English Premier League club Leicester City has confirmed the death of its owner and chair, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha.

Srivaddhanaprabha died with four others in a helicopter crash shortly after Leicester City's game against West Ham United on Saturday night.

The Thai billionaire – owner of the King Power duty free business – bought Leicester City in 2010 for around £39m, when it was languishing in the bottom half of the English Championship.

Since then he has invested a considerable chunk of his personal wealth into the club, transforming its fortunes.

In 2016, Srivaddhanaprabha and his ownership team – which also includes his son Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha – pulled off one of the biggest upsets in the history of professional sport when Leicester were crowned Premier League champions against odds of 5,000-1.

Earlier this year, Srivaddhanaprabha announced plans to expand the club's King Power Stadium, committing his future to Leicester.

He had also secured planning permission for a brand new training ground that will cost upwards of £100m.

"It is with the deepest regret and a collective broken heart that we confirm our chair, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, was among those to have tragically lost their lives on Saturday evening when a helicopter carrying him and four other people crashed outside King Power Stadium," a statement from the club said.

"The world has lost a great man. A man of kindness, of generosity and a man whose life was defined by the love he devoted to his family and those he so successfully led. Leicester City was a family under his leadership. It is as a family that we will grieve his passing and maintain the pursuit of a vision for the Club that is now his legacy."