Chelsea Football Club Women, formerly known as Chelsea Ladies Football Club, are an English women's football club based in

Norbiton Norbiton is an area within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, London. It lies approximately east of Kingston upon Thames town centre, and from Charing Cross. Its main landmarks include Kingston Hospital, Kingsmeadow football stadium, ...

that competes in the

Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features t ...

, the top flight of women's football in England. Since 2004, the club has been affiliated with

Chelsea F.C. Chelsea Football Club is an English professional football club based in Fulham, West London. Founded in 1905, they play their home games at Stamford Bridge. The club competes in the Premier League, the top division of English football ...

, a men's team in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

. 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. The club has won a record five Women's Super League championships, as well as the

FA WSL Spring Series The FA WSL Spring Series was an interim edition of the FA WSL between the sixth and seventh full seasons. The Spring Series ran from February to May 2017 to bridge the gap from the 2016 FA WSL season which ran from March to September as a summer t ...

in 2017, and has the second-highest number of outright league championships after

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

. They have also won four

Women's FA Cup The Women's FA Challenge Cup Competition is the top annual cup tournament for women's clubs in English football. Founded in 1970, it has been named the WFA Cup, FA Women's Cup and now Women's FA Cup (Vitality Women's FA Cup for sponsorship reas ...

titles, two

FA Women's League Cup The FA Women's League Cup is a league cup competition in English women's association football. The competition was originally open to the eight teams in the FA WSL, but since the WSL's restructuring to two divisions, it has featured 23 teams. Pri ...

titles, and were

Women's FA Community Shield The Women's FA Community Shield is an association football match in England. It is a national super cup, and the equivalent of the FA Community Shield in male football. It is the first competitive match of the football season. The match is comp ...

winners in 2020. They reached their first

UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. The ...

final in 2021, where they were defeated by Barcelona Femení.

History

Establishment

Chelsea Ladies Football Club was formed in 1992 after supporters of

expressed desire for a women's side. In June 2004, Chelsea Ladies voted to be taken over and funded by Chelsea's Football in the Community department. The club then won promotion as champions from the Southern Division in 2004–05 to the Premier League National Division and have participated at the top level ever since.

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. They finished bottom of the league that season under Shaun Gore, but won a promotion/relegation play-off against Northern Division runners-up

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

4–1 on aggregate to stay in the Premier League National Division. During the season the club had been linked with a

transfer Transfer may refer to: Arts and media * ''Transfer'' (2010 film), a German science-fiction movie directed by Damir Lukacevic and starring Zana Marjanović * ''Transfer'' (1966 film), a short film * ''Transfer'' (journal), in management studies ...

bid for North American star players

Tiffeny Milbrett Tiffeny Carleen Milbrett (born October 23, 1972) is an American former professional soccer forward who was a longtime member of the United States women's national team. In May 2018 the National Soccer Hall of Fame announced Milbrett will be enshr ...

and

Christine Sinclair Christine Margaret Sinclair (born June 12, 1983) is a Canadian professional soccer player who plays as a forward and captains both National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) club Portland Thorns FC and the Canadian national team. An Olympic go ...

. After an eighth-place finish in 2006–07, Gore drafted in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

players

Siobhan Chamberlain Siobhan Rebecca Chamberlain (born 15 August 1983) is an English sports pundit, commentator, and former professional footballer who last played as a goalkeeper. She joined Manchester United in 2018 after playing for Liverpool. Before joining Li ...

Casey Stoney Casey Jean Stoney (born 13 May 1982) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of San Diego Wave FC. A versatile defender, she was capped more than 100 times for the England women's national football te ...

and

Eniola Aluko Eniola Aluko (born 21 February 1987) is a football executive, commentator, and former professional player. She is the first Sporting Director for Angel City FC of the American National women's soccer league and formerly held the position of Spor ...

that summer. American

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

winner

Lorrie Fair Lorraine Ming Fair (born August 5, 1978) is a retired American professional soccer midfielder who was a member of the World Cup Champion United States national soccer team. Over the span of ten years, she was a part of one World Cup Team and ...

, regarded as one of the best midfielders in the women's game, joined in January as Chelsea finished 2007–08 in fifth position. Chelsea Ladies introduced a new manager for the 2008–09 season, former

Arsenal Ladies Arsenal Women Football Club, commonly referred to as Arsenal, is an English professional women's football club based in Islington, London, England. The club plays in the Women's Super League, the top tier of English women's football. Arse ...

reserve team coach Steve Jones. On 2 July 2008 Chelsea surprisingly signed

Lianne Sanderson Lianne Joan Sanderson (born 3 February 1988) is a current broadcaster and former English professional footballer who played as a forward. She won 50 caps for the England national team. At international level, Sanderson made her debut for Engla ...

and Anita Asante from Arsenal Ladies, in addition to veteran

Mary Phillip Mary Rose Phillip (born 14 March 1977) is a former English international footballer and a football team manager who manages men's Kent County League team Peckham Town. A versatile player, she played in all four positions at the back and also in ...

. Then Arsenal Ladies manager

Vic Akers Victor David Akers, OBE (born 24 August 1946) is a football manager and former player who was most recently the assistant manager at Boreham Wood. Akers played as a left back. He was also manager of Arsenal Ladies winning numerous trophies wit ...

criticised his former players as disrespectful, while pursuing players from other clubs to bolster his own squad. Chelsea Ladies finished the 2008–09 season third behind Arsenal and Everton.

retired a month into the new season, 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. Jones departed as manager in January 2009, leaving Stoney to act as

player/manager A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

. At Stoney's recommendation,

Matt Beard Matthew Beard (born 9 January 1978) is an English professional football manager, who is currently head coach of FA Women's Super League club Liverpool FC Women. He has managed the side previously, as well as the women's teams of Bristol City ...

became manager for 2009–10. Cuts to the Ladies club's funding were offset by financial assistance from

John Terry John George Terry (born 7 December 1980) is an English professional football coach and former player who played as a centre-back. He was previously captain of Chelsea, the England national team and Aston Villa. He was most recently the assi ...

and other Chelsea F.C. players. A further blow arrived when Sanderson left for the 2010 WPS season.

Women's Super League (WSL), 2011–present

The club bid successfully to be one of eight founding teams in the

FA Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features t ...

in March 2011. On 13 April 2011, the first-ever WSL fixture was played — at

Imperial Fields Imperial Fields is a football stadium in Mitcham, south London, which is home to Tooting & Mitcham United. It is also the former ground of Chelsea Ladies. The stadium opened in 2002, and has a total capacity of 3,500 (612 seated). Men's footba ...

, Chelsea's home ground — between them and Arsenal, which they lost 1–0. Beard led the club to the

final for the first time in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

, but Chelsea were eventually beaten by

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

on a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pen ...

after twice taking the lead in a 2–2 draw. In July 2012, Matt Beard resigned as manager after three years in the post. Former assistant at Arsenal,

Emma Hayes Emma Carol Hayes (born 18 October 1976) is an English professional football manager. She is currently the manager of FA WSL club Chelsea Women. She previously served as the head coach and director of football operations for Chicago Red Stars o ...

, was brought in as manager in 2012, who was one of the first female managers in the WSL. In Hayes' first season in charge, Chelsea, who were still a part-time professional club, finished third-bottom of the League. The following season, they finished second from the bottom. The club subsequently went full-time. 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. A final day win would have clinched them the league title, but they lost 2–1 away to

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

. Their second-place finish meant that they qualified for the

for the first time in the club's history. They also reached the semi-finals of both the FA Cup and the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

, 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. Chelsea FC Women v Arsenal WFC, 29 February 2020 (08)

Chelsea FC Women v Arsenal WFC, 29 February 2020 (08)

On 1 August 2015, Chelsea won their first ever

. They beat Notts County Ladies at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

Ji So-yun Ji So-yun ( ko, 지소연, ; born 21 February 1991) is a South Korean professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for WK League club Suwon FC and the South Korean national team. Club career Ji started her career in Japan, playing fo ...

scored the only goal of the game and Eniola Aluko won the player of the match award. The team then beat

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

4–0 in October 2015 to secure the FA WSL title and a League and Cup

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * Th ...

. 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 A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

of the UEFA Women's Champions League for the first time. On 23 May 2018, the club rebranded as Chelsea Football Club Women. 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 The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Chelsea began the

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

season by winning their first ever

FA Community Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier Le ...

, against Manchester City. The season also saw them win their second consecutive League Cup, winning 6–0 against

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

. 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 The 2020–21 FA WSL season (also known as the Barclays FA Women's Super League for sponsorship reasons) was the tenth edition of the FA Women's Super League (WSL) since it was formed in 2010. It was the third season after the rebranding of the f ...

season with a 5–0 victory over

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

. Chelsea broke the records for most wins (18) and most points (57) in a season, and became just the third team to defend the League title after Liverpool and Arsenal.

Sam Kerr Samantha May Kerr (born 10 September 1993) is an Australian professional football player who plays as a forward for Chelsea in the FA Women's Super League and the Australia women's national team (the ''Matildas''), which she has captained si ...

won the WSL ''Golden Boot'' for most goals scored by an individual (21), while

Fran Kirby Francesca "Fran" Kirby (born 29 June 1993) is an English professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Chelsea and the England national team. She began her career with hometown club Reading before moving to Chelsea in July 20 ...

was joint top for assists (11) and goalkeeper

Ann-Katrin Berger Ann-Katrin Berger (born 9 October 1990) is a German professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for English club Chelsea and the Germany national team. Early life At the age of four, Berger began playing football in the KSG Eislingen. As ...

registered the most clean sheets (12), winning the ''Golden Glove''. Given their remarkable performances over the season, Suzzane Wrack of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' stated that Chelsea was "one of the best women's teams to ever play in England's top flight". On 16 May 2021, Chelsea, on course for a ''

quadruple Quadruple may refer to: * 4-tuple, an ordered list of elements, with four elements * Quad (figure skating), a figure skating jump * Quadruple (computing), a term used as alternative for nibble in some contexts * Quadruple-precision floating-point ...

'', lost 4–0 to

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

in their first-ever Champions League final appearance. On 5 December 2021, Chelsea won the delayed

2020–21 FA Cup The 2020–21 FA Cup was the 140th edition of the oldest football tournament in the world, the Football Association Challenge Cup. It was sponsored by Emirates and known as the Emirates FA Cup for sponsorship purposes. The winners qualified for t ...

, 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.

Stadium

Chelsea Women play at

Kingsmeadow Kingsmeadow is a football stadium in Norbiton, Kingston upon Thames, London, which is used for home matches by Chelsea Women and Chelsea U21s. It was formerly the home of Kingstonian F.C. and AFC Wimbledon and has a capacity of 4,850, with 2, ...

Kingston upon Thames Kingston upon Thames (hyphenated until 1965, colloquially known as Kingston) is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, southwest London, England. It is situated on the River Thames and southwest of Charing Cross. It is notable as ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

purchased Kingsmeadow for the Women from its former occupant

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional Association football, football club, based in London Borough of Merton, Merton, London, that plays in the EFL League Two, after being relegated from the EFL League One following the 2021–22 EFL Leagu ...

, so that Wimbledon could finance their new ground,

Plough Lane Plough Lane – named The Cherry Red Records Stadium for sponsorship reasons – is a football stadium in Wimbledon, south-west London, which has been the home of AFC Wimbledon since 3 November 2020. A groundshare with rugby league side London ...

. Kingsmeadow has a capacity of 4,850. Between 2012 and 2017, the team played their home games at

Wheatsheaf Park Wheatsheaf Park is a association football, football stadium in Staines-upon-Thames, England. It was the home ground of Staines Town F.C., Staines Town between its opening in 1951 and the club's disbandment in 2022. The stadium was renovated in Ma ...

. The stadium is located in

Staines-upon-Thames Staines-upon-Thames is a market town in northwest Surrey, England, around west of central London. It is in the Borough of Spelthorne, at the confluence of the River Thames and Colne. Historically part of Middlesex, the town was transferred to ...

, Middlesex and features capacity for 3,002 spectators. The team previously played at

during the 2011–12 season, the home ground of Tooting & Mitcham United.

Attendance

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 The 2022–23 Women's Super League season (also known as the Barclays Women's Super League for sponsorship reasons) is the 12th season of the Women's Super League (WSL) since it was formed in 2010. It is the fifth season after the rebranding of ...

season match against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

, played at

Stamford Bridge Stamford Bridge may refer to: * Stamford Bridge, East Riding of Yorkshire, a village in England ** Battle of Stamford Bridge, 25 September 1066 * Stamford Bridge (bridge), a bridge in the village of Stamford Bridge * Stamford Bridge (stadium), in L ...

. 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 Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

Players

Current squad

Out on loan

Former players

''For details of former players, see :Chelsea F.C. Women players.''

Player of the Year

Management team

Season-by-season records

Record in UEFA Women's Champions League

''All results (home, away and aggregate) list Chelsea's goal tally first.''

Honours

Chelsea's first major trophy was the

, won in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

. In the same year, the club also won its first League title. After winning the 2021–22

(FA WSL) season, Chelsea became the first team to win the WSL title for three seasons in a row. Their most recent success came in May 2022, when they won their fourth FA Cup title.

Domestic competitions

League titles

** Winners (5):

, 2017–18, 2019–20,

, 2021–22 ** Runners-up (2):

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

* FA WSL Spring Series ** Winners (1):

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

* Premier League Southern Division ** Winners (1): 2004–05

Cups

** Winners (4): 2014–15, 2017–18,

, 2021–22 ** Runners-up (2): 2011–12, 2015–16 *

** Winners (2): 2019–20,

** Runners-up (1): 2021–22 *

** Winners (1):

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

* Surrey County Cup ** Winners (9): 2002–03, 2003–04, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2011–12, 2012–13 ** Runners-up (2): 2004–05, 2010–11 Notes

European competitions

: Runners-up (1):

Other

''Doubles'' * 2014−15: League and FA Cup * 2017–18: League and FA Cup * 2019–20: League and League Cup * 2021–22: League and FA Cup ''Trebles'' *

: League, FA Cup and League Cup

UEFA club coefficient ranking

References

External links

*
Chelsea Women
at Soccerway {{FA Women's Super League

Women A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or Adolescence, adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female hum ...

Women's football clubs in England Women's football clubs in London Association football clubs established in 1992 1992 establishments in England FA WSL 1 teams FA Women's National League teams