Who Is The Owner Of Leicester City F.C. Now

Leicester City Football Club, known as “The Foxes,” is a professional football team founded in 1884 as Leicester Fosse. The club is based in Leicester, England, and plays their home games at the King Power Stadium.

Leicester City has achieved notable success, including winning the Premier League in the 2015-16 season, which was a great achievement given their odds of 5,000 to 1 at the start of the season. They have also won the FA Cup once and the League Cup three times.

Leicester City F.C. Ownership History

The club was first founded in 1884 under the name Leicester Fosse. Like many clubs in its early years, Leicester faced several difficulties, especially financial problems.

These challenges led to the club temporarily shutting down during World War I. After the war ended, Leicester was reformed in 1919 and changed its name to Leicester City.

In the years after the club’s reformation, Leicester City had some success, including winning the Second Division title in the 1920s.

However, the 1930s were a tough time for the club. They faced relegation to lower divisions and continued to struggle financially.

After World War II, Leicester started to recover, and the club had its best finish in the league up until that point, coming in second place in 1929.

During this time, the ownership of the club changed hands several times. In the late 1990s, local businessman John Elsom led a group that took over the club.

Under his ownership, Leicester won the League Cup in 2000, but the financial problems remained a challenge. In 2002, Leicester moved to the King Power Stadium after spending over a century at Filbert Street.

This move was exciting, but it also put a lot of financial pressure on the club. Due to debts from player wages and the cost of the new stadium, Leicester went into administration in October 2002.

This financial crisis led to a takeover by a group led by former player Gary Lineker. In 2008, a new era began when Milan Mandarić bought Leicester City for about £6 million.

While the club had some good moments, the financial problems persisted, leading to more changes. In 2010, Mandarić sold the club to a Thai consortium called Asian Football Investments (AFI), led by Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha and his son Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha.

This change in ownership was a turning point for the club. With Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha in charge, Leicester City started to improve both financially and on the field.

The club began to grow stronger, and fans began to hope for better results. The peak of this era was in the 2015-16 season when Leicester City won the Premier League title.

This win was extraordinary because the team was not expected to be a contender, and they managed to beat the odds, with bookies giving them 5,000 to 1 odds to win.

The victory became a fairytale story for football fans all over the world. Sadly, in October 2018, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha passed away in a helicopter crash.

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Who Is The New Owner Of Leicester City F.C. Now?

Leicester City Football Club is majorly owned by Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, who holds a 55% stake in the club. Aiyawatt is the son of the late Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, who initially purchased the club in 2010.

Vichai, through a consortium called Asian Football Investments, acquired Leicester City, and the consortium was connected to King Power International Company Ltd., a major duty-free retailer in Thailand.

After his father’s tragic death in a helicopter crash in 2018, Aiyawatt became the chairman of the club, continuing his father’s legacy and overseeing the operations of the football team.

Although King Power remains the parent company linked to the club, it is Aiyawatt who directly represents the family’s interests in Leicester City. He is the chairman of the club and the CEO of King Power.

Alongside Aiyawatt, other family members hold stakes in the club: his mother, Aimon Srivaddhanaprabha, owns 15%, while his siblings, Voramas, Apichet, and Aroonroong Srivaddhanaprabha, each hold 10%.

How Much Is Leicester City Owner Worth?

Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, who owns Leicester City Football Club, has a net worth of about $3.6 billion in 2024. He is one of the wealthiest people in Thailand, ranking eighth on the list of the country’s richest individuals.

A large part of his fortune comes from King Power International, a well-known company in Thailand that runs duty-free shops at airports and other tourist spots.

The company was started by his father, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, in 1989 when he opened a small duty-free store in Bangkok.

With time, King Power grew into one of the leading players in the travel retail business, not just in Thailand, but around the world. Besides King Power, the Srivaddhanaprabha family has made other big investments.

One of the most notable is the King Power Mahanakhon, a huge skyscraper in Bangkok that includes a hotel and the highest observation deck in the country.

This building was bought for about $396 million just before Vichai’s tragic death in a helicopter crash in 2018. Aiyawatt now continues to manage the family’s business and investments, and his wealth remains strong due to the continued success of King Power and other ventures.

Ken Anucha

Kenneth is a an avid soccer follower, fan and writer. He is a consistent follower of the sport and is a fan of Chelsea FC.