Chel­sea FC

The po­pu­lar Eng­lish foot­ball (as­so­ci­a­ti­on foot­ball) team Chel­sea FC is known for its star play­ers and of­fen­si­ve style of play. Based in the Ham­mers­mith and Ful­ham bo­rough of wes­tern Lon­don, the team is nick­na­med the Blues for the color of its home uni­forms.

Chel­sea FC was foun­ded in 1905 by Henry Au­gus­tus Mears. Home games are play­ed at Stam­ford Bridge sta­di­um, the ori­gi­nal site Mears chose for the club. The team had mixed for­tu­nes over the years, mo­ving up and down bet­ween di­vi­si­ons se­ve­r­al times. It did not win a major tro­phy until the 1950s, when it cap­tu­red the Foot­ball Le­ague First Di­vi­si­on in 1954–55. It was not until the 1990s that the Blues im­pro­ved their stan­ding to be­co­me one of the most suc­cess­ful clubs in Eng­lish soc­cer. They won two con­se­cu­ti­ve Eng­lish Pre­mier Le­ague tit­les in 2004–05 and 2005–06 and added a fourth le­ague title in 2009–10. The club won ad­di­ti­o­nal le­ague cham­pi­on­ships in 2014–15 and 2016–17. It took the Eu­rope­an Cup Win­ners’ Cup in 1971 and 1998 and the Union of Eu­rope­an Foot­ball As­so­ci­a­ti­ons (UEFA) Super Cup in 1998. The club clai­med its first Cham­pi­ons Le­ague title in 2012 and its se­cond in 2021. Chel­sea FC has won the Foot­ball As­so­ci­a­ti­on Chal­len­ge Cup (FA Cup) eight times.

Du­ring Chel­sea’s roller-​coaster his­to­ry, an array of no­ta­ble play­ers have per­for­med with the club. Top stars from the 1960s on­ward in­clu­de Bobby Tambling, Jimmy Gre­a­ves, Terry Ven­a­bles, John Hol­lins, Ray Wil­kins, Gi­an­fran­co Zola, Frank Lam­pard, Di­dier Drog­ba, Mi­cha­el Es­si­en, Mi­cha­el Bal­lack, and Eden Ha­zard. On the down­si­de, Chel­sea fans in­clu­de one of Eng­land’s most no­to­rious gangs of foot­ball hoo­li­gans, known as the Head­hun­ters. They have been re­spon­si­ble for or­ga­ni­zed vi­o­lence in the stands since the 1970s, usu­al­ly con­sis­ting of as­saults on fans of other teams.