Why Serie A may stop Jamie Vardy playing in the Leicester City anniversary game | OneFootball

Jamie Vardy may have commitments with Cremonese on the day of Leicester's game, marking the 10th anniversary of their Premier League victory

It's been a difficult year on the pitch for Leicester City, as relegation to League One beckons a mere decade on from their miraculous Premier League title win.

This year should have been one to celebrate, as the Foxes remember one of football's greatest underdog stories alongside a successful return to the top-flight in their second Championship campaign in three seasons, but the latter hasn't materialised at all.

Nevertheless, Leicester are still hoping to mark the 10-year anniversary of the achievement in late May, announcing a charity match to raise funds through the Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha Foundation, being played on May 30.

While no players have been announced for it, you'd imagine that numerous stars from that 2015/16 campaign will be present, and it will provide a much-needed escape from what has been a disastrous season.

Unfortunately, though, there may be a possibility that the star of their title win, Jamie Vardy, may not be able to make the game if his season at Serie A side Cremonese gets extended due to a relegation play-off.

The Serie A rulings which may stop Jamie Vardy from playing in the Leicester anniversary game

This past summer marked the end of Vardy's 13-year association with Leicester, in which he played 500 games and scored 200 goals, including 24 en route to their Premier League title win a decade ago.

The 39-year-old joined Serie A side Cremonese in the summer, where he's played a key part in their return to the Italian top flight.

With five games remaining, I Grigiorossi are currently out of the bottom three, but only by goal difference, with Lecce also sitting on 28 points. Unfortunately, unlike in England, goal difference isn't the tie-breaker for sides who are level on points at either end of the table.

In 2022, Serie A reintroduced a rule meaning that sides who finish level on points atop the table, or level on points in 17th and 18th, will have to play each other in a play-off to decide who finishes first, or in that relegation play-off place.

It was a point of conversation towards the end of last season, when Napoli and Inter Milan could have faced off in a one-off Scudetto play-off match at a neutral venue. That didn't happen, but it was noted that a relegation play-off takes place over two legs.

So, if Vardy's Cremonese and Lecce match each other's points return in the final five games, the two will be locked into a two-legged play-off affair. And with the Serie A campaign finishing on May 24, an elongated end to the season would see Vardy unable to make the charity game.

Jamie Vardy's potential absence would only emphasise the disappointment of Leicester City's season

Even if Leicester didn't achieve promotion this year, there would still have been some enthusiasm for a game designed to remember their recent success, but on the morning of what could turn out to be their relegation to League One, it just serves as a reminder of how far they have fallen.

And if Vardy is unable to make the one matchup that serves to shed some positivity on what has been a depressing, demoralising campaign for Foxes fans, it would be indicative of how the current campaign has gone.

There arguably isn't a more loved person at the King Power Stadium than the 39-year-old, and he'll forever go down in history as one of the greatest players to play for Leicester.

So, even if the Foxes' campaign is set to end in disappointment, they'll be cheering on their former frontman between now and the end of May as they live in hope that he can steer Cremonese to safety and avoid a relegation play-off.