Leicester City Football Club is an English football club based in Leicester, Leicestershire. The club was founded in 1884 and has competed in the English football league system since 1894. The 2016âÂÂ17 UEFA Champions League was their fourth appearance in Europe, following campaigns in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1961âÂÂ62, and the UEFA Cup in 1997âÂÂ98 and 2000âÂÂ01. Leicester were eliminated by Atlético Madrid in three of their first four European appearances. The club have also entered the UEFA Europa Conference League, the Anglo-Italian Cup, the Anglo-Scottish Cup and the Texaco Cup.
Leicester were beaten finalists in the 1961 FA Cup Final, losing 2âÂÂ0 to Tottenham Hotspur. However, as Spurs had won the league as well as the FA Cup, they qualified for the 1961âÂÂ62 European Cup, and Leicester took their Cup Winners' Cup place. Their preliminary round opposition were Glenavon, who became the first participant in the European Cup Winners' Cup to hail from Northern Ireland. A three-goal blast in ten minutes helped Leicester take the first leg at Windsor Park 4âÂÂ1. Leicester won the second leg 3âÂÂ1, sending them through to the first round.
Double Copa del GeneralÃÂsimo-winning Atlético Madrid were the opposition. The home leg at Filbert Street finished 1âÂÂ1. However Leicester lost 2âÂÂ0 at the Estadio Metropolitano de Madrid, halting their progress. Atléti went on to win the tournament.
Under Martin O'Neill, Leicester won the Football League Cup in 1996âÂÂ97, beating Middlesbrough in the Final. This League Cup was the club's first silverware for 26 years, and it allowed Leicester to qualify for the UEFA Cup, their first major European competition in thirty-six years. English clubs Arsenal, Aston Villa and Liverpool also qualified.
The draw matched City up with Atlético Madrid. In Leicester's first major European tournament match since the clubs last met back in 1961, the Madrid club won the first leg 2âÂÂ1, at their Vicente Calderón Stadium. Leicester lost the home tie 2âÂÂ0 and the Midland club were eliminated. JuninhoâÂÂwho was in the Middlesbrough team beaten by City in the League Cup finalâÂÂscored in both legs, while Ian Marshall was the sole Leicester goalscorer.
O'Neill's Leicester side won the League Cup again in 1999âÂÂ2000, this time beating Tranmere Rovers in the Final, the last to be held at the old Wembley Stadium. This saw Leicester awarded a place in the UEFA Cup, alongside fellow English clubs Chelsea and Liverpool. However, O'Neill left Leicester for the manager's job at Celtic on 1 June 2000, and was replaced on 12 June by Peter Taylor. According to Stephen Wagg in the December 2001 issue of When Saturday Comes: "By contrast [to O'Neill], Taylor was gauchely optimistic". Speaking on BBC Radio Leicester in the summer of 2000, Taylor opined "I've looked around the other squads in the Premiership, and I can only think of six that are stronger than ours. I think weâÂÂve got a good chance of getting into Europe".
The Foxes drew Red Star Belgrade in the first round. Alarm bells in England rang almost immediately, owing to a general election in FR Yugoslavia scheduled the same week as Leicester's planned visit to Belgrade, with the Foreign Office fearing "civil unrest". David Davies, then chief executive of the Football Association, termed the situation as "very delicate". BBC Sport succinctly referred to the situation as a "nightmare trip". Amid media reports of their withdrawal from the tournament, the Foxes made the decision to request a venue change, following a similar move the season before when Leeds United faced Red Star's eternal rivals Partizan in Heerenveen, the Netherlands. Despite an appeal from Red Star, UEFA elected to stage the game at a neutral ground, a week later than originally planned.
The first leg was a 1âÂÂ1 draw with Gerry Taggart cancelling out Milenko AÃÂimoviÃÂ's early openerâÂÂclocked at 47 seconds by Reuters, who called it "one of the fastest goals in UEFA Cup history". To attempt to counter the away goal the opposition had scored and seal the tie in the second leg, Taylor had planned to start Stan Collymore, however a poor performance in the televised match against Everton the previous Sunday saw him dropped. The second leg, held at the Gerhard Hanappi Stadium in AustriaâÂÂhome to Vienna club RapidâÂÂfinished 3âÂÂ1 to the 'home' side, with Muzzy Izzet scoring Leicester's goal. A dreadful start to the following season saw Taylor sacked on 30 September 2001.
On 9 April 2016, Leicester City, who were placed first in the league, secured a Champions League group stage spot, and on 2 May 2016 clinched their first national league title. Therefore, they were seeded for the group stage draw due to the Premier League being among Europe's top eight leagues.
The draw was made on 25 August 2016 and they were drawn in Group G with Porto, Club Brugge, and Copenhagen. Leicester City's first-ever match in the European Cup was played on 14 September 2016. Marc Albrighton scored City's first-ever goal in the competition with Riyad Mahrez adding 2 more for the 3âÂÂ0 victory away to Belgian champions Club Brugge.
In their first home game at the European Cup, on 27 September 2016, Leicester beat Porto 1âÂÂ0 with Islam Slimani scoring the only goal with a header. On 18 October 2016, the Foxes made it three out of three with a 1âÂÂ0 win at home against the Danish champions Copenhagen. The goal was scored in the first half by Riyad Mahrez. The reverse fixture against Copenhagen was played on 2 November 2016 and remained goalless with Kasper Schmeichel making a vital save in the last minute. Leicester secured the first place in the group and a place in the next round with a comfortable 2âÂÂ1 win against Club Brugge on 22 November 2016, Shinji Okazaki and Riyad Mahrez were the scorers while José Izquierdo netted the first-ever goal against the Foxes in the European Cup. In the last game of the group stage, on 7 December 2016, City lost catastrophically to Porto, conceding five goals. André Silva scored twice, once from the penalty spot, with Jesús Corona, Yacine Brahimi and Diogo Jota adding one goal each.
As Group G winners, Leicester were seeded for the next round draw, which took place on 12 December 2016. City got Spanish side Sevilla, the Group H runners-up. The first leg was played in Spain and was scheduled for 22 February 2017, Leicester lost 1âÂÂ2, the scorers for Sevilla were Pablo Sarabia and JoaquÃÂn Correa, while Jamie Vardy netted for the Foxes in the 73rd minute for a vital away goal. The second leg was played on 14 March 2017. Leicester won 2âÂÂ0 courtesy of goals from Wes Morgan and Marc Albrighton. Kasper Schmeichel saved a penalty from Steven Nzonzi with ten minutes to go, sealing the win. This meant Leicester advanced to the quarter-finals.
The draw for the Champions League quarter-finals was held on 17 March 2017, and Leicester were drawn against the last season's runners-up â Atlético Madrid. The first leg was played on 12 April and City lost 0âÂÂ1, following a controversial penalty, scored by Antoine Griezmann. The second leg, played on 18 April, finished 1âÂÂ1. Saúl opened the scoring, but his goal was cancelled out by Jamie Vardy. This result subsequently saw Leicester exit the Champions League as quarter-finalists, with the aggregate finishing 1âÂÂ2 to Atlético Madrid on the night.
Leicester finished 5th in the 2019âÂÂ20 Premier League, so they qualified for Europe for the first time since 2016âÂÂ17, entering the Europa League in the group stage. On 5 October 2020, they were drawn against Braga, AEK Athens and Zorya Luhansk in the group stages. The Foxes secured qualification to the knockout phase with two games to spare. Leicester sealed top spot in the group, and with it seeding for the next round's draw, in the 2âÂÂ0 victory at home to AEK in the final Group G game.
Leicester drew Slavia Prague in the Round of 32, and registered a goalless draw away from home in the first leg. Leicester lost 0âÂÂ2 at home in the second leg, and were thus eliminated from the tournament 0âÂÂ2 on aggregate.
In the 2021-22 season, Leicester City were drawn into Europa League Group C with SSC Napoli, Legia Warszawa, and Spartak Moskva. Going into the final game against Napoli on 9 December 2021, Leicester needed a win to go through to the knockout stages. Following a loss, they finished 3rd in Group C and were drawn into the knockout stages of the UEFA Europa Conference League against Randers FC. On 17 February 2022 they won over Randers, on 24 February they won over Randers 2 to 7 on aggregate. On 10 March they won over Rennes, on 17 March they lost to Rennes but won 3-2 on aggregate. In the next round, they faced PSV. In the first leg, they drew 0-0, while winning the second leg 1-2 to advance to the semifinals against AS Roma. In the first leg, they drew 1-1, but were then knocked out of Europe following a 1-0 loss.
Leicester appeared three times in the Anglo-Italian Cup, which was held between teams from Italy and England which had not qualified for European competitions. Leicester's first appearance in 1972 saw them play against Cagliari and Atalanta, losing their away games and winning their home matches. Under the tournament format, the English and Italian teams were ranked in separate tables according to their results - Leicester finished 3rd of the 6 English teams and were eliminated. The tournament was cancelled in 1973, but revived for four seasons from 1992âÂÂ93. Leicester competed in the first two editions of the revived tournament, but were eliminated in the preliminary rounds both times. In 1992âÂÂ93, they defeated Grimsby Town but lost to Newcastle United; in 1993âÂÂ94, they were defeated by Peterborough United and lost to West Bromwich Albion.
The Foxes entered the Texaco Cup, which ran for five seasons, twice. In 1972âÂÂ73 they eliminated Dundee United in a penalty shoot-out after two draws. Leicester were pitted against Norwich City for the second round. After both legs finished 2âÂÂ0 to the respective home teams after extra time, Norwich progressed by winning the penalty shoot-out 4âÂÂ3. The next season, Leicester progressed past Ayr United drawing 1âÂÂ1 in Scotland and winning 2âÂÂ0 at home; in the second round, Dundee United gained revenge for the previous year's elimination, winning 1âÂÂ0 in Dundee and holding Leicester to a 1âÂÂ1 draw in England.
After Texaco dropped their sponsorship of the tournament, the Anglo-Scottish Cup was created in the 1975âÂÂ76 season, using a group stage format in which each team would play the others in the group once, with only the team finishing top of the group progressing. Leicester were in Group 2 of the English Qualifiers, with Hull City, Mansfield Town and West Bromwich Albion. Inconsistency ensured that City would not progress as they registered one win, one draw and one loss.
As of 5 May 2022.