Five Unforgettable Home Openers

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Five Unforgettable Home Openers

As we prepare to return to King Power Stadium, we look back at five season opening home fixtures that live long in the memory.

2026-08-20T09:00+01:00

The skipper on the scoresheet.

by Archie Tooth

Published

10 Hours 55 Mins Ago

Five Unforgettable Home Openers

As we prepare to return to King Power Stadium, we look back at five season opening home fixtures that live long in the memory.

Archie Tooth

2026-08-20T09:00+01:00

Five Unforgettable Home Openers

As we prepare to return to King Power Stadium, we look back at five season opening home fixtures that live long in the memory.

Archie Tooth

2026-08-20T09:00+01:00

Five Unforgettable Home Openers

As we prepare to return to King Power Stadium, we look back at five season opening home fixtures that live long in the memory.

Archie Tooth

2026-08-20T09:00+01:00

Five Unforgettable Home Openers

As we prepare to return to King Power Stadium, we look back at five season opening home fixtures that live long in the memory.

Archie Tooth

2026-08-20T09:00+01:00

Ahead of Saturday’s first home outing of the 26/27 Sky Bet League One season against Burton Albion, we revisit five season openers at our home that helped shape some of the Club’s most memorable campaigns...

City 2 Watford 0
10 August, 2002
Old First Division (now Sky Bet Championship)

Izzet in the action.

10 August 2002 saw the first competitive fixture at Walkers Stadium, now King Power Stadium, as Leicester City earned a deserved 2-0 victory over Watford.

Despite captain Matt Elliott exiting the field early through injury, the Foxes took the lead just after the interval through Brian Deane heading home Nicky Summerbee’s cross, after excellent work from Muzzy Izzet in the build-up.

Celebrating Deane's second against the Hornets.

The striker doubled the advantage eight minutes later, a James Scowcroft pass broke Deane free from the defence, with his clinical finish past Alec Chamberlain sealing the three points.

In front of a sell-out crowd, Micky Adams’ side's spirited performance ultimately set the foundation for a promotion clinching season back to the Premier League.

City 2 MK Dons 0
9 August, 2008
Sky Bet League One

The last time we began a league campaign in the third tier, the Foxes made a perfect start. Some 23,351 were on Filbert Way on 9 August, 2008, as we hosted MK Dons to begin our immediate return to the Championship.

Howard's header against the Dons.

Joe Mattock slipped Matty Fryatt in behind the visitors' defence with the Englishman brought down in the box by Sean O’Hanlon before he could dispatch an effort on goal.

The resulting penalty was smashed into the top hand corner by Fryatt himself and gave the Foxes breathing space.

Fryatt at the double.

With a little under 10 minutes left to play Leicester were eager to double their advantage. Max Gradel hounded the Dons backline and after winning the ball he drove towards goal before finding Fryatt unmarked on the penalty spot. His right-footed shot was guided to the bottom left-hand corner to ensure victory.

Gradel gets appreciation for his part in the second goal.

City 2 Peterborough United 0
8 August, 2012
Sky Bet Championship

Fast forward four years to 8 August, 2012 and the Foxes hosted Peterborough United. Nigel Pearson was back at the helm and Leicester were looking to climb back into the top-flight of English football.

Dyer battling away.

It was a quiet first half with our best chance coming from Posh defender Michael Boswick, as a Jamie Vardy cross was broken up en route to Jermaine Beckford, almost wrong-footing 'keeper Bobby Olejnik.

Just after the interval, a Ben Marshall corner met Wes Morgan’s head, with the ball crashing into the net off the crossbar.

The skipper on the scoresheet.

Leicester kept building momentum and found the sucker punch that put the game to bed in the 71st minute.

The pair who combined for the goal.

Vardy coming in off the left wing again teed up Andy King on the edge of the area. His right footed strike whistled into the top left-hand corner, past the glove of Olejnik.

City 4 Sunderland 2
8 August, 2015
Premier League

Now in the Premier League, we kicked off what would become a historic title-winning campaign under Claudio Ranieri with an entertaining 4-2 victory over Sunderland.

Vardy opened the scoring, his flick on found the far-right corner of the goal after connecting with Marc Albrighton’s free-kick from the left.

The deadly duo on target.

Seven minutes later, Albrighton found space again down the left wing and again provided an excellent cross, this time Riyad Mahrez glanced the ball into the bottom right-hand corner.

The momentum did not stop as Mahrez’s converted a spot kick to make it 3-0 with only 25 minutes played. Ranieri football was in full swing and King Power Stadium was in awe.

Celebrating his opening day goal against the Black Cats.

Sunderland hit back through Jermaine Defoe in the 60th minute, though Albrighton wanted to get in on the action, punishing a Younès Kaboul mistake in the box. Albrighton’s swivelling strike made Steven Fletcher’s goal for the visitors irrelevant.

City 2 Coventry City 1
6 August, 2023
Sky Bet Championship

We began our 23/24 EFL Championship campaign with an East Midlands derby on the opening day, welcoming Coventry City to King Power Stadium on 6 August, 2023.

Plenty of new faces, including Mads Hermansen, Harry Winks, Stephy Mavididi and Callum Doyle, made their debuts on Filbert Way under new Manager Enzo Maresca. It was, however, Academy graduate Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall who stole the show.

Dewsbury-Hall's late impact.

Coventry took the lead through Kyle McFadzean’s header, but Dewsbury-Hall levelled with 13 minutes remaining before completing the turnaround minutes later, curling a stunning finish into the top corner to spark wild celebrations on Filbert Way.

Get your tickets for Saturday's Sky Bet League One home opener against Burton Albion.

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