Free Betting

Chelsea Football Club was founded on 10th March 1905 in a pub now called The Butcher’s Hook, which is situated directly opposite the club’s stadium. Stamford Bridge FC, Kensington FC and London FC were some of the names proposed, but Chelsea FC was eventually elected and the story could begin. On May 29th 1905, Chelsea FC was elected to the Second Division, thus becoming the first English club to enter a league without playing a single game.

• Top Asian Handicap Betting
  £190 MATCH BET. 12Bet is already a very popular bookie in Asia. Best odds and bets for Asian Handicap
  CLAIM YOUR OFFER
• Best Mobile Bookmaker Offer
  £25 FREE BET. Place back and lay bets, great bet in-play,1000's of markets, iPhone, Android, iPad ...
  CLAIM YOUR OFFER

The only notable success in the early years included the FA Cup final in 1915, although the time saw Chelsea gain reputation for signing big name players, something that still follows them. Former England striker Ted Drake took over the reigns in 1952, bringing numerous changes to the club set up, before leading Chelsea FC to their first ever league title in 1954-55. The 60s and early 70s were a pretty successful period for the club, with the Blues constantly challenging for honours and winning FA Cup, League Cup and Cup Winners’ Cup.

The club experienced major problems during the next two decades, with heavy investment in redevelopment of Stamford Bridge seriously affecting club’s financial stability, and the club kept bouncing between the top two tiers of English football in the 80s. The arrival of Ruud Gullit as player-manager in 1996 was seen as a major boost, not only because of the player’s qualities, but also because he managed to help the Blues attract other star names such as Gianluca Viali, Gianfranco Zola and Gustavo Poyet, to name just a few.

However, it was not until Roman Abramovich completed the club takeover in 2003 that Chelsea were able to mount a serious title challenge. The Russian billionaire immediately splashed over £100 million on new players, which led to the Blues winning back to back Premier League titles in 2005 and 2006. Chelsea have since been regarded as one of the best sides in English football, although the Champions League trophy still remains just a dream, mostly due to the infamous penalty miss by John Terry in the competition final in 2008.

Despite entering the late stage of their careers, captain John Terry and Frank Lampard are still considered to be club icons and very important players. Fernando Torres was expected to make a big impact after arriving from Liverpool, but the Spaniard has been pretty disappointing so far, having even failed to command a starting place at Stamford Bridge. Juan Manuel Mata and Daniel Sturridge have been showing a lot of potential of late and everything suggests that they will soon become key players at Stamford Bridge.