From Premier League champions to League One: The story of Leicester City’s decline
Ten years ago, Leicester City completed arguably the most unlikely title triumph in football history.A 5,000-to-one outsider, a club with seemingly no business winning anything, beat every team in Eng...
From Premier League champions to League One: The story of Leicester City’s decline Ten years ago, Leicester City completed arguably the most unlikely title triumph in football history. A 5,000-to-one outsider, a club with seemingly no business winning anything, beat every team in England across 38 games to lift the Premier League trophy. It was a story that transcended sport.
A decade on, that same club is fighting to avoid relegation to League One with only four games left to play. The speed and scale of the collapse are genuinely staggering. Just five years after winning the FA Cup and competing in the Europa League, Leicester now find themselves on the cusp of back-to-back relegations.
In 2024-25, their return to the Premier League lasted just one season. They conceded 80 goals – the most in the club’s top-flight history – kept just three home clean sheets across the campaign, and managed only 25 points from 38 games. By every measure, it was a complete capitulation.
The causes are both financial and structural. In the three years leading up to June 2024, Leicester accumulated losses of more than £200 million, far exceeding the permitted £81 million limit over a three-year rolling period. The result was a six-point deduction in February 2026, which dropped them into the Championship relegation zone.