Jamie Vardy of Leicester City Photo: VCG

There is one thing that all football fans crave and that is a domestic title. We can all dream of that, no matter who we support.

In this day and age, such things tend to be dominated by one, as we can see in Europe's top-five leagues where two or maybe three clubs have won the title in each of the last few decades.

That might not be this season, as there are dominant reigns set to continue, and there are also exceptions like Liverpool - England's second-most successful side - who are set to end a 30-year wait for a 19th top-flight title.

But there are reasons for hope.

The odds have been beaten before. Here are some of the most recent examples.

Leicester City - English Premier League winners 2015-16

Just five teams had won the English top flight since it was rebranded as the Premier League in the 1992-93 season before the Foxes won as a 500-1 shot two years after coming up from The Championship. 

A collection of players picked up on the cheap from overseas, N'Golo Kante and Riyad Mahrez, and from the lower leagues, former non-league striker Jamie Vardy, gelled under veteran Italian manager Claudio Ranieri.

Kante, who arrived from French side Caen, was signed by director of football Steve Walsh. The Frenchman, who would go on to win the Premier League the following season with Chelsea and the 2018 FIFA World Cup with France in Russia, came in the summer along with other first-team mainstays such as Stoke City's Robert Huth and Japan striker Shinji Okazaki.

In the end, they finished their title winning season 10 points ahead of Arsenal and the league win was celebrated with a party at defender Christian Fuchs' house following a Spurs loss at Chelsea.

Vardy finished the season with 24 goals. Goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel ensured that he and father Peter, formerly of Manchester United, became the first father and son pair of ­players to win the Premier League.

The title ended with former Leicester striker and modern day British TV presenter Gary Lineker promising to present the next season's Match of The Day English Premier League round-up show in his pants.

Honorable mentions: Nottingham Forest (1977-87), Ipswich Town (1961-62)

Wolfsburg - German Bundesliga winners 2008-09

The team that had finished fifth under Felix Magath the previous season went on to upset the old order - Bayern Munich had won eight of the previous 12 campaigns - by lifting the league title. The goals of Grafite and Edin Dzeko helped them along their way in a season that went to the final game, which the Wolves won 5-1 to finish ahead of the Bavarian giants.

Wolfsburg won that final game 5-1 against Werder Bremen to secure their first title in style. Grafite and Dzeko finished the top two scorers in the league on 28 and 26 goals respectively, a large part why the team had a league best plus-39 goal difference, 10 more than Bayern in second.

Bosnia and Herzegovina playmaker Zvjezdan Misimovic topped the assist charts that season with 20, while Grafite (11) and Dzeko (10) backed him up. Germany midfielder Christian Gentner added another 10 assists.

Honorable mentions: Hansa Rostock (1990-91 East German champions), Eintracht Braunschweig (1966-67), 1860 Munich (1965-66)

Deportivo la Coruna - Spanish Primera Liga winners 1999-00

The unfashionable side from the city of A Coruna in Galicia added a pointed interjection into the dominance of teams from Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao and San Sebastien that had won every title since 1971. 

Barcelona and Real Madrid have gone on to dominate since but the blue and white stripes of topscoring Dutchman Roy Makaay, the ­string-pulling Brazilian Djalminha and Portuguese targetman Pauleta beat Barcelona and Valencia to the title by five points.  

Manager Javier Irureta had signed Makaay and several other players who would go on to be first teamers in the club's only title win in the summer, including Serbia's Slavisa Jokanovic.

The title has not left Madrid or Barcelona since.

Sampdoria - Italian Serie A winners 1990-91



The Genoans somehow rocked the established order of Italy with a romp to the first title in the 1990s in what was then the most prestigious - and richest - league on the planet.

While Diego Maradona had left Napoli short thanks to a drugs ban, AC Milan had the likes of Marco van Basten and Inter could call upon 1990 World Cup winners Lothar Matthaus and Jurgen Klinsmann,

Samp finished four points ahead of AC Milan and five ahead of their city rivals Inter Milan. Gianluca Vialli finished as capocannoniere, the league top scorer, with 19 goals while Roberto Mancini netted 12 times.

The title-winning team also featured goalkeeper Gianluca Pagliuca alongside Toninho Cerezo, Pietro Vierchowod and Attilio Lombardo, who would all go on to feature countless times for the Italian national team, including in 1994 when they finished runners-up to Brazil in the FIFA World Cup final penalty shootout loss to Brazil.

Manager Vujadin Boskov took Sampdoria­ to the European Cup final the following season where they were beaten by Johan Cruyff's Barcelona in a tight fought 1-0 loss.

Honourable mentions: Hellas Verona (1984-85), Cagliari (1969-70)

Montpellier - French Ligue 1 winners 2011-12

The closest thing to Leicester City in recent years are the French south coast side who won the first title in their 101-year history in the 2011-12 season. Somehow, after only being promoted two seasons before, the Occitane-based club fended off the Parisian powerhouse PSG, in their first year of Qatari ownership and investment, to win the Championnat by three points.

Olivier Giroud, who would go on to win the World Cup with France in Russia in 2018 among many other trophies, top scored with 21 goals. He was backed up by Moroccan playmaker Younes Belhanda, who went on to win young player of the year, with nine goals. Giroud also contributed nine assists in the league.

Honorable mentions: Lens (1997-98), Auxerre (1995-96), Strasbourg (1978-79)


Newspaper headline: One-season wonders