Nickname:The Pensioners (until 1952), The Blues
Founded: 10 March 1905; 106 years ago
Ground: Stamford Bridge (Capacity: 41,841)
Owner: Roman Abramovich
Chairman: Bruce Buck
Manager: André Villas-Boas
League: English Premier League (season 2010–11: 2nd)
Chelsea Football Club are an English football club based in West London. Founded in 1905, they play in the Premier League and have spent most of their history in the top tier of English football. Chelsea have been English champions four times, FA Cup winners six times and League Cup winners four times. They have also been successful in Europe, winning the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup twice.
The club had their first major success in 1955, when they won the league championship. Chelsea won several cup competitions during the 1960s and 1970s, but after that did not win another major title until 1997. The past decade has been the most successful period in Chelsea’s history, capped by winning Premier League titles in 2005, 2006 and 2010, the latter as part of their first league and FA Cup "Double".
Despite their name, the club is not based in Chelsea, but in neighbouring Fulham. The club's home is the 41,841 capacity Stamford Bridge football stadium in Fulham, where they have played since their establishment.
In June 2003, Bates sold Chelsea to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich for £140 million, completing what was then the biggest-ever sale of an English football club. Over £100 million was spent on new players, but Ranieri was unable to deliver any trophies, so he was replaced by Portuguese coach José Mourinho. Under Mourinho, Chelsea became the fifth English team to win back-to-back league championships since the Second World War (2004–05 and 2005–06), in addition to winning an FA Cup (2007) and two League Cups (2005 and 2007). In September 2007 Mourinho was replaced by Avram Grant, who led the club to their first UEFA Champions League final, which they lost on penalties to Manchester United. Grant was fired days later and succeeded by Luiz Felipe Scolari in July 2008.
Scolari spent only seven months in the job before being dismissed after a string of poor results. Russia coach Guus Hiddink was appointed caretaker manager until the end of the 2008–09 season, and guided Chelsea to a second FA Cup triumph in three years. Two days later, former Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti was confirmed as Chelsea's new manager. In his first season, Ancelotti led Chelsea to their first league and FA Cup "Double"; in addition, Chelsea became the first English top-flight side to score over 100 league goals in a season since 1963. Ancelotti parted company with Chelsea in May 2011 and was replaced by then Porto coach André Villas-Boas.
Chelsea's regular kit colours are royal blue shirts and shorts with white socks, the combination used since the 1960s. The club has sustained the fifth highest average all-time attendance in English football. Their average home gate for the 2010–11 season was 41,435, the sixth highest in the Premier League.
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 obviously 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 in order to change the club's image and that a new crest be adopted. As a stop-gap, a temporary emblem comprising simply the initials C.F.C. was adopted for one year.
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| Chelsea's crest 1905–52 | Chelsea's crest 1952–53 |
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| Chelsea's crest 1953–86 | Chelsea's crest 1986–05 |
Chelsea's crest 2005–presentIn 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. 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. The new badge featured a more naturalistic non-heraldic lion, in white and not blue, standing over the C.F.C. initials.
With new ownership, and the club's centenary approaching, combined with demands from fans for the club's traditional badge to be restored, it was decided that the crest should be changed again in 2004. The new crest was officially adopted for the start of the 2005–06 season and marks a return to the older design of the blue heraldic lion holding a staff. As with previous crests, this one has appeared in various colours, including white and gold.
Records
Chelsea hold numerous records in English and European football. They hold the 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), and the most consecutive clean sheets from the start of a league season (6, set during the 2005–06 season).
The club's 21–0 aggregate victory over Jeunesse Hautcharage in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1971 remains a record in European competition. 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. 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.
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. After the conclusion of the 2007–08 season, Chelsea became the highest ranked club under UEFA's five-year coefficient system used in the seeding of European club competitions in the following season, the first English club to do so in the 21st century. 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.
Colours
Chelsea have always worn blue shirts, although they initially adopted a lighter shade than the current version, and unlike today wore white shorts and dark blue socks. The lighter blue was taken from the racing colours of then club president, Earl Cadogan.
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. 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.
Chelsea's kit is currently manufactured by Adidas, which is contracted to supply the club's kit from 2006 to 2018. The contract was extended on 22 October 2010.
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 midway through the 1983–84 season. Chelsea's current shirt sponsor is Samsung who took over the sponsorship from their mobile division in 2007–08.
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| CFC Home 1999-2001 | CFC Home 2002-03 |
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| CFC Home 2005-06 | CFC Away 2005-06 |
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| CFC Away 2006-07 | CFC Third kit 2006-07 |
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| CFC Home 2006-08 | CFC Away 2007-08 |
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| CFC Third kit 2007-08 | CFC Home 2008-09 |
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| CFC Away 2008-09 | CFC Third kit 2008-09 |
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| CFC Home 2009-10 | CFC Away 2009-10 |
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| CFC Third kit 2009-10 | CFC Home 2010-11 |
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| CFC Away 2010-11 | CFC Third kit 2010-11 |
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| CFC Home 2011-12 | CFC Away 2011-12 |
CFC Third kit 2011-12 |  |
