Leicester City F.C.

Leicester City Football Club is a professional football club based in Leicester, East Midlands, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football, following promotion from the EFL Championship in 2024. Founded in 1884 as Leicester Fosse F.C., the club adopted its current name in 1919, coinciding with Leicester gaining city status. Leicester City have spent most of their history in the top two divisions, with a brief stint in the third tier in 2008–09.

The club's most famous achievement came in the 2015–16 season when, under manager Claudio Ranieri, Leicester City won the Premier League at odds of 5000–1, widely considered the greatest sporting upset ever. They became the sixth club to win the Premier League since its inception in 1992. Leicester have also won the FA Cup once (2021), the League Cup three times (1964, 1997, 2000), and the FA Community Shield twice (1971, 2021). In European competition, they reached the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals in 2017 and the UEFA Europa Conference League semi-finals in 2022.

The club's home ground is the King Power Stadium, which opened in 2002 as the Walkers Stadium and was renamed in 2011. The stadium has a capacity of 32,261. Before 2002, Leicester played at Filbert Street for 111 years. The team's nickname, The Foxes, references Leicestershire's history with fox hunting, and the club's mascot is Filbert Fox.[edit]

Leicester City were founded in 1884 by a group of old boys from Wyggeston School, initially playing as Leicester Fosse. They joined the Football League in 1894 and moved to Filbert Street in 1891. The club changed its name to Leicester City in 1919. Their first major success came in 1964, winning the League Cup under manager Matt Gillies. The club reached three FA Cup finals in the 1960s (1949, 1961, 1963, 1969) but lost each time. After relegation in 1969, Leicester bounced between divisions, winning the League Cup again in 1997 and 2000 under Martin O'Neill.

The 2015–16 Premier League title, masterminded by Claudio Ranieri, was a fairy tale. Key players like Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez, and N'Golo Kanté propelled the club to the title, finishing 10 points clear. Leicester followed up with a run to the Champions League quarter-finals in 2017. Under Brendan Rodgers, they won the FA Cup in 2021, beating Chelsea 1–0, and reached the Europa Conference League semi-finals in 2022. However, after finishing 8th in 2023, the club was relegated in 2024. They immediately bounced back by winning the Championship under Enzo Maresca, but the 2024–25 season has been turbulent. After a poor start, Steve Cooper was sacked in November 2024, replaced by Ruud van Nistelrooy. As of February 2025, Leicester sit 18th in the Premier League, battling relegation again.[edit]