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Leicester City's Amazing Championship in the English Premier League - Explained


DonRocks

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Screw it, I'll do it:

May 2, 2016 - "Explaining the Leicester City Story to Americans" by Tom Geoghegan on bbc.com

The odds against Leicester City (pronounced Lester City) being champions of the English Premier League in the summer of 2015 (before the 2015-2016 season began) were 5000-1, so if you had bet $200, you would have walked away with $1 million, assuming the betting company didn't go bankrupt.

A lot of people are saying that this is the most significant upset in the history of team sports, globally - I've read this in numerous places, and not just by Englishmen.

Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated makes the analogy that a comparable thing in American sports would be if an AA minor-league baseball team (keep in mind, AA is a step down from AAA in the minor leagues - the Bowie Baysox are a AA team), made their way - magically - to the major leagues, played a 162-game season, then won all their playoffs, and then won the World Series. 

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As an interesting side note, American sports leagues - with their salary caps, and drafts favoring losing teams - are Socialist in nature, whereas the English Premier League - with no such bottom-loaded favoritism - is 100% Laissez-Faire Capitalism. That's not a political statement; it's a simple fact.

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The Foxes winning the EPL last year was truly astounding, and the story of their 3 year run would be unbelievable if pitched for a movie.

Many have compared RB Leipzig's rise to the top of the Bundesliga this year to be similar. It's not.  You are correct, there is no salary cap in soccer, and the richest teams are almost always the best.

No one had heard of Leipzig four years ago, when they were a middling club in the fourth division of German soccer. Then they were purchased, built a new training facility, spent a lot of money on organizational structure and on the pitch talent. They marched right through every division and now find themselves at the top of the Bundesliga table.

The RB now attached to the Leipzig club stands for Red Bull. LCFC had no such infusion of cash, and what happened last year may never be replicated again in any major soccer division

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Leicester was purchased by the King Power group in 2010.  Substantial investments were made.  Their rise also coincided with the demise of the top clubs in 2015-2016.  Chelsea refused to play for its manager.  Man City had injuries and lacked depth.  Arsenal and Tottenham (Chelsea wanted Leicester to win and stepped up against Tottenham) are perennial chokers.  Man U hasn't played well for years.  Liverpool was a team in transition - mid-season Manager change.  The confluence of events was unprecedented.

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