Chelsea Football Club is an English professional football club based in Fulham, London. The club's involvement in international competitions dates back to the 1950s. As champions of England, the club was invited to participate in the inaugural European Champions' Cup in 1955, but were denied entry by The Football Association. Three years later, Chelsea made their European debut against Copenhagen XI in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, on 30 September 1958.
Chelsea won their first European title in 1971, defeating Real Madrid to win the European Cup Winners' Cup. In 1998, they won the same trophy again, followed by the UEFA Super Cup later that year. In 2012, Chelsea won the UEFA Champions League, becoming the fifth English team, and the first and only team from London to date, to win the competition. In 2013, Chelsea won the UEFA Europa League and became the fourth club to win all three main UEFA club competitions. Due to a change in competition dates, with the final of the Champions League being played a week after the Europa League final, Chelsea held both the Champions and Europa League trophies simultaneously, the only side to ever do so. Chelsea once again lifted the Europa League trophy in 2019. In 2021, Chelsea won their second Champions League title, giving them the distinction of being the only club to have won all three major European competitions twice. They are presently England's second-most successful club in UEFA competitions, with eight trophies in total.
John Terry holds the club record for appearances in European competitions with 124, while striker Didier Drogba is the club's leading European goalscorer with 36 goals. Chelsea's biggest European win is 13–0, which came against Jeunesse Hautcharage in the Cup Winners' Cup in 1971. Their 21–0 aggregate win over the same opposition is a joint-record in European football.
History
European Cup / UEFA Champions League
Chelsea were invited to take part in the inaugural European Cup, now UEFA Champions League, in 1955 after they claimed their first league title the previous season. However, Chelsea were pressured into withdrawing from the tournament by The Football Association. They had thus missed the chance to become the first English club to participate in what is now the most prestigious club competition in European football. It was not until 44 years later that they would make their debut in the Champions League.
The 1999–2000 season saw the club progress through the group stage and the second group stage to reach the quarter-finals where they faced Barcelona of Spain. Chelsea won the first leg 3–1 at Stamford Bridge with Gianfranco Zola scoring the opener and Tore André Flo a brace. However, they were beaten 5–1 in Spain two weeks later and knocked out of the competition 6–4 on aggregate, thus ended their first Champions League journey.
Chelsea qualified for the 2003–04 Champions League by finishing fourth in the 2002–03 FA Premier League. Their place in the Champions League was secured on the final day of the season, beating fifth-place Liverpool 2–1 at home. The game was dubbed 'the £20m match' as Chelsea were only ahead of Liverpool on goal difference before kickoff; a win for either side would see them qualify for the following season's Champions League at the expense of the other. Jesper Grønkjær scored the winner in the 26th minute. The goal would later seem by many as the most important in the club's history and said to be worth £1 billion, as many believe had Liverpool won on that day the subsequent takeover by a Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich would never have happened.
Chelsea reached the semi-finals after defeating derby rivals Arsenal 2–1 at Highbury. Having not beaten Arsenal since November 1998, they went into the second leg with a 1–1 home draw. José Antonio Reyes' goal before the half time gave the Gunners the lead, however Chelsea managed to come back and won in the second half through Frank Lampard's goal within six minutes of the restart and Wayne Bridge's winning goal in the 87th minute. The first leg of the semi-final however turned out to be a disaster for Chelsea as they were defeated 3–1 by ten-man Monaco at Stade Louis II stadium. Two weeks later at Stamford Bridge, they were leading 2–0 shortly before the halftime. Had they kept this score to the final whistle, they would go through on away goals. However, Monaco eventually came back in the second half and the game ended in a 2-2 draw. As a consequence, Claudio Ranieri was sacked at the end of the season.