Leicester City win Premier League title after Tottenham draw at Chelsea |04 May 2016

Leicester City have won the English Premier League title in one of the greatest sporting stories of all time.

Tottenham Hotspurs' 2-2 draw at Chelsea on Monday confirmed a stunning achievement for Claudio Ranieri's side.

Leicester started the campaign as 5,000-1 outsiders for the title after almost being relegated last season.

But they have lost just three league games in what has been described as a "fairytale" and the "most unlikely triumph in the history of team sport".

Closest challengers Spurs, Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United and last year's champions Chelsea, have all failed to match the Foxes' consistency across the season.

Former Leicester, Everton and England striker Gary Lineker described his hometown team's achievement as "the biggest sporting shock of my lifetime".

The Match of the Day presenter had suggested the Leicester players were on the "edge of sporting immortality" last month.

He told BBC Sport: "I can't think of anything that surpasses it in sporting history. It is difficult to put over in words.

"I got emotional. It was hard to breathe. I was a season ticket holder from the age of seven. This is actually impossible."

After Leicester drew 1-1 at Manchester United on Sunday, Tottenham needed to win all three of their remaining league games to catch the Foxes.

But their title hopes were ended when they squandered a 2-0 lead to only draw at London rivals Chelsea.

Match of the Day pundit and former Newcastle United, Blackburn Rovers and England striker Alan Shearer said Leicester's achievement was "the biggest thing ever in football".

Shearer, who won the Premier League in 1995 with underdogs Blackburn, told BBC Sport: "For a team like Leicester to come and take the giants on with their wealth and experience – not only take them on but to beat them – I think it's the biggest thing to happen in football."

Gianni Infantino, president of football's world governing body Fifa, said Leicester's "beautiful story" was a "fairytale".

The club was also quick to hail the achievement of Ranieri and his players, saying they "have captured the imaginations of football fans around the world with one of the most brilliant and unlikely sporting triumphs ever seen".

Sports data analysts say Leicester are set for a potential £150m boost for winning the title, coming from Premier League prize money, Champions League participation cash, and increased match-day revenues from ticket and hospitality sales.

Even Prime Minister David Cameron passed on his congratulations, saying it was "an extraordinary, thoroughly deserved, Premier League title".

Leicester's story is epitomised by 29-year-old striker Jamie Vardy. Released by Sheffield Wednesday at 16 for being too small, he rose through non-league football until Leicester paid Fleetwood Town £1m for him in 2012.

He is now an England international, second in the Premier League's scoring charts this season and was named the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year on Monday.

Meanwhile, Professional Footballers' Association Player of the Year Riyad Mahrez, 25, was bought for just £400,000 from French second-tier side Le Havre in January 2014.

Only 14 players have made more than a dozen league appearances and Ranieri's preferred starting XI cost an estimated £22m – less than a 10th of what is arguably big-spending Manchester City's first-choice line-up.