Chelsea Football Club // is an English
football club based in
Fulham, London. Founded in 1905, they play in the
Premier League and have spent most of their history in the top tier of English football. Their home ground is the 41,837-seat
[2] Stamford Bridge stadium, where they have played since their establishment.
Chelsea had their first major success in
1955, when they won the league championship, and won various cup competitions during the 1960s, 1970s, 1990s and 2000s. The club has enjoyed its greatest period of success in the past two decades, winning 15 major trophies since 1997.
[3]Domestically, Chelsea have won four
league titles, seven
FA Cups, four
League Cups and four
FA Community Shields, while in continental competitions they have won two
UEFA Cup Winners' Cups, one
UEFA Super Cup, one
UEFA Europa League and one
UEFA Champions League. Chelsea are the only London club to win the UEFA Champions League,
[4] one of
four clubs, and the only British club, to have won all three main
UEFAclub competitions, and also the first club to hold two major European titles simultaneously.
[5][6]
Chelsea's regular
kit colours are royal blue shirts and shorts with white socks. The club's crest has been changed several times in attempts to re-brand the club and modernise its image. The current crest, featuring a ceremonial lion rampant regardant holding a staff, is a modification of the one introduced in the early 1950s.
[7] The club has sustained the fifth highest average all-time attendance in
English football.
[8] Their average home gate for the
2012–13 season was 41,462, the sixth highest in the
Premier League.
[9] Since July 2003, Chelsea have been owned by Russian billionaire
Roman Abramovich.
[10] In April 2013 it was ranked by
Forbes Magazine as the
seventh most valuable football club in the world, at £588 million ($901 million), an increase of 18% from the previous year.
[11][12]
History
In 1904,
Gus Mears acquired the
Stamford Bridge athletics stadium with the aim of turning it into a football ground. An offer to lease it to nearby
Fulham was turned down, so Mears opted to found his own club to use the stadium. 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 also considered.
[13] Chelsea were founded on 10 March 1905 at The Rising Sun pub (now The Butcher's Hook),
[1] opposite the present-day main entrance to the ground on
Fulham Road, and were elected to the Football League shortly afterwards.
The club won promotion to the First Division in their second season, and yo-yoed between the First and Second Divisions in their early years. They reached the
1915 FA Cup Final, where they lost to
Sheffield United at Old Trafford, and finished 3rd in the First Division in 1920, the club's best league campaign to that point.
[14] Chelsea attracted large crowds
[15] and had a reputation for signing big-name players,
[16] but success continued to elude the club in the inter-war years.
Former
Arsenal and England centre-forward
Ted Drake became manager in 1952 and proceeded to modernise the club. 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. The following season saw UEFA create the
European Champions' Cup, but after objections from
The Football League and the
FA Chelsea were persuaded to withdraw from the competition before it started.
[17] Chelsea failed to build on this success, and spent the remainder of the 1950s in mid-table. Drake was dismissed in 1961 and replaced by player-coach
Tommy Docherty.
Chart showing the progress of Chelsea's league finishes from 1905 to 1906 season to
2007–08 season
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. 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.
[18] In three seasons the side were beaten in three major semi-finals and were FA Cup runners-up. Under Docherty's successor,
Dave Sexton, Chelsea won the
FA Cup in 1970, beating
Leeds United 2–1 in a final replay. Chelsea took their first European honour, a
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup triumph, the following year, with another replayed win, this time over
Real Madrid in Athens.
The late 1970s through to the 1980s was a turbulent period for Chelsea. An ambitious redevelopment of Stamford Bridge threatened the financial stability of the club,
[19] 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.
[20] In 1982, Chelsea were, at the nadir of their fortunes, acquired by
Ken Bates for the nominal sum of £1, although by now the Stamford Bridge freehold had been sold to property developers, meaning the club faced losing their home.
[21] 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. Chelsea won the
Second Division title in 1983–84 and established themselves in the top division, before being relegated again in 1988. The club bounced back immediately by winning the Second Division championship in 1988–89.
In 2009,
Guus Hiddink guided Chelsea to another
FA Cup success,
[27] and in
2009–10, his successor
Carlo Ancelotti led them to their first
league and
FA Cup"
Double", becoming the first English top-flight club to score 100 league goals in a season since
1963.
[28] In 2012, caretaker manager
Roberto Di Matteo led Chelsea to their seventh
FA Cup,
[29] and their first
UEFA Champions League title, beating
Bayern Munich 4–3 on penalties,
[30] the first London club to win the trophy.
[30] A year later Chelsea won the
UEFA Europa League against
Benfica,
[31] becoming the first club to hold two major European titles simultaneously and one of
four clubs, and the only British club, to have won all three of
UEFA's major club competitions.
[32]
Stadium
Chelsea have only ever had one home ground, Stamford Bridge, where they have played since foundation. It was officially opened on 28 April 1877 and for the first 28 years of its existence it was used almost exclusively by the London Athletics Club as an arena for athletics meetings and not at all for football. In 1904 the ground was acquired by businessman
Gus Mears and his brother
Joseph, who had also purchased nearby land (formerly a large market garden) with the aim of staging football matches on the now 12.5 acre (51,000 m²) site.
[33] Stamford Bridge was designed for the Mears family by the noted football architect
Archibald Leitch, who had also designed
Ibrox,
Celtic Park and
Hampden Park.
[34] Most football clubs were founded first, and then sought grounds in which to play, but Chelsea were founded for Stamford Bridge.
Starting with an open bowl-like design and one covered terrace, Stamford Bridge had an original capacity of around 100,000.
[33] The early 1930s saw the construction of a terrace on the southern part of the ground with a roof that covered around one fifth of the stand. It eventually became known as the "Shed End", the home of Chelsea's most loyal and vocal supporters, particularly during the 1960s, 70s and 80s. The exact origins of the name are unclear, but the fact that the roof looked like a corrugated iron shed roof played a part.
[33]
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.
[33] Work began on the East Stand in 1972 but the project was beset with problems and was never completed; the cost brought the club close to bankruptcy, culminating in the
freehold being sold to property developers. Following a long legal battle, it was not until the mid-1990s that Chelsea's future at the stadium was secured and renovation work resumed.
[33] The north, west and southern parts of the ground were converted into all-seater stands and moved closer to the pitch, a process completed by 2001.
When Stamford Bridge was redeveloped in the
Ken Bates era many additional features were added to the complex including two hotels, apartments, bars, restaurants, the Chelsea Megastore, and an interactive visitor attraction called Chelsea World of Sport. The intention was that these facilities would provide extra revenue to support the football side of the business, but they were less successful than hoped and before the Abramovich takeover in 2003 the debt taken on to finance them was a major burden on the club. Soon after the takeover a decision was taken to drop the "Chelsea Village" brand and refocus on Chelsea as a football club. However, the stadium is sometimes still referred to as part of
"Chelsea Village" or
"The Village".
The Stamford Bridge
freehold, the
pitch, the turnstiles and Chelsea's
naming rights are now owned by
Chelsea Pitch Owners, a non-profit organisation in which fans are the shareholders. The CPO was created to ensure the stadium could never again be sold to developers. 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.
[35] Chelsea's
training ground is located in
Cobham, Surrey. Chelsea moved to Cobham in 2004. Their previous training ground in
Harlington was taken over by
QPR in 2005.
[36] The new training facilities in Cobham were completed in 2007.
[37]
The current club ownership have stated 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.
[47] Owing to its location next to a main road and two railway lines, fans can only enter the ground via the
Fulham Road exits, which places constraints on expansion due to
health and safety regulations.
[48] The club have consistently affirmed their desire to keep Chelsea at their current home,
[49][50][51] but Chelsea have nonetheless been linked with a move to various nearby sites, including the
Earls Court Exhibition Centre,
Battersea Power Station and the
Chelsea Barracks.
[52] On 3 October 2011, Chelsea made a proposal to CPO shareholders to buy back the freehold to the land on which Stamford Bridge sits, stating that "buying back the freehold removes a potential hurdle should a suitable site become available in the future".
[53] The proposal was voted down by CPO shareholders.
[54] In May 2012, the club made a formal bid to purchase Battersea Power Station, with a view to developing the site into a 60,000 seater stadium,
[55] but lost out to a Malaysian consortium.
[56]
Crest and colours
Crest
Since the club's foundation, Chelsea have had four main crests, though all underwent minor variations. In 1905, Chelsea adopted as their first crest the image of a
Chelsea pensioner, which contributed to the "pensioner" nickname, and remained for the next half-century, though it never appeared on the shirts. As part of
Ted Drake's modernisation of the club from 1952 onwards, he insisted that the pensioner badge be removed from the match day programme to change the club's image and that a new crest be adopted.
[57] As a stop-gap, a temporary emblem comprising simply the initials C.F.C. was adopted for one year. In 1953, Chelsea's crest was changed to an upright blue lion looking backwards and holding a
staff, which was to endure for the next three decades. This crest was based on elements in the
coat of arms of the
Metropolitan Borough of Chelsea[58] with the "lion rampant regardant" taken from the arms of then club president
Viscount Chelsea and the staff from the
Abbots of Westminster, former Lords of the Manor of Chelsea. It also featured three red roses, to represent England, and two footballs. This was the first club badge to appear on shirts, since the policy of putting the crest on the shirts was only adopted in the early 1960s.
[57]
In 1986, with
Ken Bates now owner of the club, Chelsea's crest was changed again as part of another attempt to modernise and to capitalise on new marketing opportunities.
[57] The new badge featured a more naturalistic non-heraldic lion, in white and not blue, standing over the C.F.C. initials. It lasted for the next 19 years, with some modifications such as the use of different colours, including red from 1987 to 1995, and yellow from 1995 until 1999, before the white returned.
[59] With the new ownership of
Roman Abramovich, and the club's centenary approaching, combined with demands from fans for the popular 1950s badge to be restored, it was decided that the crest should be changed again in 2005. The new crest was officially adopted for the start of the
2005–06 season and marked a return to the older design, used from 1953 to 1986, featuring a blue heraldic lion holding a staff. For the centenary season this was accompanied by the words '100 YEARS' and 'CENTENARY 2005–2006' on the top and bottom of the crest respectively.
[7]
-
-
-
Chelsea's crest, 1986–2005
Chelsea's crest, 2005–06,
which commemorated Chelsea's 100th anniversary, was used only in the
2005–06 season
Colours
Chelsea's first home colours, used from 1905 until c.1912.
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.
[60] The light blue shirts were replaced by a royal blue version in around 1912.
[61] In the 1960s Chelsea manager
Tommy Dochertychanged the kit again, switching to blue shorts (which have remained ever since) and white socks, believing it made the club's colours more modern and distinctive, since no other major side used that combination; this kit was first worn during the 1964–65 season.
[62] Since then Chelsea have always worn white socks with their home kit apart from a short spell from 1985 to 1992, when blue socks were reintroduced.
Chelsea's traditional away colours are all yellow or all white with blue trim, but, as with most teams, they have had some more unusual ones. The first away strip consisted of black and white stripes and for one game in the 1960s the team wore blue and black stripes, inspired by
Inter Milan's kit, again at Docherty's behest.
[63] Other memorable away kits include a mint green strip in the 1980s, a red and white checked one in the early 90s and a graphite and tangerine edition in the mid-1990s.
[64]
Support
Chelsea have the fifth highest average all-time attendance in
English football[8] and regularly attract over 40,000 fans to Stamford Bridge; they were the sixth best-supported
Premier League team in the 2012–13 season, with an average gate of 41,462.
[9] 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. There are also numerous official supporters clubs in the United Kingdom and all over the world.
[65] Between 2007 and 2012 Chelsea were ranked fourth worldwide in annual replica kit sales, with an average of 910,000.
[66]
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.
[72] In 2007, the club launched the
'Back to the Shed' campaign to improve the atmosphere at home matches, with notable success. According to
Home Office statistics, 126 Chelsea fans were arrested for football-related offences during the
2009–10 season, the third highest in the division, and 27
banning orders were issued, the fifth highest in the division.
[73]
Rivalries
Records
Chelsea's highest appearance-maker is ex-captain
Ron Harris, who played in 795 first-class games for the club between 1961 and 1980.
[77] This record is unlikely to be broken in the near future; Chelsea's current highest appearance-maker is
Frank Lampard with 635.
[78] The record for a Chelsea goalkeeper is held by Harris's contemporary,
Peter Bonetti, who made 729 appearances (1959–79). With 103
caps (101 while at the club), Frank Lampard of England is Chelsea's most capped international player.
Chelsea's biggest winning scoreline in a competitive match is 13–0, achieved against
Jeunesse Hautcharage in the
Cup Winners' Cup in 1971.
[80] The club's biggest top-flight win was an 8–0 victory against
Wigan Athletic in 2010, and matched in 2012 against Aston Villa.
[81] Chelsea's biggest loss was an 8–1 reverse against
Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1953.
[82]Officially, Chelsea's highest home attendance is 82,905 for a
First Division match against Arsenal on 12 October 1935. However, an estimated crowd of over 100,000 attended a
friendly match against
Soviet team
Dynamo Moscow on 13 November 1945.
[83][84] The modernisation of Stamford Bridge during the 1990s and the introduction of all-seater stands mean that neither record will be broken for the foreseeable future. The current legal capacity of Stamford Bridge is 41,837.
[2]
Chelsea hold the English record for the highest ever points total for a league season (95), the fewest goals conceded during a league season (15), the highest number of Premier League victories in a season (29), the highest number of clean sheets overall in a Premier League season (25) (all set during the
2004–05 season),
[85] and the most consecutive clean sheets from the start of a league season (6, set during the
2005–06 season).
[86] The club's 21–0
aggregate victory over
Jeunesse Hautcharage in the
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1971remains a record in European competition.
[87] Chelsea hold the record for the longest streak of unbeaten matches at home in the English top-flight, which lasted 86 matches from 20 March 2004 to 26 October 2008. They secured the record on 12 August 2007, beating the previous record of 63 matches unbeaten set by Liverpool between 1978 and 1980.
[88][89]Chelsea's streak of eleven consecutive away league wins, set between 5 April 2008 and 6 December 2008, is also a record for the English top flight.
[90] Their £50m purchase of
Fernando Torres in January 2011 is a
British record transfer fee.
[91]
Chelsea, along with Arsenal, were the first club to play with shirt numbers, on 25 August 1928 in their match against
Swansea Town.
[92] They were the first English side to travel by aeroplane to a domestic away match, when they visited
Newcastle United on 19 April 1957,
[93] and the first First Division side to play a match on a Sunday, when they faced
Stoke City on 27 January 1974. On 26 December 1999, Chelsea became the first British side to field an entirely foreign
starting line-up (no British or Irish players) in a Premier League match against
Southampton.
[94] On 19 May 2007, they became the first team to win the FA Cup at the new
Wembley Stadium, having also been the last to win it at the old Wembley.
[95] At the end of the 2007–08 season, Chelsea became the highest ranked club under
UEFA's five-year coefficient system, the first English club to do so in the 21st century.
[96] On the final day of the 2009–10 season, Chelsea became the first team in Premier League history to score at least 100 goals in a single season.
[28] In 2012, Chelsea became the first London based club to win the
UEFA Champions League, after beating Bayern Munich in the
final.
[4][97] On winning the
2012–13 UEFA Europa League, Chelsea became the first English club to
win all four European trophies.
Ownership and finances
Chelsea Football Club was founded by
Gus Mears in 1905. After his death in 1912, his descendents continued to own the club until 1982, when
Ken Bates bought the club from Mears' great-nephew
Brian Mears for £1. Bates bought a controlling stake in the club and floated Chelsea on the
AIM stock exchange in March 1996.
[98] In July 2003,
Roman Abramovich purchased just over 50% of Chelsea Village plc's share capital, including Bates' 29.5% stake, for £30 million and over the following weeks bought out most of the remaining 12,000 shareholders at 35 pence per share, completing a £140 million takeover. Other shareholders at the time of the takeover included the
Matthew Harding estate (21%),
BSkyB (9.9%) and various anonymous offshore trusts.
[99] After passing the 90% share threshold, Abramovich took the club back into private hands, delisting it from the AIM on 22 August 2003. He also took on responsibility for the club's debt of £80 million, quickly paying most of it.
[100]
Thereafter, Abramovich changed the ownership name to Chelsea FC plc, whose ultimate parent company is Fordstam Limited, which is controlled by him.
[101] Chelsea are additionally funded by Abramovich via interest free
soft loans channelled through his holding company Fordstam Limited. The loans stood at £709 million in December 2009, when they were all converted to
equity by Abramovich, leaving the club itself debt free,
[102][103] although the debt remains with Fordstam.
[104] Since 2008 the club has had no external debt.
[105] In November 2012, Chelsea announced a profit of £1.4 million for the year ending 30 June 2012, the first time the club has made a profit under Abramovich's ownership.
[106][107]
Chelsea has been described as a global brand; a 2012 report by
Brand Finance ranked Chelsea fifth and valued the club's brand value at US $398 million – an increase of 27% from the previous year, also valuing it at US $10 million more than the sixth best brand, London rivals Arsenal – and gave the brand a strength rating of AA (very strong).
[108][109] In 2012,
Forbes magazine ranked Chelsea seventh in their list of the ten most valuable football clubs in the world, valuing the club's brand at £473 million ($761 million).
[11][12] Chelsea are currently ranked sixth in the
Deloitte Football Money League[110] with an annual commercial revenue of £225.6 million.
[111]
The
Sauber F1 Team, an official partner of the club, displaying the Chelsea FC crest
Chelsea's kit has been manufactured by
Adidas since 2006, which is contracted to supply the club's kit from 2006 to 2018. The partnership was extended in October 2010 in a deal worth £160 million over eight years.
[112] This deal was again extended in June 2013 in a deal worth £300 million over another ten years.
[113][114]Previously, the kit was manufactured by
Umbro (1968–81),
Le Coq Sportif (1981–86), The Chelsea Collection (1986–87) and Umbro again (1987–2006). Chelsea's first shirt sponsor was
Gulf Air, agreed during the 1983–84 season. The club were then sponsored by Grange Farms,
Bai Lin Tea and
Simod before a long-term deal was signed with
Commodore International in 1989;
Amiga, an off-shoot of Commodore, also appeared on the shirts. Chelsea were subsequently sponsored by
Coorsbeer (1995–97),
Autoglass (1997–2001) and
Emirates Airline (2001–05). Chelsea's current shirt sponsor is
Samsung who took over the sponsorship from their mobile division in 2007–08.
[115] In 2012,
Gazprom became the club's official Global Energy Partner on a three-year sponsorship deal.
[116] The club also has a variety of other sponsors and partners, which include
Delta Air Lines,
[117] Sauber,
Audi,
Singha,
EA Sports,
Dolce & Gabbana[118] Barbados Tourism Authority,
Atlas,
AZIMUT Hotels,
BNI,
Vietinbank,
Nitto Tire, Orico,
Guangzhou R&F,
Coca Cola, Grand Royal,
Digicel,
Lucozade Sport, and
Viagogo.
[119]
Chelsea Ladies
Chelsea also operate a
women's football team,
Chelsea Ladies. It has been affiliated to the men's team since 2004,
[120] and is part of the club's Community Development programme. They play their home games at
Imperial Fields, the home ground of
Isthmian League club
Tooting & Mitcham United.
[121] The club won the Surrey County Cup in 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010,
[122] and were promoted to the
Premier Division for the first time in 2005 as
Southern Division champions. In the
2009–10 season, they finished 3rd in the Premier League, equalling their highest ever placing, and in 2010 were one of the eight founder members of the
FA Women's Super League.
[123] John Terry, the current captain of the Chelsea men's team, is President of Chelsea LFC.
[124]
Popular culture
Chelsea parade through the streets of Fulham and Chelsea after winning their league and cup double, May 2010
In 1930, Chelsea featured in one of the earliest football films,
The Great Game.
[125] One-time Chelsea centre forward,
Jack Cock, who by then was playing for
Millwall, was the star of the film and several scenes were shot at
Stamford Bridge, including the pitch, the boardroom, and the
dressing rooms. It included guest appearances by then-Chelsea players
Andrew Wilson,
George Mills, and
Sam Millington.
[126] Owing to the notoriety of the
Chelsea Headhunters, a
football firm associated with the club, Chelsea have also featured in films about football
hooliganism, including 2004's
The Football Factory.
[127] Chelsea also appear in the
Hindi film
Jhoom Barabar Jhoom.
[128] In April 2011,
Montenegrin comedy series
Nijesmo mi od juče made an episode in which Chelsea plays against
FK Sutjeska Nikšić for qualification of the
UEFA Champions League.
[129][130]
Up until the 1950s, the club had a long-running association with the
music halls, with their underachievement often providing material for comedians such as
George Robey.
[131] It culminated in comedian Norman Long's release of a
comic song in 1933, ironically titled "On the Day That Chelsea Went and Won the Cup", the lyrics of which describe a series of bizarre and improbable occurrences on the hypothetical day when Chelsea finally won a trophy.
[16] 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.
[132] (The song was later adopted, as an anthem, by the
Vancouver Whitecaps in Canada, after being changed to "White is the Colour".
[133]) 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 charts.
[134] Bryan Adams, a fan of Chelsea,
[135] dedicated the song "We're Gonna Win" from the album
18 Til I Die to the club.
[136]
Players
First team squad
Chelsea players returning to their half
- As of 27 January 2014.[137]
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Out on loan
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Reserves and Academy
Out on loan
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Player of the Year
Frank Lampard has been named Chelsea's Player of the Year a record three times
Notable managers
The following managers won at least one trophy when in charge of Chelsea:
| Name | Period | Trophies |
|---|
 Ted Drake | 1952–1961 | First Division Championship, Charity Shield |
 Tommy Docherty | 1962–1967 | League Cup |
| Dave Sexton | 1967–1974 | FA Cup, UEFA Cup Winners' Cup |
| John Neal | 1981–1985 | Second Division Championship |
| John Hollins | 1985–1988 | Full Members Cup |
| Bobby Campbell | 1988–1991 | Second Division Championship, Full Members Cup |
 Ruud Gullit | 1996–1998 | FA Cup |
 Gianluca Vialli | 1998–2000 | FA Cup, League Cup, Charity Shield, UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, UEFA Super Cup |
 José Mourinho | 2004–2007
2013– | 2 Premier Leagues, 2 League Cups, FA Cup, Community Shield |
| Guus Hiddink | 2009[nb 1] | FA Cup |
| Carlo Ancelotti | 2009–2011 | Premier League, FA Cup, Community Shield |
| Roberto Di Matteo | 2012[nb 2] | FA Cup, UEFA Champions League |
 Rafael Benítez | 2012–2013[nb 3] | UEFA Europa League |
Coaching staff
José Mourinho, the current manager of Chelsea.
Management
Chelsea Ltd.
- Owner: Roman Abramovich
Chelsea F.C. plc
- Chairman: Bruce Buck
- Directors: Ron Gourlay, Marina Granovskaia and Eugene Tenenbaum
Executive Board
- Chief executive: Ron Gourlay
- Finance and Operations Director: Chris Alexander
- Club Secretary: David Barnard
- Company secretary: Alan Shaw
- Directors: Marina Granovskaia and Eugene Tenenbaum
Chelsea Football Club Board:
- Bruce Buck
- Eugene Tenenbaum
- Ron Gourlay
- David Barnard
- Football operations director: Mike Forde
- Technical director: Michael Emenalo
Life President:
- Lord Attenborough
Honours
Domestic
Leagues
Cups
European
