Leicester City F.C. in European football

Leicester City Football Club is an English football club based in Leicester, Leicestershire. The club was founded in 1884 and has competed in the English football league system since 1894. The 2016–17 UEFA Champions League will be their fourth appearance in Europe, following campaigns in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1961–62, and the UEFA Cup in 1997–98 and 2000–01. The club have also entered the Anglo-Italian Cup, the Anglo-Scottish Cup and the Texaco Cup.

UEFA Competitions

1961–62 European Cup Winners' Cup

Leicester City scores listed first.

The Foxes were beaten finalists in the 1961 FA Cup Final, losing 2–0 to Tottenham Hotspur. However, as Spurs had won the league as well as the FA Cup, they qualified for the 1961–62 European Cup, and Leicester took their Cup Winners' Cup place. Their preliminary round opposition were Glenavon, who became the first participant in the European Cup Winners' Cup to hail from Northern Ireland. A three-goal blast in ten minutes helped Leicester take the first leg at Windsor Park 4–1.^[1] Leicester won the second leg 3–1,^[2] sending them through to the first round.

Double Copa del Rey-winning Atlético Madrid were the opposition. The home leg at Filbert Street finished 1–1.^[3] However Leicester lost 2–0 at the Estadio Metropolitano de Madrid, halting their progress.^[4] Atleti went on to win the tournament.^[5]

Season	Competition	Round	Opposition	Home	Away	Aggregate
1961–62	European Cup Winners' Cup	Preliminary round	Glenavon	3–1	4–1	7–2
		First round	Atlético Madrid	1–1	0–2	1–3

1997–98 UEFA Cup

Martin O'Neill led Leicester to their first major European competition in 36 years.

Under Martin O'Neill, Leicester won the Football League Cup in 1996–97, beating Middlesbrough in the Final. This League Cup was the club's first silverware for 26 years, and it allowed Leicester to qualify for the UEFA Cup, their first major European competition in thirty-six years. English clubs Arsenal, Aston Villa and Liverpool also qualified.^[6][7]

The draw matched City up with Atlético Madrid.^[8] In Leicester's first major European tournament match since the clubs last met back in 1961, the Madrid club won the first leg 2–1, at their Vicente Calderón Stadium.^[9] Leicester lost the home tie 2–0 and the Midland club were eliminated.^[10] Juninho - who was in the Middlesbrough team beaten by City in the League Cup final - scored in both legs, while Ian Marshall was the sole Leicester goalscorer.

Season	Competition	Round	Opposition	Home	Away	Aggregate
1997–98	UEFA Cup	First round	Atlético Madrid	0–2	1–2	1–4

2000–01 UEFA Cup

O'Neill's Leicester side won the League Cup again in 1999–2000, this time beating Tranmere Rovers in the Final, the last to be held at the old Wembley Stadium. This saw Leicester awarded a place in the UEFA Cup, alongside fellow English clubs Chelsea and Liverpool.^[11][12]

The Foxes drew Red Star Belgrade in the first round.^[13] Alarm bells in England rang almost immediately, owing to a general election in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia scheduled the same week as Leicester's planned visit to Belgrade, with the Foreign Office fearing "civil unrest". David Davies, then chief executive of the Football Association, termed the situation as "very delicate".^[13] BBC Sport succinctly referred to the situation as a "nightmare trip".^[14] Amid media reports of their withdrawal from the tournament, the Foxes made the decision to request a venue change, following a similar move the season before when Leeds United faced Red Star's eternal rivals FK Partizan in Heerenveen, the Netherlands.^[15] Despite an appeal from Red Star,^[16] UEFA elected to stage the game at a neutral ground, a week later than originally planned.^[17]

Muzzy Izzet scored Leicester's last UEFA Cup goal in 2000.

The first leg was a 1–1 draw with Gerry Taggart cancelling out Milenko Ačimovič's early opener^[18] - clocked at 47 seconds by Reuters, who called it "one of the fastest goals in UEFA Cup history".^[19] The second leg, held at the Gerhard Hanappi Stadium in Austria - home to Vienna club Rapid - finished 3–1 to the 'home' side, with Muzzy Izzet scoring Leicester's goal.^[20]

Season	Competition	Round	Opposition	Home	Away	Aggregate
2000–01	UEFA Cup	First round	Red Star Belgrade	1–1	1–3[nb 1]	2–4

2016–17 UEFA Champions League

On 9 April 2016, Leicester City, who were placed first in the league, secured a Champions League Group stage spot, and on 2 May 2016 clinched their first national league title. Therefore, they were seeded for the Group stage draw due to the Premier League being among Europe's top eight leagues. They were drawn in Group G with Porto, Club Brugge and Copenhagen.

Leicester City's first-ever match in the European Cup was played on 14 September 2016. Marc Albrighton scored City's first-ever goal in the competition with Riyad Mahrez adding 2 more for the 3–0 victory away to Belgian champions Club Brugge. In their first home game at the European Cup, on 27 September 2016, Leicester beat Porto 1–0 with Islam Slimani scoring the only goal. That win saw City becoming the first English team to win their two opening matches in the European Cup. On 18 October 2016, the Foxes made it three out of three with a 1–0 win at home against the Danish champions Copenhagen. The goal was scored by Riyad Mahrez. The reverse fixture against Copenhagen was played on 2 November 2016 and remained goalless. Leicester secured the first place in the group and a place in the next round with a comfortable 2–1 win against Club Brugge on 22 November 2016, Shinji Okazaki and Riyad Mahrez were the scorers while José Izquierdo netted the first-ever goal against the Foxes in the European Cup.

Season	Competition	Round	Opposition	Home	Away	Aggregate
2016–17	UEFA Champions League	Group stage	Porto	1–0		1st
			Club Brugge	2–1	3–0
			Copenhagen	1–0	0–0
		Round of 16	TBA

Minor Trophies

Anglo-Italian Cup

Leicester appeared three times in the Anglo-Italian Cup, which was held between teams from Italy and England which had not qualified for European competitions. Leicester's first appearance in 1972 saw them play against Cagliari and Atalanta, losing their away games and winning their home matches. Under the tournament format, the English and Italian teams were ranked in separate tables according to their results - Leicester finished 3rd of the 6 English teams ^[21] and were eliminated.^[22][23] The tournament was cancelled in 1973, but revived for four seasons from 1992–93. Leicester competed in the first two editions of the revived tournament, but were eliminated in the Preliminary Rounds both times. In 1992-93 they defeated Grimsby Town but lost to Newcastle United;^[24] in 1993-94 they were defeated by Peterborough United and lost to West Bromwich Albion.^[25]

Texaco and Anglo-Scottish Cups

The Foxes entered the Texaco Cup, which ran for five seasons, twice.^[26] In 1972–73 they eliminated Dundee United in a penalty shoot-out after two draws. Leicester were pitted against Norwich City for the second round. After both legs finished 2–0 to the respective home teams after extra time, Norwich progressed by winning the penalty shoot-out 4–3.^[26] The next season, Leicester progressed past Ayr United drawing 1-1 in Scotland and winning 2-0 at home; in the second round, Dundee United gained revenge for the previous year's elimination, winning 1-0 in Dundee and holding Leicester to a 1-1 draw in England.^[26]

After Texaco dropped their sponsorship of the tournament, the Anglo-Scottish Cup was created in the 1975–76 season, using a group stage format in which each team would play the others in the group once, with only the team finishing top of the group progressing. Leicester were in Group 2 of the English Qualifiers, with Hull City, Mansfield Town and West Bromwich Albion.^[27] Inconsistency ensured that City would not progress as they registered one win, one draw and one loss.^[26]

Overall record

Notes

1. ↑ 'Away' leg held at the Gerhard Hanappi Stadium, Vienna, Austria

Specific

External links

• European record at uefa.com