Chelsea FC

Saturday, 5 December 2009
Barclays Premier League
Man City v Chelsea, 17:30

Tuesday, 8 December 2009
Uefa Champions League
Chelsea v Apoel Nicosia, Gp D, 19:45

Saturday, 12 December 2009
Barclays Premier League
Chelsea v Everton, 15:00

Wednesday, 16 December 2009
Barclays Premier League
Chelsea v Portsmouth, 19:45

Sunday, 20 December 2009
Barclays Premier League
West Ham v Chelsea, 16:00

Saturday, 26 December 2009
Barclays Premier League
Birmingham v Chelsea, 12:45

Monday, 28 December 2009
Barclays Premier League
Chelsea v Fulham, 15:00

Saturday, 2 January 2010
The FA Cup
Chelsea v Watford, R3, 15:00

No. Position Player

1 GK Petr Cech
2 DF Branislav Ivanovic
3 DF Ashley Cole
5 MF Michael Essien
6 DF Ricardo Carvalho
8 MF Frank Lampard
10 MF Joe Cole
11 FW Didier Drogba
12 MF Mikel John Obi
13 MF Michael Ballack
15 MF Florent Malouda
17 DF Jose Bosingwa
18 MF Yuri Zhirkov
19 DF Paulo Ferreira
20 MF Deco
21 FW Salomon Kalou
22 GK Ross Turnbull
23 FW Daniel Sturridge
26 DF John Terry(c)
27 MF Nemanja Matic
33 DF Alex
35 DF Juliano Belletti
39 FW Nicolas Anelka
40 GK Henrique Hilário
41 FW Sam Hutchinson

Loan

FW Franco di Santo (Blackburn Rovers)
DF Slobodan Rajkovic (FC Twente)
FW Miroslav Stoch (FC Twente)
DF Ryan Bertrand (Reading)
FW Scott Sinclair (Wigan Athletic)
DF Michael Mancienne (Wolverhampton Wanderers)

First Division/FA Premier League Winners:
1955, 2005, 2006
2nd Division Winners:
1984, 1989
FA Cup Winners:
1970, 1997, 2000, 2007, 2009
League Cup Winners:
1965, 1998, 2005, 2007
FA Charity Shield/Community Shield Winners:
1956, 2000, 2005, 2009
Full Members' Cup Winners:
1986, 1990
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Winners:
1971, 1998
UEFA Super Cup Winners:
1998
FA Youth Cup Winners:
1960, 1961

Chelsea F.C. was founded on March 14, 1905 at The Rising Sun pub (now The Butcher's Hook), opposite today's main entrance to the ground on the Fulham Road, and were elected to the Football League shortly afterwards. The club began with established players recruited from other teams and promotion to the top flight was swift, but their early years saw little success, save for an FA Cup final in 1915, where they lost to Sheffield United. Chelsea gained a reputation for signing star players and for being entertainers, but made little impact on the English game in the inter-war years. Former 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, re-built the side, 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, which was contested between the champions of European domestic leagues, but after objections from The Football League and the FA Chelsea were persuaded to withdraw from the competition before it started.

Drake failed to repeat the success and was replaced by Tommy Docherty in 1961 with the club facing relegation, which the latter was unable to prevent. In his first full season as manager, Docherty led Chelsea to promotion again with an impressive new, youth-orientated team featuring players such as Bobby Tambling, Peter Bonetti, Terry Venables and Barry Bridges. The swinging sixties had ushered in an era that saw football and inimitable style merge in the heart of London; with the fashionable King's Road at the heart of the swagger. The new Chelsea side, epitomised by cult hero Peter Osgood - talented, stylish and occasionally self-destructive - oozed charisma and class and soon built up a major following, but ultimately failed to match its swagger with on-field triumphs, enduring several near-misses in the process. No major domestic titles were won, except for the League Cup in 1965, though the side narrowly missed out on adding the league title and the FA Cup in the final weeks of the same season. This was followed by an FA Cup final loss in 1967.

The early 1970s saw a great Chelsea team which is still fondly remembered (not least because it was a couple of decades before its achievements were matched at the club): it featured captain Ron 'Chopper' Harris, Ian Hutchinson, Charlie Cooke, Alan Hudson and Peter Osgood. In 1970 Chelsea ran out FA Cup winners, beating Leeds United 2-1 in a pulsating final replay with a late David Webb winner, having fallen behind three times in the tie. A UEFA Cup Winners' Cup triumph was added to the haul the following year - Chelsea's first European honour - with another replayed win, this time over Real Madrid in Athens.

Chelsea in a recent match against Tottenham HotspurFollowing that high, the team declined dramatically. Manager Dave Sexton's relationship with some of his players, notably Osgood and Hudson, broke down and they were transferred. Sexton, too, left shortly afterwards. An over-ambitious redevelopment of the stadium (which only got as far as the pioneering East Stand, which retains its place even in the modern stadium) threatened the financial stability of the club, leading to the sale of key players and later the sale of the Stamford Bridge freehold. The team were relegated and various managers came and went, all of whom were hamstrung by the club's financial woes and unable to turn around the team's fortunes. Further problems were caused by a fearsome reputation for violence amongst a section of the supporters (the boundary between passion and hooliganism being dangerously narrow in those days) and the club started to fall apart both on and off the field.

Chelsea were, at the nadir of their fortunes, acquired by businessman Ken Bates for the sum of £1, and Bates proved to be a real fighter as the new Chairman, although his opponents included supporters (who did not take kindly to his suggestion of electrified fences to keep them off the pitch) as well as the property developers who now owned the freehold. On the pitch, the team had fared little better, finishing 18th in the Second Division in 1982-83. But in the summer of 1983 manager John Neal put together an impressive new team, which included players such as Kerry Dixon, Pat Nevin, David Speedie and Nigel Spackman. The new-look Chelsea won the Second Division in 1983-84 and then finished sixth in the First Division. Neal stood down in 1985 due to ill health and was replaced by John Hollins.

Despite an impressive start, with Chelsea challenging for the title in 1985-86 they wallowed away after Easter to finish sixth. Following that, the club declined again and were relegated in 1988. Hollins was replaced by Bobby Campbell, who guided Chelsea to the Second Division championship after a great season in which they collected 99 points. Chelsea's First Division comeback was their best league campaign since 1970 as they finished 5th in the league. Campbell stepped down in June 1991 and handed over the managerial duties to former Reading manager, Ian Porterfield. But Chelsea were unconvincing in the new Premier League and he was sacked in January 1993. David Webb, Chelsea's 1970 FA Cup final hero, was appointed on a short-term contract. Webb guided the team to an 11th place finish, but was not offered a new deal. Off the pitch and after a decade-long legal battle, Bates finally reunited the stadium freehold with the club by doing a deal with the banks of the property developers, who had been bankrupted by a market crash.

Glenn Hoddle, 36, who had just guided Swindon Town to promotion to the top flight, was appointed player-manager of Chelsea for the 1993-94 season. Though their Premiership form was unconvincing, they reached the final of the FA Cup, losing 4-0 to Manchester United, but they still qualified for the Cup Winners Cup as United had done the double. 1995 saw the arrival of two players of international renown: Ruud Gullit and Mark Hughes, who were to play an important role in the club's future. They reached the semi finals of the Cup Winners' Cup and in 1995-96 reached the FA Cup semi-finals. Hoddle quit at the end of the season to take charge of the English national side.

Gullit was appointed player-manager for the 1996-97 season, and added several top class players to the side, including Italian international trio Gianluca Vialli, Roberto Di Matteo and Gianfranco Zola, who blended well with players already at the club, such as Hughes, Dan Petrescu and inspirational captain Dennis Wise, as the club won the FA Cup, Chelsea's first major trophy for 26 years. Gullit was surprisingly sacked in mid-February after a dispute with Bates over transfer funds.

The 33-year-old Vialli was installed as player-manager and he led the team to victory in the League Cup and the Cup Winners' Cup in 1998. Chelsea challenged for the title in 1998-99, ultimately finishing third and a year later made their UEFA Champions League debut, reaching the quarter-finals. In 2000, Chelsea were winners of the last FA Cup final to be contested at the old Wembley Stadium with a 1-0 victory over Aston Villa. A disappointing start to the 2000-01 season saw Vialli sacked in favour of another Italian, Claudio Ranieri.

Ranieri guided Chelsea to two more sixth place finishes and also took the side to the 2002 FA Cup final, which they lost to Arsenal. 2002-03 saw Chelsea improve to finish 4th in the Premiership and qualify for the Champions League. In June 2003, Ken Bates sold Chelsea to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich for £60 million - thus completing the biggest-ever sale of an English football club. Over £100 million was spent on players including Claude Makélélé, Joe Cole, Damien Duff and Hernan Crespo. The spending saw an upturn in the club's form, but they had to settle for runners-up spot in the Premiership, and were eliminated from the Champions League in the semi-finals. Ranieri was sacked in favour of successful Portuguese coach José Mourinho, who had just guided FC Porto to UEFA Champions League success.

2005 was Chelsea's centenary year. Led by captain John Terry and high-scoring midfielder Frank Lampard, they celebrated it in style by becoming Premiership champions in a record-breaking season (most clean sheets, fewest goals conceded, most victories, most points earned),League Cup winners with a 3-2 win over Liverpool at the Millennium Stadium and reaching the Champions League semi-finals. The following year, they were again League Champions, equalling their own Premiership record of 29 wins set the previous season. They also became the fifth team to win back-to-back championships since the Second World War and the only London club to do so since the 1930s.

This link (below) gives you details on the seating layout of the stadium, detailing which seats are where and can even provide you with a view of what it will look like from any particular area of seats.

Details of the ticket prices and restrictions (members only areas etc) of different parts of the ground can be found on the Ticket News page, as can details of how to buy tickets.

to see the ground and how to buy tickets click the link below:

Ground Layout

Chelsea Football Club has announced a price freeze on all non-corporate tickets for season-ticket holders and members for the 2006/07 season. There are also a number of other wide-ranging changes to our ticketing policy for next season which have been formulated, in part, through dialogue with the club's Fans Forum.

The full details of these policies are explained in the Link below:

Tickets Policy

The Chelsea Tours are widely regarded as one of the best Sports Tours around. Come and find out why! Get to see behind the scenes, in the tunnel and changing room and much more. You also get to be shown round with an informative and fun commentary from an experienced guide.

Also Chelsea Football Club has opened 'The Centenary Museum', built to commemorate the centenary year of 'The Blues'. This fantastic, all new visitor attraction pays tribute to the past 100 years of the Stamford Bridge side, with a host of exhibits, sights and sounds for Chelsea fans, young and old to enjoy.

To book your place click the link below:

Museum & Stadium Tour

Support Chelsea - buy direct from your club!

Guaranteed 100% official Chelsea products

FREE UK delivery on all orders over £75

Hassle free returns policy so you can buy with confidence

Multi-lingual Order Hotline

International orders welcome - fast courier delivery

click the link below NOW!

Chelsea Megastore

Year Winner
1967 Peter Bonetti
1968 Charlie Cooke
1969 David Webb
1970 John Hollins
1971 John Hollins
1972 David Webb
1973 Peter Osgood
1974 Gary Locke
1975 Charlie Cooke
1976 Ray Wilkins
1977 Ray Wilkins
1978 Micky Droy
1979 Tommy Langley
1980 Clive Walker
1981 Petar Borota
1982 Mike Fillery
1983 Joey Jones
1984 Pat Nevin
1985 David Speedie
1986 Eddie Niedzwiecki
1987 Pat Nevin
1988 Tony Dorigo
1989 Graham Roberts
1990 Ken Monkou
1991 Andy Townsend
1992 Paul Elliott
1993 Frank Sinclair
1994 Steve Clarke
1995 Erland Johnsen
1996 Ruud Gullit
1997 Mark Hughes
1998 Dennis Wise
1999 Gianfranco Zola
2000 Dennis Wise
2001 John Terry
2002 Carlo Cudicini
2003 Gianfranco Zola
2004 Frank Lampard
2005 Frank Lampard
2006 John Terry
2007 Michael Essien
2008 Joe Cole
2009 Frank Lampard