On May 2, 2016, Leicester famously beat odds of 5,000/1 to win the Premier League title for the first time.
With victory confirmed by other results, Claudio Ranieri and the players were able to celebrate with the fans for the first time five days later, before the final home game against Everton.
Ahead of the 3-1 victory, fans inside the King Power Stadium were treated to a memorable serenade by opera singer Andrea Bocelli. It is as surreal as the feat itself, and one that will be proudly passed down for generations to come.
But that was then.
On Tuesday night, 3,642 days after that moment of glorious adversity, Leicester drew 2-2 with Hull and were relegated from the Sky Bet Championship.
Only if you win will you be given a suspended sentence. Oli McBurnie’s equalizing goal in the 63rd minute dashed those hopes.
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Highlights of the Sky Bet Championship match between Leicester City vs Hull City
They are not the first former First Division champions to drop to the Third Division within a relatively short period of time after winning the title. Portsmouth won the First Division in 1950 but were relegated to the Third Division in 1961, while Leeds won in 1992 but dropped out of the Second Division by 2007.
Derby were the team to do so in the shortest time, winning the title in 1975 but dropping to third in 1984.
However, there is nothing comparable in modern times.
Go down, go up, go down again
Leicester finished 12th in their first season after winning the title in 2017, but the added rigors of qualifying for the Champions League and reaching the quarter-finals took their toll.
Leicester win their first FA Cup in 2021
Two ninth-place finishes followed, followed by two fifth-place finishes and a historic first FA Cup win in 2020/21. In the 2021/22 season, they finished in 8th place and advanced to the Conference League semi-finals.
They were relegated the following year, despite having a team that featured Harvey Barnes, Youri Tielemans, James Maddison, Keiynan Dewsbury-Hall and Jamie Vardy.
Jamie Vardy (left) scores 18 goals as Leicester win the Championship title in 2023/24.
Coach Enzo Maresca led the team to the championship title, with 97 points in the 2023-24 season. Vardy turned back the year to score 18 league goals. However, Maresca subsequently left for Chelsea.
When Steve Cooper was sacked in November 2024, Leicester were in 16th place, but when Ruud van Nistelrooy, who had been in good form as interim manager at Man United, was appointed manager, they fell like a stone down the table. In the Premier League from December 14th to April 7th, they lost 15 out of 16 games.
Leicester have been relegated from the Premier League with five games remaining in the 2024/25 season.
Relegation was confirmed on the final day of the 2022/23 season. In 2024/25, they fell down crying. There were five games left.
slides continue
Everything changed again in the summer.
With Van Nistelrooy gone, former QPR manager Marti Sifuentes has taken the spotlight.
Leicester were fourth at the start of the September international break, having won three of their first four games, and were still in the table as of October 18, having lost just one of their first 10 games.
But then things started to slide – and things got even worse since the beginning of the year.
As of 2026, Leicester have only won two of their 20 Sky Bet Championship games.
Approximately one month after Cifuentes was fired as coach, Gary Rowett was appointed on February 18th, but he has not been able to break out of the slump.
Meanwhile, earlier this month the club lost its appeal against the six-point penalty imposed for breaching the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Regulations (PSR) for the 2023-24 season. This was the first punishment in their history.
Without that, they would still be in the drop zone, one point away from safety. This left them seven points behind the safety zone, leaving them with only six points left.
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Highlights of Portsmouth vs. Leicester City in the Sky Bet Championship
Statistics that define a nightmare season
Leicester have won one of their last 18 games in the Championship (D8 L9). The Foxes have lost six of their last nine championship games (W1 D2) at home. Gary Rowett’s side are the top scorers in the bottom half of the Championship with 56 points, but only Sheffield Wednesday have conceded more goals in that division. Leicester have dropped 19 points from winning home league games, the most in the top four divisions. The Foxes have scored first in 13 of their 21 home games, but have won just six of them.
How much of an impact did Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha’s death have?
Jordan Halford from the Big Strong Leicester Boys podcast:
“If he (former owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha) had still been there, none of this would have happened. But unfortunately, his son is not as much of a businessman or owner of a football club as he is. Top (Aiyawatt ‘Top’ Srivaddhanaprabha) himself was never even at the club.
“He gave an interview to Sky earlier this year in which he appeared very unwell and said we were aiming for promotion. “Everyone knew we were going to struggle to survive, let alone aim for promotion.
“Leicester fans have been criticized a lot for the rights they have earned. We are not looking to challenge for trophies like we were under Vichai. We are just looking for a sustainable operation like Brentford, Bournemouth and Brighton. No disrespect, but we are the bigger club than any other club.”
“If Vichai was still here, none of this would have happened.”
From February: Owner Ayawat “Top” Srivaddhanaprabha talks about his first PL title in 10 years, his father’s legacy and the struggle to return to the top
Leicester’s finances will take a ‘significant blow’ with relegation to League One
Rob Dorsett of Sky Sports News:
Leicester will be hit hard by relegation to League One, with their income expected to be around 50 per cent lower than in the Championship, meaning their income will be less than a third of what they were in the Premier League this time last year.
The fall in revenue will be particularly significant for a club that won the Premier League 10 years ago and the FA Cup just five years ago. They enjoyed an annual income of £187m in the top division, but are expected to earn just over £100m by the end of this Championship season, dropping to £60m a year in League One.
Despite the fall in revenue, Leicester will remain by far the biggest earners in the division next season. The average income for a League One club is around £10m, one-sixth of Leicester’s.
Leicester’s rapid relegation means they will at least receive some financial cushion as a result of the Premier League’s parachute payments designed to soften the blow of relegation to the top flight in 2025. Even if they are demoted for the second consecutive year, their rights will not change.
However, these parachute payments will reduce over time, so the amount next season will also be significantly lower (around £10m lower in Leicester’s case). Clubs dropped out of the top division receive approximately 55 per cent of their Premier League qualification in their first year, 45 per cent in their second year and 20 per cent in their third year.
This means that even if Leicester return to the Championship at the first attempt within the next 12 months, their parachute payments will be further reduced for the start of the 2027/28 season.
Leicester’s payroll will have to be reduced by around 30-40 per cent, some of which will naturally occur due to the relegation clause in player contracts. However, there is also a great deal of fluidity in the squad, with many players potentially becoming out of reach for League One clubs or simply deemed too talented to be content playing in England’s third tier.
The most notable of these is Abdel Fattaw, who could have been signed for around £35m when Leicester were relegated from the Premier League last summer.
According to Sky Sports News, a number of top-tier clubs were prepared to pay that amount for him at the time. Leicester are currently in League One and his market value is likely much lower, perhaps £10-15m less for a potential buyer, but you would expect Leicester to fight for the best possible price.
‘The most embarrassing season in Leicester’s history and it could get even worse.’
Jordan Halford from the Big Strong Leicester Boys podcast:
“This is a disgrace. I have said that the players are not only a disgrace to their kit, but a disgrace to their profession. It is the highest paid teams that are relegated to the Third Division. Leicester have only been relegated to the Third Division once in 142 years and have never suffered consecutive relegations.
“When we got relegated in 2008, it had been going on for a while and it was almost the reset we needed. But we’re not the same football club we were back then.
The last time Leicester played in the Third Division was in the 2008/09 season.
“We’ve won the Premier League and the FA Cup and played in Europe for a couple of seasons. We’re a little bit bigger now. The training ground costs close to £100m, the staff costs are higher than Everton’s last season and the highest in the Championship. You can’t run a club of our size on the income you get in League One.”
“This season is the most embarrassing season in the club’s history and I think this may just be the beginning. I wouldn’t bet on them being relegated next season either.”
“I can’t imagine a failure like this in English football, in my lifetime anyway.”
