Chelsea F.C.

Stamford Bridge, West Stand

Chelsea have only had one home ground, Stamford Bridge, where they have played since the team's foundation. 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. 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.[85] Stamford Bridge was designed for the Mears family by the noted football architect Archibald Leitch, who had also designed Ibrox, Craven Cottage and Hampden Park.[86] 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 grandstand with seating, Stamford Bridge had an original capacity of around 100,000, making it the second biggest stadium in England after Crystal Palace.[85] 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. As the roof resembled that of a corrugated iron shed, the stand eventually became known as the "Shed End", although it is unknown who first coined this name. From the 1960s, it became known as the home of Chelsea's most loyal and vocal supporters.[85] In 1939, another small seated stand was added, the North Stand, which remained until its demolition in 1975.[85]

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.[85] Work began in 1972 but the project was beset with problems and ultimately only the East Stand was completed; the cost brought the club close to bankruptcy. The freehold was sold to property developers and the club were under threat of eviction from the stadium.[85] 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.[85] 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. The East Stand was retained from the 1970s development. 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.[87]

Chelsea vs. West Bromwich Albion at Stamford Bridge on 23 September 1905; Chelsea won 1–0.

When Stamford Bridge was redeveloped in the Bates era many additional features were added to the complex including two Millennium & Copthorne 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.[88] 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.[89] The new training facilities in Cobham were completed in 2007.[90]

Aerial view of present-day Stamford Bridge

Stamford Bridge hosted the FA Cup Final from 1920 to 1922,[91] has held ten FA Cup Semi-finals (most recently in 1978), ten FA Charity Shield matches (the last in 1970), and three England international matches, the last in 1932; it was also the venue for an unofficial Victory International in 1946.[92] The 2013 UEFA Women's Champions League Final was played at Stamford Bridge as well.[93] The stadium has also been used for a variety of other sports. In October 1905 it hosted a rugby union match between the All Blacks and Middlesex,[94] and in 1914 hosted a baseball match between the touring New York Giants and the Chicago White Sox.[95] It was the venue for a boxing match between world flyweight champion Jimmy Wilde and Joe Conn in 1918.[96] The running track was used for dirt track racing between 1928 and 1932,[97] greyhound racing from 1933 to 1968, and Midget car racing in 1948.[98] In 1980, Stamford Bridge hosted the first international floodlit cricket match in the UK, between Essex and the West Indies.[99] It was also the home stadium of the London Monarchs American Football team for the 1997 season.[100]

The previous owner Mr Abramovich and the clubs 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.[101] Owing to its location next to a main road and two railway lines, fans can only enter Stamford Bridge via the Fulham Road exits, which places constraints on expansion due to health and safety regulations.[102] The club have consistently affirmed their desire to keep Chelsea at their current home,[103][104] 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.[105] In October 2011, a proposal from the club to buy back the freehold to the land on which Stamford Bridge sits was voted down by Chelsea Pitch Owners shareholders.[106] In May 2012, the club made a formal bid to purchase Battersea Power Station, with a view to developing the site into a new stadium,[107] but lost out to a Malaysian consortium.[108] The club subsequently announced plans to redevelop Stamford Bridge into a 60,000-seater stadium,[109] and in January 2017 these plans were approved by Hammersmith and Fulham council.[110] However, on 31 May 2018, the club released a statement saying that the new stadium project had been put on hold indefinitely, citing "the current unfavourable investment climate."[111]

In July 2022, it was reported that the club's new owner Todd Boehly had appointed American architect Janet Marie Smith to oversee the renovation of the stadium.[112]

Chelsea fans at a match against Tottenham Hotspur, on 11 March 2006

Chelsea are among the most widely supported football clubs in the world.[136][137] They have the sixth highest average attendance in the history of English football,[138] and regularly attract over 40,000 fans to Stamford Bridge; they were the seventh best-supported Premier League team in the 2013–14 season, with an average gate of 41,572.[139] 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.[140] Between 2007 and 2012, Chelsea were ranked fourth worldwide in annual replica kit sales, with an average of 910,000.[141] As of 2018, Chelsea had 72.2 million followers on social media, the fourth highest among football clubs.[142]

During the 1970s and 1980s in particular, Chelsea supporters were associated with football hooliganism. The club's "football firm", originally known as the Chelsea Shed Boys, and subsequently as the Chelsea Headhunters, were nationally notorious for football violence, alongside hooligan firms from other clubs such as West Ham United's Inter City Firm and Millwall's Bushwackers, before, during and after matches.[143] The increase of hooligan incidents in the 1980s led chairman Ken Bates to propose erecting an electric fence to deter them from invading the pitch, a proposal that the Greater London Council rejected.[144]

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.[145] 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.[146]

Frank Lampard is Chelsea's all-time highest goalscorer.

Chelsea's highest appearance-maker is ex-captain Ron Harris, who played in 795 competitive games for the club between 1961 and 1980.[156] Four other players made more than 500 appearances for the club: Peter Bonetti (729; 1959–79), John Terry (717; 1998–2017), Frank Lampard (648; 2001–2014) and John Hollins (592; 1963–1975 and 1983–1984). With 103 caps (101 while at the club) for England, Lampard is Chelsea's most capped international player. Every starting player in Chelsea's 57 games of the 2013–14 season was a full international – a new club record.[157]

Lampard is Chelsea's all-time top goalscorer, having scored 211 goals in 648 games (2001–2014);[156] he passed Bobby Tambling's longstanding record of 202 in May 2013.[158] Eight other players have also scored over 100 goals for Chelsea: George Hilsdon (1906–1912), George Mills (1929–1939), Roy Bentley (1948–1956), Jimmy Greaves (1957–1961), Peter Osgood (1964–1974 and 1978–1979), Kerry Dixon (1983–1992), Didier Drogba (2004–2012 and 2014–2015), and Eden Hazard (2012–2019). Greaves holds the club record for the most goals scored in one season (43 in 1960–61).[159] While a Chelsea player, Greaves also became the youngest ever player to score 100 goals in the English top-flight, at 20 years and 290 days.[160]

Chelsea's biggest winning scoreline in a competitive match is 13–0, achieved against Jeunesse Hautcharage in the Cup Winners' Cup in 1971.[161] The club's biggest top-flight win was an 8–0 victory against Wigan Athletic in 2010, which was matched in 2012 against Aston Villa.[162] Chelsea's biggest loss was an 8–1 reverse against Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1953.[163][164] The club's 21–0 aggregate victory over Jeunesse Hautcharage in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1971 is also a record in European competition.[165] 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.[166][167]

In January 2011 Chelsea broke the British transfer record to sign Fernando Torres for £50 million; the record stood until 2014

From 20 March 2004 to 26 October 2008, Chelsea went a record 86 consecutive league matches at home without defeat, beating the previous record of 63 matches unbeaten set by Liverpool between 1978 and 1980.[168][169] Chelsea hold the English record for the fewest goals conceded during a league season (15), the highest number of clean sheets overall in a Premier League season (25) (both set during the 2004–05 season),[170] and the most consecutive clean sheets from the start of a league season (6, set during the 2005–06 season).[171] Chelsea's streak of eleven consecutive away league wins, set between 5 April 2008 and 6 December 2008, is a record for the English top flight.[172] Chelsea are the only Premier League side to win their opening nine league games of the season, doing so in 2005–06.[173][174] From 2009 to 2013, Chelsea were unbeaten in a record 29 consecutive FA Cup matches (excluding penalty shoot-outs).[175]

On 25 August 1928, Chelsea, along with Arsenal, became the first club to play with shirt numbers, in their match against Swansea Town.[176] They were the first English side to travel by aeroplane to a domestic away match, when they visited Newcastle United on 19 April 1957,[177] 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.[178] In May 2007, Chelsea were 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.[179] They were the first English club to be ranked No. 1 under UEFA's five-year coefficient system in the 21st century.[180] They were the first Premier League team, and the first team in the English top flight since 1962–63, to score at least 100 goals in a single season, reaching the milestone during the 2009–10 season.[42] Chelsea are the only London club to win the UEFA Champions League.[181][182] Upon winning the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League, Chelsea became the first English club to win all four UEFA club trophies and the only club to hold the Champions League and the Europa League at the same time.[183]

Chelsea have twice broken the record for the highest transfer fee paid by a British club. Their £30.8 million purchase of Andriy Shevchenko from A.C. Milan in June 2006 was a British record until surpassed by the £32.5 million paid by Manchester City for Robinho in September 2008.[184][185] The club's £50 million purchase of Fernando Torres from Liverpool in January 2011[186] held the record until Ángel Di María signed for Manchester United in August 2014 for £59.7 million.[187] The club's £71 million purchase of Kepa Arrizabalaga in August 2018 remains a world record fee paid for a goalkeeper.[188]

On the 12 February 2022, Chelsea became the first London club to win FIFA Club World Cup against Palmeiras with Kai Havertz scoring a late penalty.[189]

Todd Boehly, one of the co-owners of Chelsea.

Chelsea Football Club were founded by Gus Mears in 1905. 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. Bates bought a controlling stake in the club and floated Chelsea on the AIM stock exchange in March 1996.[27] 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.[30]

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.[190]

At the time of the Abramovich takeover, the club also had debts of around £100 million, which included a ten-year £75 million Eurobond taken out in 1997 by the Bates regime to buy the freehold of Stamford Bridge and finance the redevelopment of the stadium. 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.[191] Abramovich paid off some of that debt immediately, but the outstanding £36 million on the Eurobond was not fully repaid until 2008.[192] Since then, the club had no external debt.[193]

Abramovich changed the ownership name to Chelsea FC plc, whose ultimate parent company was Fordstam Limited, which was controlled by him.[194] Chelsea were 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 themselves debt free,[195][196] although the debt remained with Fordstam.[197]

Chelsea did not turn a profit in the first nine years of Abramovich's ownership, and made record losses of £140m in June 2005.[39] In November 2012, Chelsea announced a profit of £1.4 million for the year ending 30 June 2012, the first time the club had made a profit under Abramovich's ownership.[39][50] This was followed by a loss in 2013 and then their highest ever profit of £18.4 million for the year to June 2014.[51] In 2018 Chelsea announced a record after-tax profit of £62 million.[52]

Chelsea have been described as a global brand; a 2012 report by Brand Finance ranked Chelsea fifth among football brands and valued the club's brand value at US$398 million – an increase of 27% from the previous year, also valuing them at US$10 million more than the sixth best brand, London rivals Arsenal – and gave the brand a strength rating of AA (very strong).[198][199] In 2016, Forbes magazine ranked Chelsea the seventh most valuable football club in the world, at £1.15 billion ($1.66 billion).[200] As of 2016, Chelsea are ranked eighth in the Deloitte Football Money League with an annual commercial revenue of £322.59 million.[201]

As of May 2022, Chelsea are still ranked at the 8th according to Forbes.[202] While also being ranked 8th by Deloitte, with an annual commercial revenue of €493.1 million.[203]

The club's recent accounting records highlight £26.6m they have lost in compensation to former head coach Antonio Conte for sacking and to pay off his backroom staff and the legal costs that followed.[204]

On 26 February 2022, during the Russo-Ukrainian War, Abramovich handed over "stewardship and care" of Chelsea FC to the Chelsea Charitable Foundation.[205] Abramovich released an official statement on 2 March 2022 confirming that he is selling the club due to the ongoing situation in Ukraine.[206] 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 will be allowed to operate in terms of activities which are football related.[207] On 12 March, the Premier League disqualified Abramovich as a director of Chelsea Football Club.[208]

On 19 March 2022, there were five confirmed bids to acquire Chelsea FC: submitted to Raine Capital who were handling the sale of the club. Some of these were a consortium led by ex-Liverpool chairman Sir Martin Broughton, a group of investors led by the Ricketts family (among them Joe and Pete Ricketts), Swiss and American businessmans Hansjörg Wyss and Todd Boehly, Aethel Partners headed by Portuguese Ricardo Santos Silva and British multi-millionaire businessman Nick Candy, supported by former Chelsea striker Gianluca Vialli.[209]

On 7 May, the club finally confirmed that "terms have been agreed" for a new ownership group led by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital.[210] On 30 May, it was confirmed that a consortium led by Boehly and Clearlake Capital have completed the purchase of the club.[211] The consortium also includes Wyss and Mark Walter as well. Walter and Boehly are also owners of the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Los Angeles Lakers, and the Los Angeles Sparks. The transaction had received all necessary approvals from The Governments of the United Kingdom and Portugal, The Premier League, and other authorities.[212][213]

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.[227] 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 on the pitch, the boardroom, and the dressing rooms. It included guest appearances by then-Chelsea players Andrew Wilson, George Mills, and Sam Millington.[228] 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.[229] Chelsea also appear in the Hindi film Jhoom Barabar Jhoom.[230] In April 2011, Montenegrin comedy series Nijesmo mi od juče made an episode in which Chelsea play against FK Sutjeska Nikšić for qualification of the UEFA Champions League.[231]

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.[232] 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.[13] In Alfred Hitchcock's 1935 film The 39 Steps, Mr Memory claims that Chelsea last won the Cup in 63 BC, "in the presence of the Emperor Nero."[233] Scenes in a 1980 episode of Minder were filmed during a real match at Stamford Bridge between Chelsea and Preston North End with Terry McCann (played by Dennis Waterman) standing on the terraces.[234]

Upon winning the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League, Chelsea became the fourth club in history to have won the "European Treble" of European Cup/UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League, and European Cup Winners' Cup/UEFA Cup Winners' Cup after Juventus, Ajax and Bayern Munich. Chelsea are the first English club to have won all three major UEFA trophies.[236]

Cups

Diego Costa and John Terry holding the League Cup after Chelsea's victory in 2015

• FA Cup

Winners (8): 1969–70, 1996–97, 1999–2000, 2006–07, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2011–12, 2017–18

• Football League Cup / EFL Cup

Winners (5): 1964–65, 1997–98, 2004–05, 2006–07, 2014–15

• FA Charity Shield / FA Community Shield[nb 1]

Winners (4): 1955, 2000, 2005, 2009

• Full Members' Cup

Winners (2): 1985–86, 1989–90

European competitions

Didier Drogba holding the Champions League trophy after Chelsea's victory in 2012

• UEFA Champions League

Winners (2): 2011–12, 2020–21

• UEFA Europa League

Winners (2): 2012–13, 2018–19

• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup

Winners (2): 1970–71, 1997–98

• UEFA Super Cup

Winners (2): 1998, 2021

Rank	Team	Points
1	Bayern Munich	138.0
2	Manchester City	134.0
3	Liverpool	134.0
4	Real Madrid	124.0
5	Chelsea	123.0
6	Barcelona	114.0

As of 11 August 2022[238]

Chelsea also operate a women's football team, Chelsea Football Club Women, formerly known as Chelsea Ladies. They have been affiliated to the men's team since 2004[239] and are part of the club's Community Development programme. They play their home games at Kingsmeadow, formerly the home ground of the EFL League Two club AFC Wimbledon. The club were promoted to the Premier Division for the first time in 2005 as Southern Division champions and won the Surrey County Cup nine times between 2003 and 2013.[240] In 2010 Chelsea Ladies were one of the eight founder members of the FA Women's Super League.[241] In 2015, Chelsea Ladies won the FA Women's Cup for the first time, beating Notts County Ladies at Wembley Stadium,[242] and a month later clinched their first FA WSL title to complete a league and cup double.[243] In 2018, they won a second league and FA Cup double.[244] Two years later, in 2020, they repeated their double success by winning the third league title and the FA Women's League Cup for the first time.[245][246] In the 2020–21 season, Chelsea won a domestic treble by winning the league, FA Cup and League Cup.[247] They also reached the final of the UEFA Women's Champions League for the first time, losing to Barcelona 4–0.[248]

John Terry, former captain of the Chelsea men's team, is the President of Chelsea Women.[249]

• Batty, Clive (2004). Kings of the King's Road: The Great Chelsea Team of the 60s and 70s. Vision Sports Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-0-9546428-1-5.
• Batty, Clive (2005). A Serious Case of the Blues: Chelsea in the 80s. Vision Sports Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-1-905326-02-0.
• Glanvill, Rick (2006). Chelsea FC: The Official Biography – The Definitive Story of the First 100 Years. Headline Book Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-0-7553-1466-9.
• Hadgraft, Rob (2004). Chelsea: Champions of England 1954–55. Desert Island Books Limited. ISBN 978-1-874287-77-3.
• Harris, Harry (2005). Chelsea's Century. Blake Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84454-110-2.
• Ingledew, John (2006). And Now Are You Going to Believe Us: Twenty-five Years Behind the Scenes at Chelsea FC. John Blake Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-1-84454-247-5.
• Matthews, Tony (2005). Who's Who of Chelsea. Mainstream Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84596-010-0.
• Mears, Brian (2004). Chelsea: A 100-year History. Mainstream Sport. ISBN 978-1-84018-823-3.
• Mears, Brian (2002). Chelsea: Football Under the Blue Flag. Mainstream Sport. ISBN 978-1-84018-658-1.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chelsea F.C..

• Official website
• Chelsea F.C. at Premier League
• Chelsea F.C. on BBC Sport: Club news – Recent results and fixtures