You've figured out how the Premier League works. Now comes a question almost every new fan eventually asks:

Who should I support?

For many British football fans, that's a strange question.

They never really chose.

Their club was already waiting for them.

Ask a British football supporter why they follow their team and one of the most common answers will involve family.

"My dad supports them."

"My mum took me to games."

"My grandad was a supporter."

Football clubs are often passed through families from one generation to the next.

You grow up watching the same team as your parents. You're given the shirt. You're taken to your first match. You learn the players and the songs.

Before you're old enough to seriously consider supporting anybody else, the decision has effectively been made for you.

Sometimes that connection stretches through several generations of the same family.

That's why supporting a football club in Britain can mean considerably more than simply liking the team that's currently winning.

If your family doesn't hand you a club, geography often does.

Grow up near a particular team and there's a good chance you'll be surrounded by its supporters.

School friends support them. People at work support them. The stadium is part of your town or city.

And some cities give you another decision entirely.

Liverpool is home to two famous clubs:

Liverpool — the Reds.

Everton — the Blues.

Families can even be divided between them.

So if you meet someone from Liverpool and football comes up, "Red or blue?" tells you exactly what you're asking.

Manchester has its own version.

Manchester United — red.

Manchester City — blue.

Again, it isn't literally true that everyone from Manchester supports one of the two. Football allegiances are much more complicated than that.

But "red or blue?" is instantly understood.

And whichever answer you get, there's often a story behind it.

Quite frequently, that story begins with Mum, Dad or another family member.

Then there are the supporters who find their team through a player.

And this is probably more common than we'd initially given it credit for.

One of Mitch’s friends became a Newcastle United supporter because of Alan Shearer.

My brother supports Arsenal, and players such as Tony Adams, David Seaman and Ian Wright (Arsenal Legends) were a huge part of what drew him to the club.

That's how football fandom can start.

You see a player who makes you want to watch every weekend.

Then something interesting happens.

The player eventually leaves or retires.

But you don't.

By then you've watched hundreds of games. You've learned the history. You've experienced wins and losses. You've developed a connection with the club.

The player might have opened the door.

The club becomes the reason you stay.

So if there's a Premier League player you already love watching, don't dismiss that as a reason to start following their team.

It might be exactly how you find your club.

This is where you have something many British supporters never really had:

a choice.

You might not have a parent handing you their club.

You probably don't have a Premier League stadium five miles from your house.

And nobody at school told you at eight years old which side of a local rivalry you belonged to.

That means you can find your connection somewhere else.

Maybe it's a player.

Maybe you've visited London, Liverpool or Manchester and loved the city.

Maybe it's the club's history.

Maybe it's the supporters.

Maybe you like an underdog.

Maybe you want the pressure of supporting a club expected to challenge for trophies every season.

Or maybe you watch a random game one Saturday morning and realize you're suddenly desperate for one of the teams to score.

There isn't a wrong answer.

We've also tried answering this question in a very American way.

In Your NFL Guide to English Football, Bottom of the 90 matched Premier League clubs with NFL franchises based on things such as history, expectations, supporter culture and what following the team can feel like.

For example:

They're not supposed to be perfect equivalents — English football and the NFL are very different sporting cultures.

But if you already understand what an NFL franchise represents, it's a fun way of getting a feel for the personality of a Premier League club.

This might be our biggest piece of advice.

Watch football.

Spend a few weekends watching different teams.

See which players you enjoy. Listen to the crowds. Learn about the cities.

Discover the rivalries.Read some of the clubs' histories.

Eventually, you'll probably notice something happening.

You'll be watching a game involving two teams you supposedly don't support...and you'll desperately want one of them to win.

That's probably worth paying attention to.

This is where British football culture gets slightly less forgiving. Changing teams isn't really the done thing.

Your club will have great seasons. It'll have terrible seasons. Your favorite players will leave. Managers will be fired. Owners will change.

You might win trophies.You might win absolutely nothing. But that's part of supporting a football club and perhaps that's why the question isn't really:

"Which Premier League team is the best?"

It's:

"Which one do I want to care about?"

Find the answer to that and you've probably found your club.

No draft picks. No guaranteed place next season.

Finish in the bottom three and you're leaving the Premier League.

Next, we'll explain how promotion and relegation works — and why some of the biggest games of the season happen nowhere near the top of the table.