Formed: 1905
Nickname: The Blues
UEFA club competition honours (runners-up in brackets)
• European Champion Clubs’ Cup: (2008)
• UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup: 1971, 1998
• UEFA Super Cup: 1998
Domestic honours (most recent triumph in brackets)
• League title: 4 (2010)
• FA Cup: 6 (2010)
• League Cup: 4 (2007)
History
• Chelsea are the only side in England who were admitted into the Football League without kicking a ball following their creation. Despite that auspicious start it was not until the 1950s, under former Arsenal FC man Ted Drake, that the west London outfit began collecting silverware. Celebrating their golden jubilee, the newly-nicknamed Blues – they have always worn the colour, though sported a lighter shade until 1912 – claimed the 1954/55 league title with one of the lowest points tallies in English football history.
• The club underwent a transformation in the 1960s as London became the music and fashion capital of the world. They became known as the country’s glamour club, while on the pitch Tommy Docherty’s young team claimed the League Cup in 1964/65 and finished runners-up in the FA Cup two years later.
• Docherty’s replacement Dave Sexton masterminded further successes, beating Leeds United AFC in the 1970 FA Cup final and lifting the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup against Real Madrid CF in another replayed showpiece the following season.
• Anticipating glory days, the club invested heavily in upgrading Stamford Bridge, only to be hit by relegation. Staring bankruptcy in the face, the long-standing Mears family famously sold the club – and its huge debts – to Ken Bates for £1 in 1982. The new chairman eventually restored some glamour by appointing the likes of Ruud Gullit and Gianluca Vialli as manager, the latter guiding the team to UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup glory in 1997/98.
• Financial problems returned, however, and in 2003 Bates sold the club to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich. José Mourinho replaced Claudio Ranieri the following year and the side clinched their first championship in 50 years in the Portuguese manager’s first season.
• They successfully defended the title, and only a slip by John Terry in a penalty shoot-out against Manchester United FC denied Mourinho’s successor, Avram Grant, the UEFA Champions League in 2007/08. Carlo Ancelotti then won a league and FA Cup double in his first campaign in charge in 2009/10, only for Abramovich to replace the Italian with FC Porto’s treble-winning coach André Villas-Boas ahead of the 2011/12 season.
Club records
Most appearances: Ron Harris (795)
Most goals: Bobby Tambling (202)
Record victory: Chelsea 13-0 FC Jeunesse Hautcharage (UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup, 29 September 1971)
Record defeat: Wolverhampton Wanderers FC 8-1 Chelsea (First Division, 26 September 1953)
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