Leicester City

The club was founded in 1884 as Leicester Fosse Football Club. They became a professional club in 1889 and joined the Football Association in 1890.

The team played at a handful of stadiums before moving into Filbert Street in 1891. They stayed at the park until 2002.

Football League’s Second Division 

Leicester City played in the Midland League before being elected to the Football League’s Second Division in 1894.

They finished second in their final season in the Midland League and stayed in the Second Division for over a decade. In 1907-08 they finished second and moved up to the First Division. 

The promotion was short-lived, and Leicester was relegated back after just one season. They stayed in the Second Division until World War I started, and financial troubles crippled the team. They reformed as Leicester City Football Club, and Peter Hodge took over as manager. 

The Foxes won the 1924-25 Second Division title and moved back up to the top tier. They finished second in the league in the 1928-29 season, missing out on the title by one point. 

They bounced between the leagues in the 1930s, getting relegated in 1934-35, returning to the top tier two years later but finishing the decade back in the Second Division. 

Second Division After World War II

The Foxes stayed in the Second Division after World War II and reached their first ever FA Cup Final in 1949. Wolverhampton beat Leicester City 3-1 in the final, denying the team their first-ever cup final.

They finally moved back up to the first tier for the 1954-55 season but again went back down immediately. Arthur Rowley scored 44 goals in the Second Division in 1956-57 and went back up. This time they stayed, with an 11-year stretch in the First Division. 

60’s FA Cup Final

In the 1960s, the Foxes found success. They reached the FA Cup Final in 1961 to Spurs and reached the European Cup Winners’ Cup.

They placed fourth in the league and again lost in the FA Cup Final in 1963. The Foxes finally won a trophy in 1964 under Matt Gillies with a win in the League Cup. They had a chance to repeat in 1965 but lost to Chelsea 3-2 on aggregate. 

Gillies left the team in 1968, and the Foxes were relegated. They lost in the 1969 FA Cup Final to Manchester United and got promoted back in 1971. That season they won the Charity Shield, beating Liverpool 1-0. 

Jimmy Bloomfield was the next manager, and he kept the team in the top tier before leaving in 1977. The Foxes were relegated at the end of 1977-78 and changed managers again.

A title in 1980 sent Leicester City back to the First Division but only for one season. Gary Lineker became a key player in the 1980s as a homegrown star.

They got promoted in 1983 and stayed up until Lineker was sold to Everton in 1985. They also sold Alan Smith to Arsenal after being relegated in 1987. 

Struggle

The Foxes struggled to end the decade and were nearly relegated to the Third Division. They rebounded to make the playoffs but lost to Blackburn Rovers and stayed down instead of being a founding member of the Premier League. 

The Foxes bounced back and forth again through the early and mid-1990s and finally got a foothold in the Premier League after the 1995-96 season.

They finished top 10 in the Premier League in each of the following four seasons and won the League Cup in 1997. They grabbed another League Cup in 2000 and played in the UEFA Cup after each of those wins. 

They started the new century with a 13th place finish and then got relegated after winning just five matches in 2001-02.

They moved into a new stadium in 2002, initially Walkers Stadium and now called King Power Stadium. The move ended 111 years at Filbert Street, which was subsequently torn down. 

With massive debts, the team entered administration in 2002 and sold off players. They also suffered a transfer market ban, and Lineker helped rescue the team with a new ownership group. They bounced back and forth again to the Premier League and stayed in the Championship for four seasons. 

2007-08 Season

Another takeover came about with Milan Mandaric as owner, and the team was relegated to League One after the 2007-08 season.

This marked their first-ever season outside the top two flights, and they returned to the Championship after winning League One. They lost in the playoffs in 2009-10

A group from Thailand purchased Leicester City in 2010, led by the Srivaddhanaprabha family. The Foxes lost in the playoffs in 2012-13 and finally earned promotion as winners of the Championship in 2013-14.

They finished 14th after winning seven of their last nine games and stayed up for another season. 

In June 2015, Leicester fired Nigel Pearson and hired ex-Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri. At the start of the season, the Foxes were 5000-to-1 in Premier League Odds and Premier League betting to win their first title.

Jamie Vardy scored in 11 straight games to set a Premier League record, and Leicester was in first place on Christmas. 

They qualified for the Champions League with a win in April and finished off the miracle season when Spurs drew at Chelsea on May 2.

First-ever Premier League Title

That result clinched the Foxes first-ever Premier League title. It ended a seven-year run from League One to a title, widely regarded as the biggest upset in English Football history.

They played in the Champions League in 2016-17 but struggled in the league, and Ranieri was fired in February. The team didn’t return to Europe for the next two seasons.

Tragedy struck in October 2018 when a helicopter carrying owner Cihai Srivaddhanaprabha crashed right outside the stadium following a game against West Ham. There were no survivors, and his son Aiyawatt took over control of the Foxes.

2019-20

Brendan Rodgers was hired in 2019. The Foxes finished ninth for a second straight season but moved up to fifth in 2019-20.

That meant a spot in Europa League play, and the Foxes won the FA Cup for the first time ever with a 1-0 win over Chelsea in May 2021. They finished fifth again in 2020-21 and dropped to eighth in 2021-22.

Among the biggest rivals for the Foxes, even if not battling for a spot in the Premier League standings, are Nottingham Forest and Derby County.

They also share an M69 derby with Coventry city, named after the motorway between Leicester and Coventry.