy are still felt.

England's national team had been allowed to continue in international competitions despite violence at the 1988 European Championship.

Yet redemption for English football came at the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy. 

The standard of play fell short of many previous tournaments. The final itself was eminently forgettable and ill-tempered, as West Germany beat Argentina 1-0 after two Argentinians were sent off. 

Yet Italia '90 is also remembered for an operatic concert by the Three Tenors.

Placido Domingo, José Carreras and Luciano Pavarotti lent elegance to the entire tournament.

The aria Nessun Dorma, from Puccini’s Turandot, became almost the unofficial anthem of the competition.

England, inspired by the emerging and unpredictable talent of Tottenham Hotspur’s 23-year-old Paul Gascoigne, reached a semi-final. They lost on penalties against West Germany but an estimated 300,000 thronged to Luton airport to greet the team on their homecoming.

The FA produced a strategy report of 119 pages which called "for the establishment of a Premier League within the administration of the Football Association".

FA chief executive Graham Kelly described the document as "a landmark in the history of football".

The new competition would "end the constant power struggle between the Football League and the FA," Kelly predicted.

There had long been dreams of such a competition among the bigger clubs. Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool, Everton and Tottenham Hotspur, collectively known as the "Big Five", craved a more lucrative television deal and had entered secret negotiations with television magnate Greg Dyke - then in charge of Independent Television (ITV).

Meanwhile, newspaper tycoon Rupert Murdoch had launched the Sky satellite network. 

A judgement in the high court blew away the objections of the Football League and in July 1991, the leading clubs took the first steps towards its establishment of a Premier League by signing a founder members agreement.

The following year, Division One teams resigned en masse from the Football League and the articles of the new Premier League were established.

The chief executive of the new League was Rick Parry, formerly a management consultant with the accountancy firm Arthur Young.

Parry had also been closely involved with Manchester's unsuccessful bids to stage the Olympics and insisted the television deal was central to the success of the new venture.

"It’s the most exciting opportunity that I’ve yet seen for the sport to develop a real partnership with television," Parry declared.

The auction of the rights spun was dramatic.

ITV was the incumbent rights-holder and had been the first to screen a live Football League match.

Instead a bid of £304 million ($367 million/€361 million) from Sky won the day to screen matches exclusively live in a five-year deal.

This was a joint submission with BBC which was granted the right to screen highlights. The deal left ITV furious and empty-handed.

There was an unquestionable buzz at Sky’s West London headquarters as plans were unveiled for a schedule of programmes designed to enhance the live matches which were to occupy Sunday afternoon and Monday evening.

The Bootroom was a tactical discussion programme fronted by former Everton and Aston Villa striker Andy Gray. 

It was inspired by Liverpool, where the group of senior coaches gathered in the "boot room" to ordain tactics during the club’s remarkable era of success in the 1970s and 1980s.

There was also Sky Soccer Weekend, which previewed the matches to come. The end credits included details of ticket availability.

In the commercial breaks, there came that famous football promo.

The film includes monochrome shots of players; England goalkeeper David Seaman diving to save a shot from his son in his back garden, players from all clubs in a gymnasium and taking a shower, the water apparently provided by a fire engine.

As shirts of each club are laid out, there was a team talk by then Manchester City manager Peter Reid before the grand finale promoted "a whole new ball game".

On the first day of the new league, the first goal was scored by Brian Deane for Sheffield United in their victory over Manchester United.

In fact Manchester United began with consecutive defeats, yet they went on to become the first Premier League champions.

On Sunday August 161992, came the first of 60 live matches to be televised.

The programme was called Super Sunday and incorporated a two-hour build-up to Nottingham Forest versus Liverpool 

This featured sweeping views of Nottingham to reflect "a sporting tradition stretching all the way back to Robin Hood".

It left former BBC executive Paul Fox unimpressed.

"Sleepy Sunday" was the Fox verdict. 

For The Guardian's David Lacey, it was "nothing more than a costume drama working from a borrowed script".

Teddy Sheringham scored Forest's goal to beat Liverpool 1-0.

Then Queen’s Park Rangers played Manchester City in the first Monday Night Football, a title designed to evoke National Football League (NFL) game night on the American networks.

Sky innovations included cheerleaders, known as Sky Strikers, live in-stadium performances by bands, and even giant inflatable sumo wrestlers.

In a sign of how football has changed, almost half the original teams are no longer in the Premier League and Oldham Athletic play outside the Football League.

The salaries of players exploded to a level unimaginable when international Johnny Haynes became the first English player to receive £100 ($119/€118) per week after the maximum wage was lifted in 1961.

FA chief executive Kelly had promised "considerable commercial benefits" from the new league.

Veteran journalist Brian Glanville preferred to brand it the "Greed is Good League".

Yet 30 years on, the Premier League continues to flourish and remains a holy grail, not only for other teams in England, but also for those watching overseas where it is known as the English Premier League.

"Sky Sports has been as ever present as the Premier League and has contributed to the phenomenal worldwide success and popularity of the League," the Premier League insisted.

Overseas broadcast deals now span all five continents and include on-demand streaming services unimagined back in 1992.

Later still, a dedicated production company was formed to broadcast and distribute the League to more than 100 countries worldwide.

Many football fans have insisted football wasn’t invented in 1992, but some will perhaps now concede that it was at least reinvented.