Leicester City completed their fairytale quest for the Premier League title on Monday after Eden Hazard's stunning late goal earned Chelsea a 2-2 draw with second-place Tottenham Hotspur.
With Leicester's players gathered at the home of striker Jamie Vardy to watch the match, goals from Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min at Stamford Bridge appeared to have set Spurs up for a victory that would have kept their title hopes alive.
But after Gary Cahill had reduced the arrears in the 58th minute of a stormy affair, Hazard met Diego Costa's pass with a first-time shot into the top-right corner to send hordes of supporters in Leicester, as well as their millions of new admirers around the world, into raptures.
"Claudio Ranieri and his players have captured the imaginations of football fans around the world with the most brilliant and unlikely sporting triumphs ever seen," Leicester said in a statement on their website shortly after.
"From a team that spent the majority of last season rooted to the bottom of the table and among the favourites for relegation this term, a combination of team spirit, hard work and talent has seen them transform into champions."
Shortly after the final whistle at Stamford Bridge, Leicester left-back Christian Fuchs posted a video on Twitter of himself and his team-mates joyously celebrating their triumph at Vardy's house.
Ranieri's side, 5,000-1 outsiders who narrowly avoided relegation last season, can now look forward to a title party when they lift the trophy at their King Power Stadium home following Saturday's game with Everton.
They are England's first new title-winners since Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest 1978 and their surge to glory in the world's most-watched football championship will go down as one of the most improbable feats in sporting history.
Their previous best season in the English top flight was a second-place finish in 1929 and their last piece of silverware had been the 2000 League Cup.
"Congratulations to Leicester because they have been superb this year," said John Terry, the Chelsea captain.
"(Ranieri) has been different class. To do what they have done has been unbelievable and given hope to the smaller sides."
- 'Only one Ranieri!' -
Fans in the east Midlands city of Leicester gathered to watch the game in bars and pubs, roaring on Chelsea, the outgoing champions, as if supporting their own team.
There were scenes of delirium at Hogarth's pub, near the cathedral where 15th-century monarch Richard III was reinterred in March last year, supposedly sparking the team's rise to glory.
Supporters spilled into the surrounding streets afterwards, chanting the names of beloved manager Ranieri and 22-goal top scorer Vardy, who was named the Football Writers' Association (FWA) Footballer of the Year earlier in the day.
Mauricio Pochettino's young Spurs team needed to win all three of their final games to stand any chance of claiming a first league title since 1961, but having been held 1-1 by West Bromwich Albion on their previous outing, they failed to close out victory again.
Ranieri had never previously won a league title and was sacked by Chelsea in 2004, but chants of "There's only one Ranieri!" rang around the game as the final whistle approached.
Bringing the story of his association with the Premier League full circle, the 64-year-old Italian will return to Stamford Bridge for his miracle team's final game of the season on May 15.
Ranieri was reported to have flown back from Italy earlier on Monday, having gone to visit his 96-year-old mother following Sunday's 1-1 draw at Manchester United.
Hazard, last season's Player of the Year, had scored the goal that brought Chelsea the title a year previously and after a dismal campaign, he resurfaced to write another chapter in English football history.
Spurs, meanwhile, could face disciplinary action from the Football Association after midfielder Mousa Dembele appeared to eye-gouge Diego Costa in one of several fractious incidents.
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