Leicester City relegated to England's third tier 10 years on from winning the Premier League

Lewis Henderson
Tue, 21 Apr 2026 20:39:59 +0000

A horror season has its nightmare ending for Leicester City as the Foxes are relegated to England's third tier, 10 years on from winning the Premier League.

Leicester drew 2-2 at home to Hull City, as they head down to EFL League One with two games still to play.

The horrendous campaign has seen the once 5000/1 league champions suffer back-to-back relegations, after finishing 18th last season in the Premier League.

After recording just 11 wins from 44 games, the Foxes head down to England's third tier for the first time since 2009.

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The Foxes will now face a future competing alongside Bromley, a club that spent 132 of their 134 years outside the Football League entirely.

Just nine seasons ago, Leicester were facing Atletico Madrid in the Champions League quarter-finals.

Warning signs have been on the wall for a long time at the King Power Stadium.

Following an eighth-place Premier League finish in 2022 and a run to the Conference League semi-finals, then manager Brendan Rodgers cautioned that expectations at the club needed recalibrating.

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The pandemic had severely damaged King Power, Leicester City's owners, as international air travel ground to a halt.

After failing to win any of their opening eight matches in 2022-23, Rodgers spoke of simply targeting 40 points for survival.

This marked a dramatic shift from the former Liverpool manager's earlier ambitions of challenging the Premier League's elite.

Leicester had come agonisingly close to Champions League qualification, missing out on the final day in both 2020 and 2021.

They also lifted the FA Cup in 2021, yet insufficient investment in quality players meant the rot set in rapidly.

Despite boasting a squad featuring internationals like Jamie Vardy, James Maddison and Youri Tielemans, Rodgers was dismissed in April 2023 with Leicester languishing in the relegation zone.

The club has cycled through seven different bosses in the three years since Rodgers departed, with sources questioning the decision-making as Leicester lurched between tactical approaches without establishing any coherent identity.

Enzo Maresca delivered the Championship title in 2024, but Steve Cooper arrived after a failed pursuit of Graham Potter.

Ruud van Nistelrooy managed just five victories in 27 matches before Marti Cifuentes took charge in July.

Cifuentes had Leicester sitting 14th, only six points off the play-off places, when he was sacked in January.

Gary Rowett's appointment came 24 days later, and a six-point deduction in February for breaching EFL financial rules left them clinging to survival on goal difference alone.

But after their draw this evening against Hull City, Leicester will be playing in League One, as their fans reminisce about the glory days.