At Docherty’s behest, in the 1966 FA Cup semi-final they wore blue and black stripes, based on Inter Milan’s kit. More recently, the club have had a number of black or dark blue away kits which alternate every year. Chelsea have always worn blue shirts, although they originally used the paler eton blue, which was taken from the racing colours of then club president, Earl Cadogan, and was worn with white shorts and dark blue or black socks.
Meanwhile they allowed 11 shots by Chelsea, the second most they’ve faced this season. The only club who have scored more? Trevoh Chalobah’s goal was the seventh Chelsea have scored via a corner in the Premier League this season. After the red card, we needed to settle and make an assessment at half-time.
Records and statistics
Chelsea have long-standing rivalries with North London clubs Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur. Since the 1990s, there has been a marked decline in crowd trouble at matches, as a result of stricter policing, CCTV in grounds and the advent of all-seater stadia. There are numerous official supporters clubs in the United Kingdom and all over the world. Chelsea’s traditional fanbase comes from all over the Greater London area, including working-class parts such as Hammersmith and Battersea, wealthier areas like Chelsea and Kensington, and from the home counties. In the build-up to the 1997 FA Cup final, the song “Blue Day”, performed by Suggs and members of the Chelsea squad, reached number 22 in the UK chart.
- The club’s new owner was Russian oligarch and billionaire Roman Abramovich, who took on responsibility for the club’s £80 million of debt, quickly paying some of it.
- After the red card, we needed to settle and make an assessment at half-time.
- In 2012, Roberto Di Matteo led Chelsea to their seventh FA Cup, and their first UEFA Champions League title, beating Bayern Munich 4–3 on penalties, the first London club to win the trophy.
- Previously, the kit was manufactured by Adidas, which was originally contracted to supply the club’s kit from 2006 to 2018.
- In the mid-1990s Chelsea fan and businessman Matthew Harding became a director, and loaned the club £26 million to build the new North Stand and invest in new players.
- Starting with an open bowl-like design and one grandstand with seating, Stamford Bridge had an original capacity of around 100,000, making it the second biggest stadium in England after Crystal Palace.
Abramovich era
The previous owner Abramovich and the club’s then executive board determined that a larger stadium is necessary in order for Chelsea to stay competitive with rival clubs who have significantly larger stadia, such as Arsenal and Manchester United. Soon after the takeover a decision was taken to drop the “Chelsea Village” brand and refocus on Chelsea as a football club. In 1996, the north stand was renamed the Matthew Harding stand, after the club director and benefactor who was killed in a helicopter crash earlier that year. Following a long legal battle, it was not until the mid-1990s that Chelsea’s future at Stamford Bridge was secured and renovation work resumed. The freehold was sold to property developers and the club were under threat of eviction from the stadium. In the early 1970s, the club’s owners announced a modernisation of Stamford Bridge with plans for a state-of-the-art 50,000 all-seater stadium.
Do I think they will win it? No I don’t…published at 16:10 GMT 1 December16:10 GMT 1 December
Starting with an open bowl-like design and one grandstand with seating, Stamford Bridge had an original capacity of around 100,000, making it the second biggest stadium in England after Crystal Palace. The stadium was officially opened on 28 April 1877 and for the next 28 years it was used by the London Athletic Club as an arena for athletics meetings. Chelsea have only had one home ground, Stamford Bridge, where they have played since the team’s foundation. Lampard’s win percentage was the worst for any Chelsea manager who managed three games or more. Chelsea won six of the first 11 games of the 2022–23 season, but only five of the remaining 27.
If you look at the amount of yellows, I thought there would be one more red. We knew they would come and come, so we had to try and catch them on the counter which we did a few times and it really paid off.” When Chelsea were reduced to ten men, they had to adapt and the message from Enzo Maresca was clear — use counter-attacks to their advantage. They are a good side, the team did a good job today and we take a point.”
Arteta: Referee made right call with red card
In three seasons the side were beaten in three major semi-finals and were FA Cup runners-up. The following season saw UEFA create the European Champions’ Cup, but after objections from The Football League, Chelsea were persuaded to withdraw from the competition before it started. He removed the club’s Chelsea pensioner crest, improved the youth set-up and training regime, rebuilt the side with shrewd signings from the lower divisions and amateur leagues, and led Chelsea to their first major trophy success – the League championship – in 1954–55.
Watch Premier League highlights and analysispublished at 07:35 GMT 1 December07:35 GMT 1 December
There are situation-specific or team-specific chants meant to rile up opposition teams, managers or players. Popular fan chants include, “Super Chelsea”, “Super Frank” (dedicated to all-time leading goal scorer Frank Lampard), “We love you Chelsea” and “Come on Chelsea”. The song “Blue is the Colour” was released as a single in the build-up to the 1972 League Cup final, with all members of Chelsea’s first team squad singing; it reached number five in the UK Singles Chart.
On 19 March 2022, there were five confirmed bids to acquire Chelsea; submitted to Raine Capital which was handling the sale of the club. Abramovich released an official statement on 2 March 2022 confirming that he was selling the club due to the ongoing situation in Ukraine. Chelsea did not turn a profit in the first nine years of Abramovich’s ownership, and made record losses of £140m in June 2005. The loans stood at £709 million in December 2009, when they were all converted to equity by Abramovich, leaving the club themselves debt free, although the debt remained with Fordstam.
Mourinho was sacked after four months of the following season after a poor start. The following year the club won the UEFA Europa League, making them the first club to hold two major European titles simultaneously and one of five clubs to have won the three main UEFA trophies. In 2012, Roberto Di Matteo led Chelsea to their seventh FA Cup, and their first UEFA Champions League title, beating Bayern Munich 4–3 on penalties, the first London club to win the trophy. The club did not turn a profit in the first nine years of Abramovich’s ownership, and made record losses of £140m in June 2005. With the club facing an apparent financial crisis, Bates unexpectedly sold Chelsea F.C. Vialli was sacked in favour of Claudio Ranieri, who guided Chelsea to the 2002 FA Cup final and Champions League qualification in 2002–03.
Counter-attacks nearly paid off for Chelsea
- Under Lampard the club would only win one of their last 11 matches resulting in a 9% win percentage.
- An ambitious redevelopment of Stamford Bridge threatened the financial stability of the club, star players were sold and the team were relegated.
- Further problems were caused by a notorious hooligan element among the support, which was to plague the club throughout the decade.
- The club bounced back immediately by winning the Second Division championship in 1988–89.
As a condition for using the Chelsea FC name, the club has to play its first team matches at Stamford Bridge, which means that if the club moves to a new stadium, they may have to change their name.Chelsea’s training ground is located in Cobham, Surrey. Chelsea scored a record-low 38 goals across the entire season and finished in the bottom half of the table for the first time since 1995–96. On the pitch, the team had fared little better, coming close to relegation to the Third Division for the first time, but in 1983 manager John Neal put together an impressive new team for minimal outlay. An ambitious redevelopment of Stamford Bridge threatened the financial stability of the club, star players were sold and the team were relegated. They were on course for a treble of League, FA Cup and League Cup going into the final stages of the 1964–65 season, winning the League Cup but faltering late on in the other two.
The club was then sponsored by Grange Farms, Bai Lin Tea and Simod before a long-term deal was signed with Commodore International in 1989; Amiga, an offshoot of Commodore, appeared on the shirts. Previously, the kit was manufactured by Umbro (1975–81), Le Coq Sportif (1981–86), The Chelsea Collection (1986–87), Umbro (1987–2006), and Adidas (2006–2017). As of 2025update, Chelsea is the tenth-most-valuable football club in the world, worth $3.25 billion, and earning $592M in revenue. On 7 May, the club finally confirmed that “terms have been agreed” for a new ownership group led by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital. Although the UK government froze Abramovich’s assets in United Kingdom on 10 March due to his “close ties with Kremlin”, it was made clear that the Chelsea club would be allowed to operate in terms of activities which are football-related.
The club have consistently affirmed their desire to keep Chelsea at their current home, but have nonetheless been linked with a move to various nearby sites, including the Earls Court Exhibition Centre, Battersea Power Station and the Chelsea Barracks. In 1980, Stamford Bridge hosted the first international floodlit cricket match in the UK, between Essex and the West Indies. It was the venue for a boxing match between world flyweight champion Jimmy Wilde and Joe Conn in 1918. In October 1905 it hosted a rugby union match between the All Blacks and Middlesex, and in 1914 hosted a baseball match between the touring New York Giants and the Chicago White Sox.
Coaching staff
Look no further — our writers have you covered with The Briefing. Looking for deeper analysis from today’s match? Enzo Maresca’s side are in action again in a few days when they face Leeds United at Elland Road on Wednesday night. But the visitors responded 11 minutes later, Merino heading home Bukayo Saka’s cross to level the match. John Terry, former captain of the Chelsea men’s team, is the president of Chelsea Women. They play their home games at Kingsmeadow, formerly the home ground of the EFL League Two club AFC Wimbledon.
Arsenal failed to capitalize on red card
Chelsea is the first English club to have won all three major UEFA trophies of the Chelsea House Review past, and the first club overall in the present form. Up until the 1950s, the club had a long-running association with the music halls; their underachievement often provided material for comedians such as George Robey. It included guest appearances by then-Chelsea players Andrew Wilson, George Mills, and Sam Millington.
The 9% interest on the loan cost the club around £7 million a year and according to Bruce Buck, Chelsea were struggling to pay an instalment due in July 2003. Other shareholders at the time of the takeover included the Matthew Harding estate (21%), BSkyB (9.9%) and various anonymous offshore trusts. Bates bought a controlling stake in the club and floated Chelsea on the AIM stock exchange in March 1996. After his death in 1912, his descendants continued to own the club until 1982, when Ken Bates bought the club from Mears’ great-nephew Brian Mears for £1. Their £30.8 million purchase of Andriy Shevchenko from AC Milan in June 2006 was a British record until surpassed by the £32.5 million paid by Manchester City for Robinho in September 2008.
Abramovich ownership (2003–
Following the introduction of sleeve sponsors in the Premier League, Chelsea had Alliance Tyres as its first sleeve sponsor in the 2017–18 season, followed by Hyundai Motor Company in 2018–19 season. Chelsea started the 2025–26 season without a primary shirt sponsor, the third consecutive season that had started without one for the club. The club’s 2023–24 shirt sponsor was American sports technology firm Infinite Athlete, after starting the season without a primary shirt sponsor.
After a long-running legal battle, Bates reunited the stadium freehold with the club in 1992 by doing a deal with the banks of the property developers, who had been bankrupted by a market crash. Docherty built a new team around the group of talented young players emerging from the club’s youth set-up, and Chelsea challenged for honours throughout the 1960s, enduring several near-misses. The club had the highest average attendance in English football in ten separate seasons including 1907–08, 1909–10, 1911–12, 1912–13, 1913–14 and 1919–20. As there was already a team named Fulham in the borough, the name of the adjacent borough of Chelsea was chosen for the new club; names like Kensington FC, Stamford Bridge FC and London FC were considered. In 1904, Gus Mears acquired the Stamford Bridge athletics stadium in Fulham with the aim of turning it into a football ground. The players really threw everything at this performance to try and secure the win today.