Winning the Premier League usually buys a club years near the top of the table. Two of its champions have still gone down, proof that a title offers no lasting protection from the relegation odds. This is how quickly each fall came, along with the older collapses and the title holders who came close.
Blackburn Rovers: four seasons
Blackburn won the 1994-95 title under Kenny Dalglish with 89 points. Dalglish moved upstairs that summer, and the defence of the trophy brought only seventh place.
Roy Hodgson took Rovers to sixth in 1997-98, but he was sacked on 21 November 1998 and Brian Kidd replaced him on 3 December. Signings including Kevin Davies, bought from Southampton for £7.25m, did not stop the slide. Blackburn finished 19th on 35 points in 1998-99, four seasons after lifting the trophy.
The drop did not stop there. Blackburn went down from the Premier League again in 2011-12, then fell into League One in May 2017. They won 3-1 at Brentford on the final day but went down on goal difference, level with Nottingham Forest on 51 points.
Leicester City: seven seasons, then League One
Leicester won the 2015-16 title from pre-season odds of 5,000-1, and were relegated seven seasons later. Brendan Rodgers left on 2 April 2023 and Dean Smith took over until the end of the season. Leicester beat West Ham 2-1 on the final day, but Everton’s 1-0 win over Bournemouth left them 18th on 34 points, two short of safety.
They bounced straight back, then went down again in 2024-25 with 25 points. A 1-0 home defeat to Liverpool on 20 April 2025 confirmed it.
The Championship brought no relief. Leicester were deducted six points on 5 February 2026 for breaching profit and sustainability rules, and a 2-2 draw with Hull City on 22 April 2026 sent them into League One. That came 10 years after the title.
Before the Premier League: Manchester City and Ipswich Town
The quickest falls came before 1992. Manchester City won the First Division in 1936-37 and were relegated the following season, finishing 21st despite scoring 80 goals, more than champions Arsenal. They remain the only defending English champions to go down.
Ipswich Town won the 1961-62 title in their first top-flight season under Alf Ramsey. Ramsey left to manage England, and two seasons after the title Ipswich finished bottom with 25 points, having conceded 121 league goals.
The defending champions who came closest
Chelsea’s 2015-16 defence fell apart under Jose Mourinho. He was sacked on 17 December 2015 after a 2-1 defeat at Leicester, with the champions 16th and one point above the drop zone. Guus Hiddink steadied them to finish 10th.
Leicester were in the same position a season later. Claudio Ranieri was sacked on 23 February 2017, nine months after the title, with his side one point and one place above the bottom three. Craig Shakespeare took them to 12th.
How quickly it can happen
Blackburn’s four seasons is still the fastest fall from Premier League champion to relegation. Neither Blackburn nor Leicester went down in the season after their title, finishing seventh and 12th. The damage came later, which is worth remembering when reading the Premier League betting odds for 2026-27.
