Leicester City have a wonderful history full of many periods of success since they were founded in 1884. A bible class created the club as Leicester Fosse FC and they have since won several trophies, including the Premier League.
Club Name
A bible class on New Park Street in Leicester discussed creating a football club in 1884. The group grew up at the old Wyggeston School on Southgate Street and named their club Leicester Fosse FC after the Fosse Way. It was an old Roman thoroughfare that linked the South West of England with the North East.
But the club hit financial difficulties in 1918 and a new company took over the Foxes to prevent them from being wiped from existence. The new company also registered the team as Leicester City Football Club, which has remained their name ever since.
Leicester City badge
Leicester City have used 10 different badges throughout their history, with the first crest introduced a little while after the club was formed in 1884. The Foxes did not have a crest on their shirt at first but did embrace the Leicester Coat of Arms.
It was not until 1948 that Leicester embraced their first club badge with a fox. Yet they only kept their first crest for a season before changing it again in 1949. The Foxes would keep their second badge for around 30 years until it went through multiple changes again over the following years.
The 1980s also saw Leicester City’s badge feature a roundel before embracing yet further variations, although only one design stuck for a decade. Leicester then embraced the crest most similar to the one in use today in 1992.
Leicester City’s badge has only gone through three minor changes since 1992. The club also commissioned a special badge for one season in 2009/10 to celebrate their 125th anniversary.
Kit history
Leicester City have mainly kept blue as the traditional colour of their home kit since the club was first formed in 1884. The Foxes also started with white or red away kits through until the 1983/84 season. But the East Midlands outfit adopted a predominantly green strip with vertical, thin yellow stripes.
The Foxes have also embraced black, white and grey change strips in more recent years. Leicester have also varied the design of their strips more heavily of late, having often stuck with a simplistic design.
League history
Leicester City have enjoyed many seasons in the top tiers of the English game throughout the club’s history. These spells include lengthy stints in Division One and the Premier League or Division Two and the Championship.
In fact, the Foxes have only ever been relegated to the third tier of English football once in their history in 2008. Yet the club only spent the 2008/09 season in League One before securing promotion at the first time of asking as the champions.
Leicester City are also one of the most successful teams in England over recent years as they managed to defy the odds to win the Premier League in 2015/16. They even managed to lift the title just two years after securing promotion from the Championship.
The King Power Stadium side were relegated from the Premier League during the 2022/23 season, however, to return to the Championship for the first time since 2013/14. Yet it only took Leicester one year to secure promotion back to the Premier League as champions.
Leicester City trophies
The Foxes can be very proud of Leicester City’s trophy cabinet having won 17 honours throughout their history. These trophies include league titles in various divisions and some domestic cup success, as well.
Leicester have so far won the top-flight once with their 2015/16 Premier League title, whilst topping the second-tier table eight times (1925, 1937, 1954, 1971, 1980, 2014, 2024) to date. They have also won the third-tier once to date during 2008/09.
Two of the Foxes’ further honours also came from winning the second-tier play-offs in 1994 and 1996. Leicester have also won the League Cup three times (1964, 1997, 2000), the Community Shield twice (1971, 2021) and the FA Cup once (2021).
Players and managers
Foxes fans have relished many Leicester City legends from players to managers throughout the club’s history. Brian Little, Martin O’Neill and Nigel Pearson are just some of their iconic managers, with Claudio Ranieri also the coach who guided them to the Premier League title.
Frank Gardner was the Foxes’ first-ever manager and stood in charge from 1884 to 1892. Brendan Rodgers has also been a top manager for the club and saw Leicester win the Community Shield and FA Cup.
The Foxes have also had some amazing players from modern-day heroes Jamie Vardy, Kasper Schmeichel, Riyad Mahrez, N’Golo Kante and Wes Morgan to iconic footballers from yester years including Emile Heskey, Gary Lineker, Peter Shilton, Gordon Banks and Steve Walsh.
Graham Cross also set the record for the most appearances by a player in Leicester City’s history with 600. While Jamie Chandler is the club’s all-time record goalscorer with 273.