A brief history of Chelsea Football Club and its fans


“Chelsea is an English professional football club from the Fulham area of south-west London. It plays in the English Premier League, the top division in the English football pyramid. Bet on your favourite FC you can on .

Founding 

The club dates back to 1905. English businessman Gus Mears founded it. He purchased Stamford Bridge Stadium to turn it into a ground for football tournaments. His original idea was to lease the stadium to an existing club. Fulham was to be the tenant, but in the end, the deal fell through. The businessman then came up with the idea of setting up his own club.

Since the club’s formation, Chelsea’s home stadium has been Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea logo

Chelsea reach agreement to sign Monaco technical director Laurence Stewart.
(Photo by NIKLAS HALLE’N/AFP via Getty Images)

Chelsea’s first logo has never featured on players’ caps. It was invented in the same year in which the club started its existence. Thanks to this logo, the team was nicknamed Pensioners of London. The logo depicted the profile of an elderly grey-haired man with an imposing beard.

With various interpretations, consisting of changing the colour of the clothes and the shape of the elderly man’s beard, the logo was used until the early 1950s.

In 1952, a change of management decided to rebrand it, aiming, among other things, to change the nickname “pensioners” to the more marketable name “blues”, i.e. “blues”.

The transition period lasted until 1953. Then designers finally completed their work and unveiled to the world the logo which was the club’s symbol until 1986. The new logo lasted for 33 years. With this badge on the chest the players of the club, led by superstar Roy Bentley, already 1955 won their first victory, becoming the winners of the Super Cup in England.

In 1986, the engines of club marketing suggested a simplification of the club badge. An easy-to-read acronym replaced the fan-favourite design. 

The new symbol was placed on the chest until Roman Abramovich came to “power”. Roman Abramovich came to power. After its appearance, it was decided to return to the roots and recall the classic logo of Chelsea. In the 2004/2005 season the new coat of arms, based on elements of the old design, appeared on the team’s playing kit.

In 2005, Chelsea celebrated the centenary of its foundation. In honour of this event, the club played with an exclusive anniversary logo in keeping with the established fashion.

Chelsea Football Club Jerseys

Throughout the club’s history, the players have worn blue shirts. In the first version, they were slightly lighter than today. In addition to jerseys, players also wore navy blue socks and white shorts.

The traditional colours of the away jerseys were white or yellow with blue trim. Apart from that, the club also had slightly unconventional uniforms. Firstly, away kits consisted of black and white stripes, a version the players wore until the 1960s. Then the colours were changed to blue and black, imitating the style of Internazionale Milano.

After that, several experiments with away uniform colours were carried out until it was switched from black to white in the 1990s and 2000s. This variant is still in use today. An unusual pink and blue kit appeared in the 2020/2021 season.

Achievements

There are numerous prizes and victories on the club’s account. We want to pick out the main landmark moments:

1907 – the team qualifies for the first division for the first time.

1913- first foreigner (Nils Middelboe).

1928 – the club becomes the first to put players’ numbers on jerseys.

1935 – attendance record of 82,905 for a match against Arsenal is set.

1955 – first championships in the club’s history (6 in total).

1965 – possession of the first Football League Cup (5 in total).

1970 – winning the first FA Cup (8 in total).

1971 – the first UEFA Cup Winners Cup (2 cups in total).

1998 – the first UEFA Super Cup is won.

2012 – first victory in the Champions League.

2013 – first victory in the Europa League (2 in total).

2018 – victory in the FA Cup.

Fans

England’s football fans are the stuff of legends and films. The traditional Chelsea fans come from the working-class neighbourhoods of west London. They include Battersea and Hammersmith. The other part of the fans is based in the more affluent Chelsea and Kensington and the surrounding counties of the British capital.

The fame of Chelsea fans as hooligans was cemented as far back as the 1970s and 1980s. The club’s ‘football firm’, originally called Chelsea Shed Boys and now called Chelsea Headhunters, was infamous for their nationalistic views and violent actions towards other clubs ‘football firms’.

Among the Blue’s arch-enemies were West Ham’s Inter City Firm and Millwall’s Millwall Bushwackers. A special deal to most devoted fans bet on your favourite FC on .

When the level of violence reached its limit and local authorities even wanted to fence off Chelsea fans from other fans with an electric fence, Stamford Bridge finally saw some progress. The police started to intervene actively and surveillance cameras appeared in the stadium and nearby areas.