Leicester City could fall to League One exactly 10 years to the day since winning the Premier League | OneFootball

A twist of fate could see Leicester City‘s fall from grace underlined in the starkest possible terms.

It now appears increasingly likely that Leicester will suffer the indignity of the lesser-seen double drop, joining the likes of Swindon Town (1994-95), Wolves (2012-13), Sunderland (2017-18) and Luton Town (2024-25) in plummeting from the Premier League straight down to League One.

It’s been a disastrous campaign for the Foxes, the misery continuing after last season’s dismal effort in the top flight. Any hope that they were set to achieve the instant bounce-back, emphatic 97-point promotion achieved under Enzo Maresca a couple of years back died with a poor run of results back in the Autumn.

New boss Marti Cifuentes actually made a decent start to life at the King Power, leading Leicester to three wins in their first four outings, but they slipped to midtable after winning just one of their next 10 in the Championship.

Cifuentes was eventually sacked in late January. As underwhelming as they were, relegation never looked like a serious possibility – until they were handed a six-point deduction due to breaching the ‘Profit and Sustainability Rules’ in the three-year reporting period dating back to the 2023–24 season.

The off-pitch issues, coupled with a disastrous run of form and confidence seemingly hitting rock bottom, has seen Leicester fall into the relegation mire. They’ve won just twice this calendar year, while Saturday’s defeat at home to Swansea City now sees them 23rd in the Championship table, four points adrift of safety.

Next weekend they play relegation rivals Portsmouth, who moved clear yesterday with a last-gasp winner against promotion-chasing Middlesbrough. Defeat on the south coast would leave them almost certainly down.

On the other hand, victory at Fratton Park would give them every chance of survival – or at least fighting until the very final whistle.

Looking at the Championship schedule, it hasn’t escaped our attention that the final weekend of action for the 2025-26 season falls on Saturday, May 2nd.

May 2nd, 2016 was the day Chelsea fought back from two goals behind to Tottenham in the infamous ‘Battle Of The Bridge’ – a result that confirmed Leicester’s fairytale title triumph and sparked an almighty party round Jamie Vardy’s gaff.

The Championship’s final day looms as a reckoning. Not just for this season, but for the club’s trajectory over the past decade.

Football, in all its poeticism, has a habit of bringing things full circle. May 2nd could become the date that defines both Leicester City’s highest high and lowest low.