Chelsea Football Club is an English football club based in West London who play in the Premier League. They’ve been English champions six times, with five of those coming in the past 20 years.
History
Chelsea were founded on March 14, 1905 at a pub, then called The Rising Sun and now known as The Butcher’s Hook. The pub is located opposite to the main entrance of Stamford Bridge. Chelsea were soon admitted to the Football League but failed to make much of an impact in the early years but began to rise after Ted Drake became the club’s manager in 1952 and started modernizing the club. He led Chelsea to their first major trophy and it was the League championship in 1954-1955.
Chelsea continued to enjoy success in the 1960s and won the UEFA Cup Winner’s Cup in 1971 and were consistent in the league and the domestic Cup competitions. But the late 1970s and the 1980s witnessed a marked decline in Chelsea’s fortunes as stability both on the pitch and off it threatened to destroy the club.
Country | England |
City | London |
Founded | 1905 |
Ground | Stamford Bridge |
Nickname | The Blues |
Coach | Enzo Maresca |
Website | chelseafc.com |
Follow This Team |
The situation was salvaged in the mid 1990s when Dutch legend Ruud Gullit was appointed as the player-manager. Chelsea won the FA Cup in 1997, the League Cup and the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1998 and the FA Cup in 2000.
Then along came Roman Abramovich in June 2003 and the Russian acquired the club for 140 million pounds in a move what was then the biggest ever sale of an English football club. Abramovich spent money on acquiring new and talented but expensive players and after recruiting the Portuguese manager Jose Mourinho in 2004, won back to back Premier League trophies in 2005 and 2006.
After winning the Premiership in 2004/05 and 2005/06, Chelsea came up just short in 2006/07, although the Blues did capture both the League Cup (over Arsenal in the final in Cardiff) and the FA Cup, beating Manchester United in the first championship match at the new Wembley Stadium.
Under Avram Grant, who replaced Mourinho inside the first few weeks of the 2007-2008 season, Chelsea reached the final of the UEFA Champions League in 2008 but lost narrowly on penalties to Manchester United.
Carlo Ancelotti led Chelsea to the 2009-10 Premier League and FA Cup double with Didier Drogba firing, but the Italian left the club in 2011. Under Roberto Di Matteo, Chelsea won the UEFA Champions League for the first time in 2012. Interim boss Rafa Benitez guided the Blues to the 2012-13 Europa League crown before Mourinho made a return to Chelsea ahead of the 2013-14 season where he took the club to the UEFA Champions League semi-finals but ultimately claimed no silverware.
Mourinho left in December 2015, with Guus Hiddink taking over until the end of the season. In the 2016-17 season, Antonio Conte took over, winning the Premier League in his first season but only lasting two years, despite also winning the 2018 FA Cup. Former player Frank Lampard was appointed in July 2019 but only lasted 18 months, replaced by Thomas Tuchel who guided the Blues to the 2021 Champions League crown.
After a lack of Premier League success, Tuchel was removed in September 2022 by the club’s new owners, led by Todd Boehly after Roman Abramovich’s exit. His replacement Graham Potter only survived six months in the job, with Lampard returning on an interim basis. In June 2023, Mauricio Pochettino was appointed their new permanent manager on a two-year contract.
Chelsea play their home matches at Stamford Bridge which can host 42,055 people. The club bears the nicknamed the Pensioners but are more commonly called the Blue. Chelsea fosters huge rivalry with London clubs such as Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur.
Honours
- First Division/Premier League Champions (6): 1954–55, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2009–10, 2014–15, 2016–17
- Second Division/First Division/Championship Champions (2): 1983–84, 1988–89
- FA Cup Winners (8): 1969–70, 1996–97, 1999–2000, 2006–07, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2011–12, 2017–18
- League Cup Winners (5): 1964–65, 1997–98, 2004–05, 2006–07, 2014–15
- European Cup/UEFA Champions League Winners (2): 2011–12, 2020-21
- UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League Winners (2): 2012–13, 2018–19
- UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup Winners (2): 1970–71, 1997–98
- UEFA Super Cup Winners: 1998