Leicester City have secured an instant return to the Premier League with two games to spare.
The Foxes' relegation from the top flight last season came as something of a shock, given they had been a fixture in the top half of the Premier League table for the previous five seasons.
Regrouping under highly touted head coach Enzo Maresca, Leicester were strong favourites to secure promotion back there in 2023/24, after retaining plenty of talent despite falling out of the Premier League.
They appeared to be cantering to promotion after winning 25 of their first 32 league games. However, a 2-1 defeat at Middlesbrough in February started a run of three consecutive losses and a prolonged slump of just three wins in 10.
Back-to-back wins over West Brom and Southampton, with club great Jamie Vardy on target on both occasions, got them back on track and a nerve-shredding wait for promotion is now at an end.
They ultimately secured their Premier League return without kicking a ball, as Leeds United's shock 4-0 defeat away at QPR on April 26 meant Leicester's grip on the Championship automatic promotion places was unassailable.
Leicester City Premier League record: Did Leicester win the Premier League?
Leicester have competed in the Premier League in 17 out of its 31 completed seasons since England's top division broke away from the Football League in 1992.
One of the most notable elements about their 2022/23 relegation was Leicester being only the second champions in Premier League history to be relegated, after Blackburn Rovers.
The shock of them actually winning the title in 2015/16 under Claudio Ranieri was on another scale entirely. Despite Ranieri only being appointed shortly before the start of the season, the Foxes started strongly and kept on rolling.
It was a campaign that made stars of Vardy, Riyad Mahrez and N'Golo Kante, while club stalwart Wes Morgan and Robert Huth marshalled a rock solid defence in front of goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel.
Vardy, Morgan and Schmeichel were still around in 2020/21, when Leicester beat Chelsea 1-0 in the FA Cup final, adding to the two League Cup successes they enjoyed under Martin O'Neill in 1996/97 and 1999/00.
MORE: How the Foxes went form EPL glory to relegation
Leicester City history in the Premier League
Before O'Neill’s successful tenure, Leicester suffered a false-start as a Premier League outfit, finishing second-bottom and winning just six of 42 games in 1994/95 after being promoted as Division One playoff winners in 1993/94.
The playoffs were once again their route to the top table in 1996 and O'Neill strung together four consecutive top-half finishes between eighth and 10th. Emile Heskey broke through as a standout forward en route to a decorated career with Liverpool and England, and the Foxes had their two successful Wembley days out against Middlesbrough in 1997 and Tranmere Rovers in 2000. O'Neill’s men were League Cup specialists as they also fell short in the 1999 final against Tottenham.
The manger's decision to join Celtic in 2000 marked the end of an era and Leicester were relegated in 2001/02 after Peter Taylor struggled as O'Neill’s successor. A brief yo-yoing period followed, with Micky Adams securing an instant return to the Premier League for 2023/04, only for City to then fill the final relegation spot, finishing six points shy of fourth-bottom Everton.
A decade in the wilderness followed, including a drop down to the third tier amid financial issues. They returned to the Championship at the first attempt in 2008/09 during Nigel Pearson's first spell as manager and reached the playoffs the following season, where they lost on penalties to Cardiff City in the semifinals.
In August 2010, a Thai-led consortium fronted by Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha and his son Aiyawatt bought the club. Following spells under Paulo Sousa and Sven-Goran Eriksson, Pearson returned in October 2011. More playoff disappointment followed in the form of an incredibly dramatic semifinal defeat to Watford in 2013, but Leicester were promoted as champions in 2013/14.
A stunning 5-3 comeback win against Manchester United at the King Power Stadium in September 2014 formed part of a promising start to their Premier League return but they had only 19 points on the board after 29 matches. An astonishing escape from relegation followed as Leicester won seven of their final nine games to finish 14th.
Things were only about to get even more remarkable, as Ranieri replaced Pearson and helmed arguably the greatest upset triumph in sporting history when you consider Leicester's status as 5,000-1 outsiders at the start of the season and the vast advantages enjoyed by the Premier League's financial heavyweights.
However, Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea all being in various states of flux helped the Foxes to swagger to the title by 10 points from the Gunners. They lost only three games all season and one after Boxing Day.
The fairytale had a bitter post-script, as Ranieri was sacked the following February amid faint relegation fears that were duly averted by his former assistant Craig Shakespeare. A relatively uneventful period under Claude Puel followed before Brendan Rodgers inverted O'Neill’s move from a couple of decades earlier to join Leicester from Celtic.
Former Liverpool boss Rodgers brought an expansive, exciting brand of football to the club and Leicester belatedly built upon the foundations and finances provided by their improbable Premier League triumph. A return to the Champions League proved tantalisingly out of reach, as they finished fifth in 2019/20 and 2020/21.
An FA Cup triumph to conclude the latter campaign and a Community Shield victory over Manchester City back at Wembley to kick off 2021/22 proved to be an ending rather than a beginning. Relations between Rodgers and the ownership cooled amid a tightening of the purse strings.
He departed with 10 games of the 2022/23 season remaining and interim replacement Dean Smith was unable to save Leicester from relegation, winning two of his eight games in charge.
Leicester City in the Premier League: Season by season record
| Season | Position | P | W | L | D | GD | Pts |
| 1994/95 | 21st (Relegated) | 42 | 6 | 11 | 25 | -35 | 29 |
| 1996/97 | 9th | 38 | 12 | 11 | 15 | -8 | 47 |
| 1997/98 | 10th | 38 | 13 | 14 | 11 | +10 | 53 |
| 1998/99 | 10th | 38 | 12 | 13 | 13 | -6 | 49 |
| 1999/00 | 8th | 38 | 16 | 7 | 15 | 0 | 55 |
| 2000/01 | 13th | 38 | 14 | 6 | 18 | -12 | 48 |
| 2001/02 | 20th (Relegated) | 38 | 5 | 13 | 20 | -34 | 28 |
| 2003/04 | 18th (Relegated) | 38 | 6 | 15 | 17 | -17 | 33 |
| 2014/15 | 14th | 38 | 11 | 8 | 19 | -9 | 41 |
| 2015/16 | 1st (Champions) | 38 | 23 | 12 | 3 | +32 | 81 |
| 2016/17 | 12th | 38 | 12 | 8 | 8 | -15 | 44 |
| 2017/18 | 9th | 38 | 12 | 11 | 15 | -4 | 47 |
| 2018/19 | 9th | 38 | 15 | 7 | 16 | +3 | 52 |
| 2019/20 | 5th | 38 | 18 | 8 | 12 | +26 | 62 |
| 2020/21 | 5th | 38 | 20 | 6 | 12 | +18 | 66 |
| 2021/22 | 8th | 38 | 14 | 10 | 14 | +3 | 52 |
| 2022/23 | 18th (Relegated) | 38 | 9 | 7 | 22 | -17 | 34 |
