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60 free Chelsea trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Chelsea are the club that was founded for a stadium rather than the other way round: Gus Mears bought Stamford Bridge, Fulham turned him down, and a new club was born in a pub across the road. This quiz covers the whole story: the names that were nearly chosen, the Chelsea Pensioner crest, Ted Drake and the 1955 title, the European Cup they were talked out of, Tommy Docherty's blue shorts and white socks, Osgood and the 1970 replay, the Cup Winners' Cup in Athens, near-bankruptcy and Ken Bates's £1, Matthew Harding, Gullit and Vialli, Abramovich's takeover in a day, Mourinho's back-to-back titles, Munich 2012, the two Europa Leagues, Tuchel in Porto, the sanctions and the sale, BlueCo, the Conference League that completed the UEFA set, and the 2025 Club World Cup. Early questions suit anyone who has heard 'Blue is the Colour'; later ones are for Blues who know their Shed End from their Matthew Harding: which sport Stamford Bridge was built for, why celery was banned, what Mr Memory said in The 39 Steps, and how many home league games went unbeaten between 2004 and 2008. Good for a supporters' club night or a west London pub quiz. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's article on the club, its records and its stadium, and each question shows its source.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Gus Mears founded Chelsea in 1905 after which club turned down his offer to lease Stamford Bridge?
Fulham
Because the borough already had a Fulham, he borrowed the name of the neighbouring borough of Chelsea.
Q 02Which of these names was considered for the new club before 'Chelsea' was chosen?
Kensington FC
Stamford Bridge FC and London FC were also floated.
Q 03Chelsea were founded on 10 March 1905 in which pub, opposite the ground's present-day main entrance?
The Rising Sun
It is now called The Butcher's Hook.
Q 04Before Chelsea existed, Stamford Bridge had been used for 28 years as an arena for what?
Athletics
The London Athletic Club used it from 1877; unlike most clubs, Chelsea were founded for a ground rather than finding one.
Q 05Which architect of Ibrox, Craven Cottage and Hampden Park also designed Stamford Bridge?
Archibald Leitch
The original open bowl held about 100,000, second only to Crystal Palace in England.
Q 06Chelsea's first FA Cup final, in 1915, was lost to Sheffield United at which ground?
Old Trafford
Chelsea had the highest average attendance in England in ten early seasons.
Q 07Which former England striker became Chelsea manager in 1952 and won its first title in 1954-55?
Ted Drake
He scrapped the Chelsea Pensioner crest, overhauled the youth set-up and signed shrewdly from the lower leagues.
Q 08What happened when the champions of 1955 were due to enter the very first European Cup?
The Football League persuaded them to withdraw
Chelsea pulled out before the competition began; Manchester United defied the League the following year.
Q 09Which manager introduced Chelsea's blue shorts and white socks in 1964-65?
Tommy Docherty
He also had them wear Inter Milan-style blue and black stripes for the 1966 FA Cup semi-final.
Q 10Chelsea's 1970 FA Cup win came in a replayed final against which club?
Leeds United
The bad-tempered final under Dave Sexton is the root of the Chelsea-Leeds rivalry.
Q 11Chelsea won its first European trophy, the 1971 Cup Winners' Cup, in a replayed final against which club?
Real Madrid
On the way they beat Jeunesse Hautcharage 21-0 on aggregate, still a European record.
Q 12Chelsea's record competitive win, 13-0 in 1971, came against a club from which country?
Luxembourg
Jeunesse Hautcharage were beaten 21-0 over two legs in the Cup Winners' Cup.
Q 13In 1982 Ken Bates bought Chelsea from Brian Mears for what nominal sum?
£1
He sold in 2003 for £60 million; the freehold of the ground had meanwhile passed to property developers.
Q 21How many consecutive home league games did Chelsea go unbeaten from March 2004 to October 2008?
86
It beat Liverpool's 63 from 1978-80.
Q 22Which manager took Chelsea to their first Champions League final in 2008, lost on penalties?
Avram Grant
He had replaced Mourinho after a poor start to 2007-08; Hiddink won the FA Cup as caretaker a year later.
Q 23Carlo Ancelotti's 2009-10 double winners were the first English top-flight side since 1962-63 to do what?
Score 100 league goals in a season
It was the club's first League and FA Cup double.
Q 14What did Ken Bates propose erecting at Stamford Bridge in the 1980s to deter pitch invasions, only to be refused?
An electric fence
The Chelsea Headhunters firm made the club notorious for hooliganism in that decade.
Q 15How did Bates reunite the Stamford Bridge freehold with the club in 1992?
A deal with the banks of the bankrupted developers
The developers had been ruined by a market crash; Chelsea Pitch Owners now hold the freehold so it can never be sold again.
Q 16How much did North Stand namesake Matthew Harding loan the club, and how did he die?
£26 million; in a helicopter crash
The stand was renamed in 1996, the year he was killed.
Q 17Which player-manager, appointed in 1996, won Chelsea their first major trophy since 1971?
Ruud Gullit
The 1997 FA Cup was celebrated with 'Blue Day' by Suggs, which reached number 22.
Q 18On 26 December 1999 Chelsea became the first British club to do what, against Southampton?
Field an entirely foreign starting line-up
Gianluca Vialli's side contained no British or Irish players that day.
Q 19How much did Roman Abramovich pay Ken Bates for Chelsea in June 2003?
£60m
The club had about £80 million of debt; Bates said Abramovich had also looked at Manchester United and Tottenham.
Q 20How many clean sheets, a Premier League record, did Chelsea keep in 2004-05 while conceding just 15 goals?
25
Mourinho's side then opened 2005-06 with nine straight wins, another Premier League first.
Q 24Chelsea's 2012 shoot-out win over Bayern in Munich made them the first London club to do what?
Lift the Champions League trophy
Roberto Di Matteo also won the FA Cup that season; a year later Rafael Benítez added the Europa League.
Q 25By winning the 2013 Europa League, Chelsea became the first club to do what?
Hold two major European titles simultaneously
They were still the reigning Champions League holders when they lifted it.
Q 26Which manager won Chelsea's sixth league title in 2017 and was sacked in 2018 after finishing fifth?
Antonio Conte
He also won the 2018 FA Cup, the club's eighth.
Q 27After winning the 2019 Europa League with Chelsea, Maurizio Sarri left to manage which club?
Juventus
Former player Frank Lampard replaced him and finished fourth in his first season.
Q 28In which city did Chelsea beat Manchester City 1-0 in the 2021 Champions League final?
Porto
The Super Cup followed on penalties against Villarreal in Belfast, and the Club World Cup against Palmeiras in Abu Dhabi.
Q 29In March 2022 Abramovich wrote off how much that Chelsea owed him before putting the club up for sale?
£1.5 billion
He pledged net proceeds to victims of the war in Ukraine; the government sanctioned him on 10 March.
Q 30How much was the 2022 Chelsea takeover led by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital worth?
£4.25 billion
Boehly and Mark Walter also own the Los Angeles Dodgers and Lakers.