Rabat – Ten years after lifting the Premier League trophy in one of football’s greatest shocks, Leicester City have been relegated to League One.
Tuesday’s 2‑2 draw with Hull City sealed their drop to the third tier, marking a dramatic collapse for a club that once stood at the summit of English football.
The decline has been steep. Leicester won the FA Cup in 2021 and reached the Conference League semi‑finals in 2022, but financial strain and poor decisions quickly eroded their progress.
BREAKING: Leicester City are relegated to League One 🔻 pic.twitter.com/OlOqMp2Pq5
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) April 21, 2026
Covid hit King Power, the club’s parent company, hard. Manager Brendan Rodgers warned of lowered expectations, and by April 2023 he was dismissed with the team in the bottom three.
Since then, instability has defined the Foxes. Seven managers have come and gone in three years, each bringing different styles but no clear identity.
Enzo Maresca won the Championship in 2024, but successors Steve Cooper, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Marti Cifuentes, and Gary Rowett failed to steady the ship.
A six‑point deduction for breaching EFL financial rules this season pushed them closer to the drop, and performances on the pitch reflected a club in freefall.
The impact of Vichai’s death
The loss of owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha in a helicopter crash in 2018 remains a turning point.
Vichai had transformed Leicester after buying the club in 2010, clearing debts and overseeing promotion before the miracle Premier League title win in 2016.
His son Aiyawatt took over, but the weight of responsibility and financial pressures have been immense. Former players point to a lack of support structures and an over‑reliance on long‑time executive Jon Rudkin.
Fans have watched the collapse with disbelief. “It hasn’t been a gradual decline. It’s been freefall since Rodgers,” said Lynn Wyeth, chair of the Foxes Trust.
Empty seats at the King Power Stadium have become a common sight, and frustration boiled over when midfielder Harry Winks clashed with supporters after a defeat at Portsmouth.
Financial crisis deepens
Financially, the situation is bad. Leicester reported losses of $71.1m for 2024‑25, even as a Premier League club.
Their wage bill has consistently outstripped turnover, and though relegation clauses reduced salaries, they still carried some of the Championship’s highest earners.
Contracts for players like Oliver Skipp and Jannik Vestergaard stretch years into the future, complicating efforts to cut costs.
Loans from Macquarie Bank have further tied the club to future revenues, including parachute payments that will expire in 2027.
With League One’s strict spending cap limiting clubs to 60% of football income on player costs, Leicester face a difficult adjustment.
From the highs of Champions League nights against Atletico Madrid to the reality of facing Bromley, a club with more than a century of non‑league history, Leicester’s story is a cautionary tale.
Poor planning, financial missteps, and instability have undone the miracle of 2016.
The Foxes now enter League One burdened by debt, high wages, and a fractured identity.
