5 crazy Chelsea facts that will blow your mind

Chelsea is one of the biggest and most successful clubs in Europe with a rich history in the 21st century following the takeover from Roman Abramovich.

Even before the takeover, the Blues won a handful of trophies and had numerous memorable moments etched in football history. For instance, in 1971, they played a club from Luxembourg, Jeunesse Hautcharage, in a Cup Winners’ Cup encounter and won the tie 21-0 on aggregate and to this day, that’s the highest margin on aggregate in any European competition.

The ridiculous win over Jeunesse Hautcharage and the fact that Abramovich wanted to take over Spurs are some of many crazy facts in Chelsea’s history. However, the following five Chelsea facts from the archives will probably leave your mouth wide open.

---

#5 They once played a Premier League game wearing the oppositions away kit

Chelsea players in the Coventry kit

On 9 April 1997, Chelsea played Coventry City away in a Premier League match at Highfield Road but the Blues didn’t wear their traditional blue kit or their away kit.

Coventry, the home side, played in their traditional light blue kit and Chelsea travelled for the game with only their Blue home kits. The referee felt that the two home kits clashed and subsequently, the kick-off was delayed by 15 minutes to resolve the matter.

Since the Blues didn’t have their away kit with them, they were given two options - wear the red and black checked away kit of Coventry or forfeit the match. Obviously, Ruud Gullit’s side took the former option but they lost the game 3-1 despite taking the lead.

#4 Fernando Torres at Chelsea is the only player ever to score in seven different competitions in a season

Torres scored in seven different competitions for Chelsea in 2012/13

Fernando Torres didn’t have a great stint with Chelsea following his £50m move in 2011 and is widely remembered in the Chelsea blue for his horrendous open goal miss against Manchester United.

However, the Spaniard set a unique record while playing for the Blues and it is one that is extremely difficult to break. During the 2012/13 season, Torres scored for Chelsea in seven different competitions to break the previous record held by compatriot and now Chelsea player, Pedro Rodriguez, who scored in six different competitions in 2009.

Torres scored for the Blues in the FA Community Shield, Premier League, UEFA Champions League, FIFA Club World Cup, Capital One Cup, FA Cup and the UEFA Europa League. The only competition in which he played for Chelsea and didn’t score in that season was the UEFA Super Cup.

Chelsea played in eight competitions in 2012/13 season because they qualified to play in the UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup as Champions League holders and qualified for the FA Community Shield as FA Cup holders. In addition, they dropped down to the Europa League after finishing third in the Champions League group.

Torres’ record can be broken if and only if a player represents a club that fulfils the following criteria and scores in all eight competitions.

The club should win the League or League Cup in the previous season to qualify for the League’s Super Cup.

The club should win the UEFA Champions League in the previous season so as to qualify for the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup.

The club should be in a league with two different cup competitions (like in England).

The club should exit the Champions League in the group stage by finishing third and then play in the UEFA Europa League.

#3 Chelsea once played in the arctic circle

The Blues lost the game 3-2

Chelsea fans will be ruing the fact that their team has to travel far to play their Europa League opponents this season but it doesn’t even come close to the difficulty the Blues faced on October 24, 1997, when they played inside the Arctic Circle against Tromsø - a Norwegian club with part-timers.

The game in Norway was the first leg of the tie and the home side pulled off a memorable 3-2 win but the match is infamous for the conditions in which it was played.

There was heavy snowfall during the game and play had to be suspended twice so that ground staff could redraw the lines by dragging large brooms through the snow.

Chelsea manager, Ruud Gullit, was angry because the match went ahead in the dreadful conditions. However, the Blues won the return leg 7-1 to put their first leg misery behind them.

#2 Chelsea was sold for £1 in 1982

Chelsea was in serious financial debt in 1982

In 1982, Chelsea was in serious financial debt and was unable to pay its players. At this point, businessman Ken Bates took over the club for £1 while taking on debts of £1.5m! By this time, the club was is grave danger and was losing £12,000 a week!

Although the figure of £1.5m in debt may not seem like much now, back in 1982, that was a huge figure. With Bates as the owner, Chelsea cemented itself as a top-tier club and found success along the way.

However, in 2003, the club was once again in financial crisis and Bates’ stake had been diluted to just below 30%. The club was unexpectedly sold for £60m in June 2003 with Bates pocketing £17m in profit on the club he bought for £1.

The new owner was Roman Abramovich who took full responsibility for Chelsea’s £80m debt. Bates went on to buy Leeds United two years later while Chelsea came to fore as one of the biggest clubs in the world.

#1 First club to field an XI without any British players in the Premier League

Chelsea won the game 2-1

These days, in the Premier League, it is common to see the top clubs field a starting XI without a British player. In fact, Chelsea didn’t have a British player in six out of their nine starting lineups. this season.

However, back in 1999, that was considered a cardinal sin and the first club to commit this was Chelsea.

After 111 years, three months and 17 days of Football League history, on Boxing Day in 1999, Chelsea manager, Gianluca Vialli, made history by naming the first ever XI without any British player against Southampton.

The Chelsea team on that night was - Ed De Goey; Albert Ferrer, Celestine Babayaro, Emerson Thome, Frank Leboeuf; Dan Petrescu, Didier Deschamps, Gus Poyet, Robert Di Matteo; Gabrielle Ambrosetti and Tore Andre Flo.

Once the lineups were out, the attention the game received was huge and the Chelsea players who took the field initially didn’t realise why there were so many reporters and photographers at the venue.

The lack of homegrown players in starting XI has become a trend for the Premier League giants over the years. Arsenal also fielded a foreign XI under Wenger while Chelsea and Manchester City have struggled to fill their homegrown quota over the years following the takeover.