LEICESTER, England — The last time this obscure onetime industrial city garnered global attention was four years ago, when archaeologists discovered the royal remains of the notorious Richard III buried underneath a local parking lot.
The king’s bones are now stored safely in the city’s old cathedral, but even the church knows its priorities: Above the cathedral entrance, the blue-and-white flag of the Leicester City Foxes — the improbable champions of one of the world’s greatest soccer leagues — flies proudly in the breeze.
With its closest rival Tottenham held to 2-2 draw in its game Monday with Chelsea, Leicester clinched its first English Premier League soccer title in the club’s 132-year history.
Until this year, that history was marked largely by frustration, mediocrity and an inability to keep pace with the richer teams from big cities.
It took awhile, but this was a city ready to party.
The same standard that adorns the cathedral hangs in shop windows, bars and the local railroad station. As their less-than-storied local soccer team nears an unthinkable triumph, all the flags bear the same words: “We’re backing blue.”
Pronounced “Lester,” the city of 330,000 about an hour’s train ride north of London has reason to celebrate.
Local fan and city tour guide Steve Bruce, 62, said the impact of the club’s miracle run on the provincial city cannot be overstated. A veteran of many seasons, he has seen his hometown and club go through dark times.
“I’ve been a Leicester fan through thick and thin. Mostly thin,” he joked. “I think this season has had a really positive effect on the city’s image. For the first time, people have heard of Leicester and want to know more about us.”
Standing in the city center, Mr. Bruce said he has been bombarded with requests for tours from visitors captivated by the Leicester City fairy tale season.
English soccer has not had a maiden champion of its top league since Nottingham Forest in 1978. For the past 20 years, the Premier League trophy has been the personal property of either London or Manchester, with Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City sharing the trophy among them.
With its dilapidated housing and patches of brownfields, Leicester is like many other forgotten corners of modern England, savaged by the decline in textile and other manufacturing that began in the 1960s.
Government census data show unemployment is higher in Leicester than the national average and educational attainment is lower. The East Midlands city is one of the few in Britain where minorities and immigrants — Indians, Pakistanis and others — outnumber ethnic Britons.
The unexpected triumph of its soccer team has been a beacon of hope for a city used to being an afterthought.
“It has been great,” said Jane Godfrey, 44, who lives in public housing and has been unemployed for years. “People can come out and talk to each other. The thing it really showed is that we’re all Leicester. I’ve gone to watch every match since Christmas.”
Outspent
Team spirit, an unyielding defense and an unconventional, underrated coach have also helped Leicester compensate for a lack of star names on their roster. When they lined up Sunday against longtime powerhouse Manchester United, the Foxes faced off against a team whose payroll was at least five times as much as theirs.
Spanish-born forward Juan Mata cost Manchester United $54 million. In contrast, Leicester star Riyad Mahrez, the English Premier League’s most valuable player, earned around $600,000. Mr. Mahrez is an Algerian who came from a team in the French second division.
Leicester’s coach, Claudio Ranieri, also showed little promise when he started with the Foxes last summer after being fired by the Greek national soccer team. The eccentric Mr. Ranieri has since become famous for his signature spectacles and charmingly jumbled English that makes him sound like Yoda from “Star Wars.”
“It is important for us to make the perfect game,” he told reporters Sunday before the match against Manchester United. “The best away performance of the season we have to do.”
The doubters are coming around. Robbie Savage, a onetime midfielder for Leicester, told BBC Radio 5 on Monday that his former team’s breakthrough ranked as “the greatest achievement in British sport” and its coach deserved a big part of the credit.
“I was a massive skeptic of Claudio Ranieri, but he proved me so wrong,” Mr. Savage said. “We will never see this again.”
When the referee blew for the end of the match in Manchester, Mr. Ranieri already had reason to smile. His team had managed a hard-fought 1-1 draw. Premier League crowns are allocated by points, with draws earning one point and wins worth three.
The Leicester miracle story has injected new life into English soccer, said Harry Pearson, a veteran writer and analyst on the relationship between the sport and England’s working-class industrial cities.
“What everyone really likes about it is not that they’re poor, but that most people in England couldn’t point to it on a map,” said Mr. Pearson. “For most people, they only exist on the football results on TV. Nobody in England would have any reason to go there. This is Leicester we’re talking about. That’s what people like. It’s like a victory for the provinces because they’re not London or Manchester or even Birmingham or Liverpool.”
On Sunday, as fans in Leicester watched the Manchester United game on TV screens in pubs throughout the city, fans cheered as goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel pulled off save after save in the dying seconds of the match to keep the dream alive. A day later, it was a dream come true as fans at watch parties around the city — including one hosted for the team by budding Leicester superstar Jamie Vardy — saw Chelsea come back from a two-goal halftime deficit to earn the draw and extinguish the last chance for any club to catch the Foxes as the season winds to a close.
Outside their home stadium Sunday, a Sudanese immigrant who has taken the club to heart was waving his scarf. Even though he couldn’t be in Manchester to cheer on the Foxes from the bleachers, Adam Saleh was no less loud.
“I have lived in Leicester eight years. I love Leicester. I always liked the team, but this is so great for the club, such a happy moment,” Mr. Saleh said. “People in Sudan, they love Leicester too.”
As the fans poured out of the bars and into the city’s old streets Sunday, they knew the little soccer club was making history.
Mr. Bruce hoped the excitement and civic pride led to greater things. At least now, he said, folks can find Leicester on the map.
“For the club and for Leicester,” he said, “I hope this is the start of something bigger.”
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