Chelsea Football Club Women, formerly known as Chelsea Ladies Football Club, are an English women's football club based in Kingston upon Thames, London. Founded in 1992, they compete in the Women's Super League, the top flight of women's football in England, and plays their home games at the Kingsmeadow with some select games at Stamford Bridge. Since 2004, the club has been affiliated with Chelsea F.C., the men's team in the Premier League. Chelsea Women were a founding member of the Super League in 2010. From 2005 to 2010, the side competed in the Premier League National Division, the top tier of women's football in England at the time.
Chelsea Ladies Football Club was formed in 1992 after supporters of Chelsea F.C. expressed desire for a women's side.[5]Tony Farmer, a longtime Chelsea supporter who became interested in women's football when his girlfriend Val Lightfoot joined Crystal Palace,[6] wrote a letter to Chelsea F.C. to propose adding a women's side.[7][8]
In June 2004, Chelsea Ladies were taken over and funded by Chelsea's Football in the Community department,[10] and in 2004–05 Chelsea won promotion to the Premier League National Division. The club has participated at the top level ever since.[8]
FA Premier League National Division (2005–2010)
After starting 2005–06 with one point from six games, manager George Michealas was fired in September after four years in charge.[11] They finished bottom of the league that season under Shaun Gore, but won a promotion/relegation play-off against Northern Division runners-up Liverpool 4–1 on aggregate to stay in the Premier League National Division.[12] During the season the club had been linked with a transfer bid for North American star players Tiffeny Milbrett and Christine Sinclair.[13]
After an eighth-place finish in 2006–07, Gore drafted in England players Siobhan Chamberlain, Casey Stoney and Eniola Aluko that summer.[14] American World Cup winner Lorrie Fair, regarded as one of the best midfielders in the women's game, joined in January as Chelsea finished 2007–08 in fifth position.[15]
Chelsea Ladies introduced a new manager for the 2008–09 season, former Arsenal Ladies reserve team coach Steve Jones. On 2 July 2008 Chelsea surprisingly signed Lianne Sanderson and Anita Asante from Arsenal Ladies,[16] in addition to veteran Mary Phillip. Then Arsenal Ladies manager Vic Akers criticised his former players as disrespectful,[16] while pursuing players from other clubs to bolster his own squad.
Chelsea Ladies finished the 2008–09 season third behind Arsenal and Everton. Mary Phillip retired a month into the new season,[17] Aluko and Asante left for the new WPS in March 2009, while Fair missed the whole campaign with a cruciate ligament injury sustained in May 2008.[18] Jones departed as manager in January 2009, leaving Stoney to act as player/manager.[19]
At Stoney's recommendation, Matt Beard became manager for the 2009–10 season. Cuts to the Ladies club's funding were offset by financial assistance from John Terry and other Chelsea F.C. players.[19] A further blow arrived when Sanderson left for the 2010 WPS season.[20]
Women's Super League (2011–present)
The club bid successfully to be one of eight founding teams in the FA Women's Super League (WSL) in March 2011.[21] On 13 April 2011, the first-ever WSL fixture was played — at Imperial Fields, Chelsea's home ground — between them and Arsenal, which they lost 1–0.[22] Beard led the club to the Women's FA Cup final for the first time in 2012, but Chelsea were eventually beaten by Birmingham City on a penalty shootout after twice taking the lead in a 2–2 draw.[23]
In July 2012, Matt Beard resigned as manager after three years in the post.[24]
Former assistant at Arsenal, Emma Hayes, was brought in as manager in 2012, who was one of the first female managers in the WSL.[3] In Hayes' first season in charge, Chelsea, who were still a part-time professional club,[3] finished third-bottom of the League.[25] The following season, they finished second from the bottom.[26]
The 2014 season was successful for Chelsea, as they finished second in the FA Women's Super League behind Liverpool on goal difference, after eight wins, two draws and four losses.[27] A final day win would have clinched them the league title, but they lost 2–1 away to Manchester City. Their second-place finish meant that they qualified for the UEFA Women's Champions League for the first time in the club's history. They also reached the semi-finals of both the FA Cup and the League Cup, where they lost to both eventual winners, Arsenal and Manchester City, respectively.
In 2015, it was announced that many of Chelsea's players would be becoming full professionals for the first time.[28]
On 1 August 2015, Chelsea won their first ever Women's FA Cup. They beat Notts County Ladies at Wembley Stadium. Ji So-yun scored the only goal of the game and Eniola Aluko won the player of the match award.[29] The team then beat Sunderland 4–0 in October 2015 to secure the FA WSL title and a League and Cup double.[30] Chelsea repeated that feat in the 2017–18 season, winning another FA WSL and Women's FA Cup double; in the same season, the team also reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Women's Champions League for the first time.[31] On 23 May 2018, the club rebranded as Chelsea Football Club Women.[32]
Chelsea were awarded the 2019–20 WSL title on a points-per-game basis after the season had to be abruptly terminated due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[33]
Chelsea began the 2020–21 season by winning their first ever FA Community Shield, against Manchester City.[34] The season also saw them win their second consecutive League Cup, winning 6–0 against Bristol City.[35] Chelsea and manager Hayes won their fourth WSL title, the most by any WSL team, by two points on the final day of the 2020–21 FA WSL season with a 5–0 victory over Reading.[36] Chelsea broke the record for most points in a season (57) and tied the record for most wins in a season (18). In addition, they became just the third team to defend the League title after Liverpool and Arsenal.[37]Sam Kerr won the WSL Golden Boot for most goals scored by an individual (21), while Fran Kirby was joint top for assists (11) and goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger registered the most clean sheets (12), winning the Golden Glove.[37] Given their remarkable performances over the season, Suzzane Wrack of The Guardian stated that Chelsea was "one of the best women's teams to ever play in England's top flight".[38] On 16 May 2021, Chelsea, on course for a quadruple, lost 4–0 to Barcelona in their first-ever Champions League final appearance.[39] On 5 December 2021, Chelsea won the delayed 2020–21 FA Cup, beating the league leaders Arsenal 3–0 in a dominant display, with goals from Kirby and two from Kerr, helping clinch the trophy and their first domestic treble.[40]
Between 2012 and 2017, Chelsea played their home games at Wheatsheaf Park.[43] The stadium is located in Staines-upon-Thames and has a capacity for 3,002 spectators.[44]
The current home attendance record of a Chelsea Women's match is 38,350, set on 20 November 2022 during the 2022–23 Women's Super League season match against Tottenham Hotspur, played at Stamford Bridge.[46] Their current home attendance record at their primary ground of Kingsmeadow is 4,670, set on 28 April 2019 in a Champion's League semi-final leg against Lyon.[47]
Chelsea players celebrating winning the 2014–15 FA Women's Cup.
Chelsea's first major trophy was the Women's FA Cup, won in 2015. In the same year, the club also won its first league title. After winning the 2021–22FA Women's Super League (FA WSL) season, Chelsea became the first team to win the WSL title for three seasons in a row.[54] Their most recent success came in May 2023, when they won their sixth Women's Super League title.
^The 2017 Spring Series was a shortened competition played in a single round-robin format,[55] and is not considered an official WSL title by the FA.[56]
^Farmer, Tony (4 April 1992). "Cheer the Chelsea Ladies". Chelsea Official Matchday Magazine. p. 61. We started training at Cranford last month and have around 50 women and girls attending training and have played two friendlies, beating University College London 13–0 and Newham Reserves 5–1.
^"Chapman targets Wembley double". Sporting Life. 28 July 2015. Archived from the original on 15 January 2016. Retrieved 25 October 2015. Chelsea Ladies turned full-time at the beginning of this season and are based alongside the men at the club's Cobham training complex.
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