Leicester crowned Premier League champions

Photo credit: AFP

Leicester City’s remarkable season has them crowned champions of England for the first time in their 132-year history without kicking a ball on Monday after second-placed Tottenham Hotspur failed to keep the title race alive in their 2-2 draw against Chelsea.

Stamford Bridge is a ground where the Lilywhites haven’t enjoyed a league win for 26 years — but the draw for Spurs helped Claudio Ranieri’s men, 5,000/1 outsiders in pre-season, complete a stunning triumph.

Midlands club Leicester will celebrate the title in front of their own fans against Everton at the King Power Stadium on Saturday (12:30pm ET on NBC Sports).

As Leicester gets ready to party, Britain’s bookmakers are bracing themselves for a record football pay-out of £15 million ($22 million, 19 million euros) now that the Foxes have won the title.

Leading firm William Hill are set to hand over £3 million alone and spokesman Rupert Adams said Monday: “I wish we had diversified our retail portfolio to include a few pubs in Leicester!”

The scale of Leicester’s looming triumph can be gauged by the fact that when the 5,000/1 odds were first offered in August, bookmakers considered there was greater likelihood of pop music great Elvis Presley, who died in 1977, being found alive (2,000/1).

No wonder that, in the words of one of Elvis’s greatest hits, the British betting industry is “all shook up”.