[5]The origins of the Golden League trace back to the Golden Four series that ran from 1993 to 1997, comprising four top level European meetings on the IAAF Grand Prix circuit (Berlin, Brussels, Oslo, and Zürich).

[7] From the 1999 IAAF Golden League onwards, the Meeting Gaz de France in Paris was added and the Grand Prix Final dropped.

[8] That year all meetings were scheduled for Wednesday evenings in order to improve the sport's television coverage.

[3][4] The series had three title sponsors in its history, starting with Ericsson in 1998,[7] TDK in 2004 and 2005,[12] then ÅF in 2008 and 2009.

In 2000 and 2001, this was changed to 50 kg of gold bars and athletes only had to win at 5 out of 7 meetings to qualify for the jackpot.