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5,000-1 shot Leicester City win Premier League

By The Sports Xchange

Leicester City clinched the 2015-16 English Premier League soccer title on Monday in one of the most surprising accomplishments in sports history.

The Foxes clinched the title without playing a game. When Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur played to a 2-2 draw Monday, it left second-place Tottenham seven points behind Leicester City with just two games remaining, making it impossible for anyone to catch Leicester City.

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Leicester City was playing in the Football League Championship, a level below the Premier League, just two seasons ago and finished 14th in the 20-team Premier League a year ago. Leicester spent much of last season at the bottom of the Premier, sitting there as late as mid-April 2015.

The Foxes began this season as a 5,000-to-1 shot to win the title and were considered one of the favorites to finish in the bottom four and be relegated back to the Football League Championship.

However, the Foxes fooled everyone and won their first-ever top-flight title in their 132-year history. They are the first new champions of England in 38 years, since Nottingham Forest won the title back in 1978.

Only six teams have won the Premier League since it was established in 1992-93: Manchester United (13 titles), Chelsea (four), Arsenal (three), Manchester City (two), Blackburn Rovers (one) and now Leicester City.

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Claudio Ranieri took over as the team's manager last summer after Leicester City survived relegation in the final weeks of last season under Nigel Pearson.

According to the Daily Mail, Leicester City features a starting lineup that has a total salary of $30.8 million this season, while Manchester City's payroll for its starters is $429.8 million.

The Foxes still have many players who led them from the third tier of English soccer in 2009.

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