Leicester's Premier League win, 10 years later: How did they do it, and could a team repeat it?

Gathered astir the TV astatine Jamie Vardy's location successful Melton Mowbray, each Christian Fuchs and his teammates could bash was watch.

It was May 2016, and aft 36 matches, Leicester City's improbable heroes were yet admitting to themselves they mightiness execute the unthinkable: winning the Premier League. They needed nearest challengers Tottenham Hotspur to gully oregon suffer to Chelsea for them to seal the title. "I described it backmost past arsenic the toughest 90 minutes I've ne'er played due to the fact that you cognize what's connected the line," Fuchs, Leicester's starting near back, tells ESPN.

As the full-time whistle went astatine Stamford Bridge, confirming Spurs' 2-2 draw, pandemonium ensued. "I saw radical being dragged astir the level by their feet, by their arms, radical screaming, radical crying," Fuchs remembers. Vardy's TV was smashed, and crates of brew were either being flung into the aerial oregon consumed astatine accelerated rates. The world of what Leicester had achieved, winning the league contempt entering the play arsenic 5000-1 outsiders, started to dawn connected them.

For immoderate players, it was a infinitesimal of validation. Danny Simpson, their starting close back, near the celebrations soon aft the whistle. He went extracurricular into a quiescent country of Vardy's immense plot and cried. "You spell done truthful overmuch successful football, and truthful overmuch rejection, whether it's being told you're excessively small, clubs not wanting you," Simpson said. "You're perpetually reasoning you're not bully enough. It was conscionable a relief, a value disconnected my shoulders.

"I was connected my ain -- Vards has a monolithic plot truthful helium astir apt couldn't spot me. But everyone was ringing friends and family, celebrating with each other. It was a fantastic moment."

Ten years later, however, each subordinate remembers that play differently. Center backmost Robert Huth, retired successful 2019, says helium gives the triumph small thought. Second-choice seasoned goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer didn't play a infinitesimal and doesn't respect himself arsenic a Premier League winner. Fuchs smiles arsenic helium remembers the camaraderie successful the team, and the pizza nights wherever the dough spent much clip successful the aerial than connected the table. Captain Wes Morgan's elder son, Rio, is much acrophobic with Leicester's Championship beingness these days than memories of his dada lifting the coveted Premier League trophy.

"I'm not definite it was a fairy tale, but it was unbelievable, 1 of the astir astonishing achievements successful the game," Morgan says. "It was footballing non-fiction, fiction."

It each raises the question -- for those protagonists astatine the forefront of this triumph, astir a decennary on, however bash they bespeak connected the astir improbable occurrence successful English top-flight history? Was it everything they thought it would be? Well, it depends connected who you speech to. Just don't accidental the words "fairy tale."

Achieving the unthinkable

The Leicester squad that started the 2015-16 play had already completed 1 miracle. The erstwhile season, they were bottommost of the league successful mid-April, but won 7 of their remaining 9 matches to survive. Despite this comeback, manager Nigel Pearson was unceremoniously fired, with Claudio Ranieri appointed arsenic his replacement.

They made 9 signings successful the summer, including Japanese guardant Okazaki from Mainz and chartless French midfielder N'Golo Kanté from Ligue 2. Huth -- who had endured 2 injury-disrupted seasons -- arrived connected a imperishable woody from Stoke having spent six months connected indebtedness successful 2014-15, and Fuchs was brought in...