Chelsea Football Club Profile

Chelsea Football Club Facts

	Full Name:	Chelsea Football Club
	Nickname:	The Pensioners, The Blues
	Founded:	14 March 1905
	Colours:	Blue
	Home Ground:	Stamford Bridge
	Manager:	Guus Hiddink
	Premier League Titles:	3
	FA Cup Titles:	4

Chelsea Football Club Profile

The Chelsea Football Club, Chelsea is one of the dominant professional English football clubs based in West London. They play in the Premier League and have spent much of their existence in the First Division.

They have won three league titles, four FA Cups, four League Cups, two UEFA Cup Winners’ Cups, and have reached one UEFA Champions League final. In 2003, the club was bought by Russian oil magnate Roman Abramovich from Ken Bates for £140 million.

Chelsea Football Club History

Chelsea became part of the Football League soon after the club was founded in 1905 in a small pub called the Rising Sun, now known as the Butcher’s Hook which is appropriately opposite Fulham Road where the entrance to the football club’s present home ground, Stamford Bridge is situated.

Although Chelsea met with little to no success in the early years of the football club’s history, the they managed to sign on top ranked players and had quite a reputation for their entertaining matches. Their first major success was under manager Ted Drake when they won the League championship in 1954-55.

The 1960s and 70s were a successful time for Chelsea; they won the League Cup in the 1964-65 season, were FA cup winners in 1970 and they won the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup in 1971. During the late 1970s and the 1980s, Chelsea were plagued by financial difficulties, a hooligan supporter element, and relegation. Chelsea only convincingly joined the top tier of English Football again under the guidance of European Footballer of the Year Ruud Gullit who was appointed manager in 1996.

They have remained in the top tier of English Football ever since.

Stamford Bridge

Chelsea have played in the same stadium, Stamford Bridge, which borders Fulham and Chelsea, since their formation in 1905. The team was actually founded for the stadium, rather than the stadium for the team.

Stamford Bridge was officially opened on 28 April 1877 but was used as a ground for athletics meetings rather than football, and it was not until the acquisition of the stadium in 1904 by the Mears brothers that the stadium was used for football.

Starting in the late 1960s, construction work was started to modernize the stadium and build a 50,000 all-seater stadium; however, due to financial and legal difficulties resulting from the construction, it was not until 2001 that the stadium was completed with a capacity of 42,055 spectators.

Chelsea Supporters and Rivalries

Chelsea games regularly attract 40,000 football fans to Stamford Bridge. Their varied fanbase comes from working-class communities of West London, wealthier areas like Chelsea and Kensington, and from the Home Counties.

Chelsea do not have a traditional rivalry in the manner of Liverpool and Everton or Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur. Chelsea fans consider their main rivalries to be Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, and Manchester United and Leeds. Liverpool has become a rival more recently as a result of several cup competition clashes.