Leicester City's 5000-1 Title

Nearly relegated

In April 2015 Leicester City were bottom of the Premier League. They won seven of their last nine games to stay up, an escape fans called the great escape. That summer the club hired Claudio Ranieri, an experienced Italian manager who had never won a top-flight league title.

Bookmakers rated Leicester 5000-1 to win the 2015-16 league. That was longer odds than many joke bets, and a handful of fans placed small wagers for fun.

Some pundits doubted the appointment, since Ranieri had recently been sacked as coach of the Greece national team.

A team of bargains

Leicester's key players had mostly cost very little. Striker Jamie Vardy had been playing non-league football in 2012. Winger Riyad Mahrez arrived from the French second division. Midfielder N'Golo Kante joined from Caen in the summer of 2015 and seemed to cover every blade of grass. Captain Wes Morgan and defender Robert Huth were tough and organised, and goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel was outstanding.

Ranieri kept things simple: a solid 4-4-2, fast counter-attacks and lots of energy. Vardy scored in 11 consecutive Premier League matches, a new record.

Ranieri promised his players pizza if they kept a clean sheet, a small treat that became part of the legend.

Staying on top

Everyone expected Leicester to fade after Christmas. Instead they kept winning, often 1-0, and moved to the top of the table. Rivals with far bigger budgets, such as Manchester City, Arsenal and Tottenham, could not catch them.

On 2 May 2016 Leicester's players gathered at Vardy's house to watch Tottenham play Chelsea. When Tottenham were held to a 2-2 draw, Leicester were champions for the first time in the club's 132-year history.

They lost only three league games all season.

Why it still amazes

Leicester finished with 81 points, ten clear of Arsenal, and Mahrez was named PFA Players' Player of the Year. In a league where money usually decides the title, it is often called the greatest underdog story in team sports. Any small club starting a season can point to Leicester and say: why not us? The squad also scattered across the football world afterwards. Kante moved to Chelsea and won the league again the very next season, and later the World Cup with France. Mahrez joined Manchester City and won the Champions League. Vardy stayed at Leicester for years and kept scoring, a lasting symbol of the season the impossible happened.

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