English Premier League side Chelsea will be one of the 12 European teams to take part in the new-look FIFA Club World Cup 2025™ in the USA.

Read on to find out more about the London club, with details on how they booked their ticket to the global tournament, their history and some iconic players.

How they qualified
Chelsea secured their place at the FIFA Club World Cup with victory over Manchester City in the 2020/21 UEFA Champions League final, claiming one of the 12 berths open to teams who play under European football’s governing body. That was the second time The Blues had lifted the coveted trophy, following victory over Bayern Munich nine years prior.

Club history
Chelsea FC was founded in 1905 after English businessman Gus Mears acquired the Fulham-based athletics stadium Stamford Bridge with the hopes of turning it into a football ground. After failing to find a suitable side to lease the stadium, he set about founding a club of his own.

Following on from a successful run in the 1990s, the club embarked on a transformative era at the beginning of the new millennium. With the arrival of new ownership in 2003 came new investment as the club quickly set about signing the biggest players and appointing the best coaches on a quest to take Chelsea to the pinnacle of domestic and European football.

Under the guidance of Jose Mourinho, the club lifted its second top flight title in their centenary year. Mourinho, who famously referred to himself as ‘The Special One’ upon his arrival from FC Porto, led Chelsea to the title with a then-record 95 points in 2005, before winning the Premier League again the next season.

Perhaps the greatest night in the club’s history came on 19 May 2012, as Chelsea lifted the UEFA Champions League for the first time. Following a rollercoaster run to the decider, which included a stunning comeback win over Napoli and a dramatic defeat of Barcelona, a heavily-depleted Blues side stunned Bayern Munich in their own stadium in a tense penalty shootout.

Chelsea would lift the trophy for a second time in 2021, as Thomas Tuchel masterminded a 1-0 victory over Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City in the Porto final thanks to a Kai Havertz goal. The Blues would go on to complete their trophy set by winning the FIFA Club World Cup in February 2022, defeating Brazilian giants Palmeiras 2-1 in Abu Dhabi.

Iconic players
Frank Lampard
English icon Lampard is one of several players who helped define Chelsea as a global powerhouse throughout the 2000s, as the midfield maestro made his name synonymous with the club from the King’s Road. He hit a record 211 goals during his 13 years at the club, including a winning strike in the 2009 FA Cup final, while he also notched his penalty in the 2012 shootout in Munich.

Gianfranco Zola
Without question one of Chelsea’s most talented players, Italian wizard Zola routinely dazzled and delighted Stamford Bridge with balletic feet and his eye for the spectacular. He helped Chelsea to two FA Cups, the Football League Cup, the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup and the UEFA Super Cup during his seven years in west London, while netting numerous iconic goals.

Bobby Tambling
The only other player, along with Lampard, in the 200-goal club at Stamford Bridge is the legendary Tambling, who plundered 202 strikes to stand as the club’s record goalscorer for some 47 years. Tambling, who was voted into the club’s greatest all-time XI during the 2005 centenary celebrations, wore the blue of Chelsea from 1959 to 1970 and was part of the side which won the 1965 Football League Cup.