The club was formed in August 1880 at a meeting in the city’s George Hotel. It was an amalgamation of three clubs: Leicester Societies AFC, Leicester Amateur FC and Leicester Alert. Leicester Football Club played their first game that October against Moseley at the Belgrave Cricket and Cycle Ground in their original club colours of black.

It was as early as 1885 that the team took up the Tigers name when the Leicester Daily Post stated that "the Tiger stripes were keeping well together." It’s not certain whether the name came from the brown and yellow kit then worn by the side or a connection with the local regiment who were nicknamed the Tigers after serving in India.

The now-famous scarlet, green and white jerseys were not introduced until 1891, although these were in a vertical stripe formation until the distinctive hoops were first worn in September 1895.

In 1897, the Tigers won the Midlands Counties Cup - the premier tournament for Midlands-based rugby clubs. They dominated this tournament until 1905 when they dropped out "to give other teams a chance".

In 1920, the Crumbie Stand was built and a terrace added just a year later along with an extension to the members' stand, taking the ground capacity up to 10,250. It would be another 75 years until further extensions were made to Welford Road with the Alliance & Leicester Stand being built in 1995.

It was not until the end of 1970s that Tigers really began to grow. At the start of the decade the club had just 600-700 members and gates less of than 1,000. By end of the '70s, Tigers had reached their first cup final and the club was on its way towards a substantial period of growth.

In August 1980, Leicester became the first English club to go on a tour in the southern hemisphere, where they played six games in Australia and Fiji to mark the club's centenary.

In the 1980s, the club still enjoyed the benefits of amateur rugby, with nights away and Easter tours, although off the pitch the Tigers were taking their first steps towards corporate sponsorship. When they beat Waterloo on the last day of the 1987/88 season, the Tigers became England’s first official champions.

The turn of the century saw an impressive run of success for Leicester Tigers as they took the Premiership title for four years in a row from 1998-2002 and became the first team to win the European Cup in successive seasons.

The record breaking 2000-2001 season saw the Tigers collecting the Heineken Cup and making history by winning a Zurich Premiership, Zurich Championship and Heineken Cup treble.

Although the Heineken Cup win of the following year was followed by four seasons without a trophy, Tigers finished the 2006/07 season by coming within 80 minutes of another treble-winning campaign as they fell to defeat in the European Cup Final having secured Guinness Premiership and EDF Energy Cup glory earlier in the year.
Two more Twickenham finals appearances followed in the 2007/08 season as Tigers finished runners-up in both domestic competitions.
But, after those near-misses, silverware returned to the Welford Road trophy cabinet 12 months later as Tigers beat London Irish in the Guinness Premiership Final at Twickenham to win the English league for a record eighth time. A week later Tigers reached a fifth Heineken Cup Final, but were pipped at the post by Leinster at Murrayfield.

Tigers topped the Guinness Premiership table again in 2009/10 and successfully defended their English crown with a thrilling victory over Saracens in the final at Twickenham in front of an 80,000 capacity crowd. A late try by England international Dan Hipkiss, on the field as a second-half replacement, allowed skipper Geordan Murphy to lift the silverware for a second successive season and the ninth time in the club's history.