On 2 May 2016 Leicester City achieved what most football fans thought impossible: they clinched the Premier League crown for the first time in the club's history, defying odds that were listed at 5,000‑to‑1. The victory was confirmed by results elsewhere, but it was not until five days later that manager Claudio Ranieri and his squad could celebrate properly with the supporters at the King Power Stadium, ahead of their final home fixture against Everton.
The 3‑1 win over Everton was marked by a surreal moment when world‑renowned tenor Andrea Bocelli sang a special serenade for the crowd, a fitting soundtrack for a triumph that will be recounted for generations. Fast‑forward 3,642 days, and the same stadium witnessed a very different scene: Leicester were forced to accept relegation from the Sky Bet Championship after a 2‑2 stalemate with Hull City.
A win was the only result that could have kept them alive, but Oli McBurnie's equaliser in the 63rd minute extinguished any remaining hopes. Leicester are not the first former top‑flight champions to tumble to the third tier within a relatively short span after winning a league title. Portsmouth lifted the First Division trophy in 1950 and found themselves in the Third Division by 1961, while Leeds United, champions in 1992, had slipped two divisions by 2007.
Derby County set a quicker timetable, winning the First Division in 1975 and dropping to the Third Division in 1984. Yet, in the modern era, Leicester's rapid fall stands out as particularly stark. After their fairy‑tale Premier League season, Leicester finished a respectable 12th in the 2016‑17 campaign, a year that also saw them navigate the demanding schedule of the Champions League, reaching the quarter‑finals. The following seasons produced two ninth‑place finishes, two fifth‑place finishes, and a historic first FA Cup victory in 2020‑21.
In 2021‑22 they placed eighth in the league and made it to the Conference League semi‑finals. However, despite a squad boasting talents such as Harvey Barnes, Youri Tielemans, James Maddison, Kiernan Dewsbury‑Hall and the ever‑reliable Jamie Vardy, the club suffered relegation at the end of the 2022‑23 season.
Vardy, defying his age, still managed to score 18 league goals, while new manager Enzo Maresca guided Leicester back to the Championship title at the first attempt, amassing 97 points in 2023‑24. Maresca’s success was short‑lived; he departed for Chelsea, leaving a void that was filled by Steve Cooper, who was dismissed in November 2024. Ruud van Nistelrooy, fresh from a caretaker spell at Manchester United, was appointed, but his tenure saw the Foxes plummet, losing 15 of 16 Premier League matches between 14 December and 7 April. The 2022‑23 relegation had been confirmed on the final day, but the 2024‑25 drop was decided with five games to spare, a far more decisive collapse.
Summer brought further upheaval as van Nistelrooy exited and former QPR manager Marti Cifuentes took charge. The new season began brightly: Leicester sat fourth when the September international break arrived, having won three of their opening four games, and they remained in the top four by 18 October with just one defeat in ten matches.
Yet the momentum faded, and the decline accelerated after the turn of the year. By early 2026, Leicester had managed only two victories in twenty Sky Bet Championship fixtures.
Gary Rowett was installed on 18 February, almost a month after Cifuentes was sacked, but he has been unable to halt the slide. Adding to the club’s woes, an appeal against a six‑point deduction for breaching the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules in the 2023‑24 season was rejected earlier this month.
This penalty was the first of its kind in Leicester’s history. Without the deduction the Foxes would still be in the relegation zone, one point shy of safety; with it they sit seven points adrift with only six points remaining.
Commentary from fans and pundits underscores the sense of betrayal many feel. Jordan Halford of the "Big Strong Leicester Boys" podcast lamented that the club’s fortunes would be different if former owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha were still alive, criticizing his son Aiyawatt "Top" Srivaddhanaprabha for being out of touch and overly ambitious about promotion when the club is struggling merely to survive. Halford argued that Leicester should aim for sustainable operation, similar to Brentford, Bournemouth or Brighton, rather than chasing trophies beyond their means. Financial implications of the double demotion are severe.
Sky Sports News’ Rob Dorsett reported that revenues are expected to fall by roughly 50 % compared with the Championship and to drop to less than a third of the Premier League earnings from a year ago. While Leicester generated about £187 million in the top flight, projections suggest just over £100 million will be earned by the end of the current Championship season, and possibly around £60 million if they finish in League One. Even with such a decline, Leicester would still out‑earn the average League One club by a wide margin; the typical third‑tier side makes around £10 million annually.
Parachute payments from the Premier League will provide a financial cushion, but these payments taper off over time: roughly 55 % of the original entitlement in the first year after relegation, 45 % in the second, and 20 % in the third. Consequently, even if the Foxes bounce back to the Championship within twelve months, the parachute support they receive for the 2027‑28 season will be markedly lower.
The wage bill will also need to be trimmed dramatically—by an estimated 30‑40 %—through contract clauses and player sales. High‑profile names such as Abdul Fatawu, who could have fetched around £35 million when Leicester left the Premier League last summer, will now command a reduced market value in the third tier, perhaps £10‑15 million less than before. The club will face a massive squad turnover as many players become unaffordable for a League One side or simply unwilling to compete at that level. Halford’s frustration was palpable when he described the situation as "the most embarrassing season in the club's history" and warned that another relegation could be imminent.
He highlighted that Leicester, with a £100 million training ground and a wage bill surpassing Everton’s previous season, cannot sustain such expenditures on League One revenues. The combination of financial strain, managerial instability, and a depleted squad paints a bleak picture for the historic club.
In summary, Leicester City’s journey from improbable Premier League champions to a struggling League One outfit within a decade illustrates how quickly fortunes can change in modern football. The club’s future hinges on stabilising its finances, rebuilding a competitive squad, and restoring the strategic vision that once propelled them to the summit of English football.