Former Premier League champion Leicester relegated to third division

Former Premier League champion Leicester will be playing in the third tier of English soccer next season.

Leicester, which sealed the unlikeliest title win of the Premier League era in 2016 at odds of 5,000-1, needed a victory Tuesday to maintain hope of avoiding relegation but drew 2-2 with Hull.

The midlands club, which also won the FA Cup in 2021 and played in England’s top flight last season, is second to last in the second-tier Championship.

In a statement to fans, Leicester chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, said responsibility sat with him.

“There are no excuses,” he said. “We have experienced the highest highs and now the lowest lows, and the pain is shared by all of us. I am truly sorry for the disappointment we have caused.”

Relegation comes after Leicester was docked six points in February for breaching the English Football League’s financial rules when it earned promotion in the 2023-24 season. Earlier this month, it lost its bid to overturn that punishment, leaving it mired in the relegation zone.

It is a dramatic fall after Leicester’s fairytale-like title triumph 10 years ago.

It had spent the 2014-15 season battling relegation from the top flight and only an unlikely winning run in the final weeks of that campaign.

What followed was a remarkable title charge that saw it finish 10 points clear of Arsenal at the top of the standings.

In 142 years of existence, Leicester has played just one season in the third tier of English soccer. It won the League One title in 2008-09 and was promoted back to the Championship.

Slipping down English soccer’s pyramid is costly mainly because of the decreasing broadcast revenue.

In the 2023-24 season, League One clubs’ average total revenue was $12.2 million, which was about one-quarter of Championship clubs’ average revenue, according to Deloitte. The average revenue for Premier League clubs that season was $422 million.

“Our focus now is on what comes next. We will take the necessary decisions to move the club forward, working together to rebuild, improve, and restore the standards expected of Leicester City,” Srivaddhanaprabha said. “Our objective is clear — to respond strongly and compete to move this club forward again.”

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer