The 2011–12 season was

Chelsea Football Club 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. ...

's 98th competitive season, their 23rd consecutive season in the top flight of English football (20th 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 Fo ...

), and their 106th year in existence as a football club. While their sixth place in the league was their lowest domestic finish since 2001–02, they completed a cup double by winning their seventh

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

and their first

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

Kits

Supplier: Adidas / Sponsor:

Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...

Key dates

* 22 June 2011:

André Villas-Boas Luís André de Pina Cabral e Villas-Boas (; born 17 October 1977) is a Portuguese football manager, who most recently was the manager of Ligue 1 club Marseille. He is one of a growing number of top-level managers who have never played football ...

is appointed as the new manager on a three-year contract, with immediate effect. * 7 July 2011: Villas-Boas and the rest of the first team squad have their first training of the season together. * 13 July 2011: Chelsea win their first

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their ho ...

. * 26 July 2011: Chelsea confirm

Thibaut Courtois Thibaut Nicolas Marc Courtois (born 11 May 1992) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for La Liga club Real Madrid and the Belgium national team. He is considered one of the best goalkeepers in world football. Courto ...

, a Belgian goalkeeper, as Villas-Boas' first signing. He is immediately loaned out to Atlético Madrid of

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

. * 14 August 2011: Chelsea draw first match of the

season away to Stoke City. It finishes 0–0 on Villas-Boas's debut as Chelsea manager. * 20 August 2011: Villas-Boas wins his first competitive match as a Chelsea manager after Chelsea defeat

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...

2–1 at Stamford Bridge. * 22 August 2011: Chelsea and

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

agree a deal for

Juan Mata Juan Manuel Mata García (born 28 April 1988) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Turkish Süper Lig club Galatasaray. He mostly plays as a central attacking midfielder, but he can also play on the wing. A gr ...

, who signs for Chelsea for a fee rumoured to be £23.5 million. * 27 August 2011: Juan Mata scores on his debut match in a 3–1 home victory against

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

. * 27 August 2011: Chelsea and Guadalajara agree a deal for

Ulises Dávila Ulises Alejandro Dávila Plascencia (born 13 April 1991) is a Mexican professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for A-League club Macarthur FC whom he captains. Club career Guadalajara Born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Dávila ...

. He joins Chelsea on a five-year contract. * 31 August 2011: The transfer deadline day sees

Raul Meireles Raul José Trindade Meireles (; born 17 March 1983) is a Portuguese former footballer who played as a midfielder. After starting out at Boavista, he signed with Porto in 2004, going on to appear in 198 official games and win ten major trophie ...

join from

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 populat ...

, whilst

Yossi Benayoun Yossi Shai Benayoun ( he, יוסי שי בניון; born 5 May 1980) is an Israeli former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He spent most of his career in England and captained the Israel national team. Born in Dimona, he is ...

and

Patrick van Aanholt Patrick John Miguel van Aanholt (; born 29 August 1990) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Eredivisie club PSV, on loan from club Galatasaray, and the Netherlands national team. He began his professional career ...

depart on seasonal loan deals. France Under-20 international Gaël Kakuta joins Bolton Wanderers on loan until 1 January 2012. * 18 September 2011: Chelsea suffer their first defeat of the season, losing 1–3 to Manchester United at Old Trafford.

Fernando Torres Fernando José Torres Sanz (; born 20 March 1984) is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a striker. He is the current manager of Atlético Madrid Juvenil A. Due to his consistent goalscoring rate as a young player, ...

scored Chelsea's goal. * 29 November 2011: Liverpool knock Chelsea out of 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 ...

at the Quarter Final stage, winning 2–0 at Stamford Bridge. The loss is Chelsea's third in four games, and sixth of the season overall. * 3 December 2011: Manager André Villas-Boas confirms that

Nicolas Anelka Nicolas Sébastien Anelka (; born 14 March 1979) is a French professional football manager and retired player who played as a forward. As a player, he regularly featured in his country's national team, often scoring at crucial moments. Known f ...

and Alex have been transfer listed, and banned from training with the first team, after handing in transfer requests to the club. Both will be allowed to resume full training if the transfer does not happen in the January transfer window. The announcement is made after the away match against Newcastle United, which Chelsea win 3–0. * 6 December 2011: Chelsea win their final Champions League group game against

3–0 to secure progress to the knockout stages. Racing Genk's 1–1 draw against

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen (), Bayer Leverkusen, or simply Leverkusen, is a professional football club based in Leverkusen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes in the Bundesliga, t ...

means that Chelsea top Group E. * 12 December 2011: Chelsea become the first team in the 2011–12 edition of the Premier League to defeat leaders Manchester City. Chelsea come from behind in a fiery encounter by goals from

and a late penalty by

Frank Lampard Frank James Lampard (born 20 June 1978) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the manager of club Everton. He is widely regarded as one of Chelsea’s greatest ever players, and one of the greatest midfielder ...

to turn the deficit into a victory. * 4 March 2012: Villas-Boas is sacked and removed of his duties by the director's board following a 0–1 defeat against

. Italian first team assistant manager

Roberto Di Matteo Roberto Di Matteo (; born 29 May 1970) is an Italian professional football manager and former player. During his playing career as a midfielder, he played for Swiss clubs Schaffhausen, Zürich and Aarau before joining Lazio of Italy and Chels ...

Is officially appointed as caretaker manager until the end of the season. * 14 March 2012: Chelsea win their second match in the round of 16 of the

UEFA champions league The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

against

Napoli Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

with a 5–4 aggregate victory. Branislav Ivanović scores the winner in extra time to secure a spot in the quarter-finals. Following defeat of Arsenal by

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

and defeats of the Manchester clubs in their respective

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

ties, Chelsea becomes the only remaining English representative in all European competitions. * 18 March 2012: Chelsea progress to the

FA Cup semi-finals The FA Cup semi-finals are played to determine which teams will contest the FA Cup Final. They are the penultimate phase of the FA Cup, the oldest football tournament in the world. Location The semi-finals have always been contested at neutra ...

for a fifth time in seven years after beating

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

5–2 at Stamford Bridge.

was the man of the match with two goals and two assists. * 4 April 2012: Chelsea progress to the Champions League semi-finals for the sixth time in the past nine seasons after beating Benfica 3–1 on aggregate. * 15 April 2012: Chelsea progress to the FA Cup final for the third time in four seasons, courtesy of a 5–1 win against

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

. Controversy over Chelsea's second goal by

adds to calls for goal-line technology. * 24 April 2012: Chelsea progress to the Champions League final in spectacular fashion, drawing 2–2 with

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 ...

at Camp Nou despite playing with ten men for more than two-thirds of the game. Chelsea win 3–2 on aggregate. * 28 April 2012: Chelsea agree personal terms with

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen (), Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen, Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, they are best known for the ...

Marko Marin Marko Marin ( sr-cyr, Марко Марин, born 13 March 1989) is a German former professional association football, footballer who played as an attacking midfielder and winger (association football), left winger. He was known for his accele ...

. He is set to join in the summer."Chelsea agree deal to sign Marko Marin from Werder Bremen"
''The Guardian''. 28 April 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2013. * 5 May 2012: Chelsea win the FA Cup for the seventh time after beating

2–1 in the

Final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

. Didier Drogba scores in his fourth FA Cup Final – a new record. * 19 May 2012: Chelsea win their first Champions League title, defeating Bayern Munich on penalties after a 1–1 draw in the

. In doing so, Chelsea becomes the 22nd club to win the European Cup, the fifth English team and the first team from London to win the trophy.

Club

Coaching staff

Other information

, - , , Chief Executive, ,

Ron Gourlay Ron Gourlay is the CEO of West Bromwich Albion. He was formerly CEO of Chelsea and Reading. Football Chelsea Ron Gourlay worked at Chelsea since 2004, having previously worked for Manchester United and Umbro. He was appointed the chief exec ...

, - , -

Squads

First team squad

Premier League squad

^U21 ^U21 ^U21 * HG = Home Grown Player * U21 = Under 21 Player Source
2011–12 Premier League squad
/small>

Reserve team

UEFA Champions League squad

* B = List B Player * HG¹ = Association-trained player * HG² = Club-trained player Source

/small>

Transfers

In

Summer

Winter

Out

Summer

Winter

Loan out

Overall transfer activity

Spending

Summer: £60 million Winter: £21.2+ million Total: £81.2 million

Income

Summer: £20.65 million Winter: £4.2+ million Total: £24.85 million

Expenditure

Summer: £39.35 million Winter: £17 million Total: £56.35 million

Competitions

Overview

Pre-season and friendlies

Barclays Asia Trophy

Premier League

League table

Results summary

Results by round

Matches

UEFA Champions League

Group stage

Knockout phase

=Round of 16

=Quarter-finals

=Semi-finals

=Final

League Cup

FA Cup

Statistics

Appearances and goals

''As of end of season'' , - , colspan="14", ''Players who spent the season/part of the season out on loan, or left the club in January transfer window''

Goalscorers

''As of end of season.''

Clean sheets

''As of end of season.''

Disciplinary record

''As of end of season.''

Overall

''As of end of season.''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chelsea F.C. Season 2011-12 2011–12 2011–12 Premier League by team 2011–12 2011–12 UEFA Champions League participants seasons