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Global Soccer: Bournemouth’s Next Stop: The Premier League

LONDON — A.F.C. Bournemouth, the team from a small resort town facing the English Channel, is living the dream of a lifetime.

Six years ago, it placed 91st among the 92 teams and was a game away from expulsion from the league pyramid and extinction. It could not pay its taxes nor the 4.4 million pounds ($6.7 million) it owed in unpaid bills. It begged for clemency and began the next season at the bottom of the lowest rank of England’s professional leagues, starting the year with a 17-point penalty as punishment for its financial problems.

Today, under a manager who once was one of its players, Bournemouth is about to join the 20 teams that make up the Premier League, the richest soccer league on earth.