Leicester City

Leicester City’s 2015-16 Premier League title remains the single most improbable achievement in the history of professional sport, and if you disagree, you have not understood the mathematics. Five thousand to one. That is not a betting line — that is a statistical impossibility that happened anyway. Claudio Ranieri’s Foxes captured the imagination of the entire sporting world and proved, in the most dramatic fashion imaginable, that the beautiful game occasionally rewards the audacious. An FA Cup triumph over Chelsea at Wembley in 2021 confirmed that the miracle was not a one-off but part of a genuine upward trajectory.

Then came the hangover. Relegation in 2022-23 was as brutal as it was predictable — fairy dust does not last forever — but Leicester bounced straight back as Championship champions in 2023-24, because this club simply refuses to stay down. Ruud van Nistelrooy, the Dutch former Manchester United and Real Madrid striker, now brings elite experience and a predator’s mentality to the King Power Stadium. The 32,312-capacity ground provides an atmosphere that can turn hostile in an instant, and Van Nistelrooy’s task is to channel that energy into sustained Premier League competitiveness.

For Australian fans, Leicester’s story is the ultimate proof that sport without unpredictability is just exercise. The Foxes did what could not be done, and that alone earns them a permanent place in the hearts of anyone who has ever backed a long shot.

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Leicester’s 2025-26 season is about proving they belong in the Premier League on a permanent basis, not as occasional visitors who pop in for a season before disappearing again. Van Nistelrooy’s recruitment strategy blends experienced Premier League performers with young talent who have something to prove, and the King Power remains a ground where complacent visiting sides come to grief. The glory of 2015-16 may seem distant, but it is seared into this club’s DNA — the belief that extraordinary things are possible, even when the odds say otherwise. Survival is the floor, not the ceiling, and any Leicester supporter who accepts mere survival has not been paying attention to what this club is capable of.

VS — Chief sports columnist, australiafootball.com