Shocking Soccer Success
Tuesday, May 3rd, 2016May 3, 2016
Last night, May 2, London soccer clubs Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea FC (football club) battled to a 2-2 tie—a common result in the Barclays Premier League. The result of that tie, however, was extraordinarily uncommon. Tottenham’s failure to overcome Chelsea crowned an unlikely Premier League champion: Leicester City FC, commonly known as the Foxes. How unlikely was Leicester’s championship? For starters, the Foxes had never won a top-flight league title. Not once in their 132-year history had Leicester (pronounced Lester) tasted sweet superior victory. There was that time in ’29—but no, that was a second-place finish. And that was as good as it got. Until last night. In honor of recently passed K-Tel founder Philip Kives: But wait, there’s more!

Leicester City players celebrate their Premier League title during a practice at the Leicester City Training Ground on May 3, 2016. Credit: Plumb Images/Getty Images
The Premier League has 20 teams. Each year, the worst three teams are relegated (sent down) to the Football League Championship, the Triple-A-baseball league equivalent of English soccer. In return, the top three Championship teams are promoted. In 2015, a late-season spurt clawed Leicester City from 20th to a 14th-place finish, just a few points above the teams doomed to demotion. The Foxes saved their Premier League status, but the future looked dim, so they set to work. They fired their head coach in favor of the unassuming 64-year-old Claudio Ranieri, who last coached in the Premier League in 2004. Leicester raised their payroll to £57 million ($82 million), which sounds like a lot, but top teams Arsenal, Chelsea, and the Manchesters (United and City) all hover around £200 million ($292 million) with individual players earning as much as the Foxes take home altogether. These efforts made Leicester 5000-1 favorites (if one can say such a thing) to win the 2015-2016 Premier League. Yes, that means if you put down £1 on the Foxes to win the league, you took home £5000 Monday night. Reports of such lucky winners have yet to reach the news wires.
Leicester City came through, however, and built momentum after the season began in August. Midfielder Riyad Mahrez and striker Jamie Vardy quickly showed the form that would earn them each player of the year awards (as chosen by the footballers’ union and football writers respectively). The East Midlands club consistently beat their “big-city betters,” culminating in a dominating 3-1 win over Manchester City FC in February. The team’s now unbeatable point total of 77 (22 wins, 11 draws, and just 3 losses) means their final two matches will be sweet icing on the Barclays cake. Leicester’s King Power Stadium will be rocking on Saturday as the club receives the impressive Premier League trophy at their next-to-last match against Everton FC. Generations of Foxes’ fans will no doubt shed a tear and mumble something like, I never thought I’d see the day.
For sports fans beyond England, the scope of Leicester City FC’s achievement may not be clear. To put it in perspective, it’s like the Cubs winning baseball’s World Series—the Iowa Cubs of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League. Superlatives being thrown around include shocking, amazing, immortal, impossible, biggest thing ever, and greatest sport story of all time. No matter what you call it, Jamie Vardy is definitely having a party.