Leicester wins Premier title

Leicester City completed one of the greatest- ever sporting achievements Monday when the 5,000- 1 underdogs won the English Premier League for the first time. Leicester players were crowded around a television inside top- scorer Jamie

Vardy’s house as they were handed the title by closest challenger Tottenham being held to a 2- 2 draw by deposed champion Chelsea. With an insurmountable seven- point lead over Tottenham with two games remaining, Leicester is champion of England for the first time in its 132- year history. Just two years ago, Leicester was playing in the second tier and then came close to instantly dropping out of the Premier League. They started this season as among the favorites to be relegated again. But on Monday night fans who never dreamed their modest club in city with a population of 330,000 would conquer wealthier rivals descended on Leicester’s King Power Stadium to party into the night. Leicester, which will collect the trophy on Saturday when it hosts Everton at home, had not even finished higher than second since 1929. English soccer has not had a first- time champion of the top flight since Nottingham Forest in 1978. And for the past 20 years the Premier League trophy has never left London or Manchester, with Arsenal, Chelsea, United and City sharing the trophy between them. Leicester Manager Claudio

Ranieri, 64, won a league title for the first time in his career, 12 years after the Italian was fired by Chelsea. One bookmaker, Sky Bet, said it paid out 4.6 million pounds ($ 6.8 million) to punters who backed Leicester to win the title, with 128 putting money on the team at 5,0001. No sports team has defied such odds to triumph and Leicester’s improbable success has provided a feel- good story for a country divided as it prepares to vote on whether to remain in the European Union.