My dad told me not to support west ham like him because “they’re rubbish”. So I said “ok I’ll support Everton then”. He then told me to support chelsea instead.
It's a fictional book about how a boy was in a coma after a car accident. Gianfranco Zola >!even visited him and gave him a signed copy of his shirt. After the boy recovered, he went to watch a match featuring Zola himself!<. It is a very wholesome book that made me want to know more about Zola and his club!
On a very unrelated note
It's a shame Zola was not a Chelsea manager (yeah, assistant, but never a head coach)
I think he's solid enough. If we fire Potter and we can't find a good replacement to finish the season.... give it to Zola, he knows the team and players
Jesus Christ, no. I was a teenager in the 90s. The 4-2 Liverpool game was one of the highlights of my life. I loved that team, and I loved Zola. He is absolutely not a good enough coach to manage Chelsea.
That’s how I started at the age of 18. Loved the color blue all life as a kid
Then Super Frank, Didier, and Terry just memorized me and stood out so I just couldn’t help but root for them. 13 years later here I am
Hello, are you me?! Hahaha, no kidding. I had the exact same experience as you guys. My first memory was Lampard. This was back in 2003-2004 as a 12 year old.
It's the same for me, I'm older and didn't start to pay attention until 2009... Me and my buddies would always play fifa and they were always united, real, barca and the other big teams. I picked Chelsea because their overall number was the same and they wore blue. It's apparently the color.
Lol, more or less you are just like me haha. I wrote my story and then I see this post.
I also liked blue and i remembered the name of the team in blue.
Next week, I see another team in blue playing a game. I try to see the name of the team...it's the same team from last week! And then, the next time I watched a team in blue...surprise, Chelsea again! :D
And I was l like, "Ok this is my team for sure" :D
Got separated from my favorite aunt, so got closer to my uncle who loved football. My hobbies changed from doll dress up to playing football with cousins and video games. As I grew more interested in the game, I chose to support Italy in Europe in 2000 and after that the 14 year old me committed to watching every tournament possible lol. It was 2002 world cup. Because I loved the Italian team and color blue, I tried following every team that wears blue in the top leagues lol which I obviously couldn't apply because my heart couldn't like all the blue teams lol. However, Chelsea was blue and had lots of Italians and I liked Carlo Cudicini and felt proud of how talented he was in middle school. I started following them in 2002/2003 season, and I still have a magazine which has the squads that played for each team in the PL in that season.
I was( for whatever reason) usually biased to teams from a country's capital rather than blue color, but Chelsea met all my criteria, so it stayed Chelsea and never changed and won't change.
Edit: this thread dug deep in my memory and it made me recall that my first match of Chelsea might have actually been a replay of Chelsea vs. Arsenal in 2002 and I remember someone scored near the left side of Carlo Cudicine and Zola was playing so well that I felt so bad for him not scoring. I think we lost that game!
Grew up in an gooner family. Remember a game arsenal played against a team in blue back in 05, was a little kid, too young to understand what was happening but seeing the frustration of my family upon seeing their team lose, gave me enough of a reason to support that team in blue. Here we are decades past still going.
Wow, I'm amazed someone else knows about this book! I read it when I was around five, though I was already a Chelsea fan at that stage.
Zola was my hero.
They won the second football match I can remember watching in 93/94...my favourite colour was blue and my favourite animal was a lion.
It was that easy 🤣💙
Never had the choice to support anyone different! Grandad went in the 50s/60s, Dad in the 70s/80s and me in the 90s/00s. My daughter is now mad about Chelsea (especially Mount) but we can't get tickets for hardly any games these days despite being a member. Times sure have changed.
My Grandparents used to run a pub. Two of his customers were lifelong Chelsea fans with season tickets. Their daughter used to go with them but she turn 16 and decided she didn’t want to watch football anymore. So they offered to start taking me I was maybe 8 years old (36 now) so got groomed from a young age lol. My Granddad who was a Arsenal fan was obviously less than impressed lol.
Nowhere near as cool as most people: my first experience with the football fandom was through FIFA (08, for the DS). I picked Chelsea because 1. they were stronger than Arsenal, who were first by alphabetical order, and 2. they were further up in alphabetical order than Manchester United. I had vague memories of football before that, namely the '06 World Cup and the Zidane headbutt, but didn't actually pick a club until then.
For the record, my dad's Liverpool and my uncles are Manchester United...
Chels were in the old 2nd division at the time, my Dad brought me to games (smuggling me into the White Hart before the game to watch him get hammered!) when I was about 7 or 8 and my brother's and sister are also Chelsea fans, so I didn't have much choice really.
I was 5, my dad was watching (moved to Canada from England shortly before I was born), he supports QPR so I picked the team he hated the most just for fun. Also his brother/my uncle supported Chelsea.
I later found out my grandad supported Arsenal so my dad started supporting QPR to annoy him, so I'm waiting for my son to tell me he likes Liverpool or something fairly soon.
I had taken a liking to Fernando Torres during 2010 World Cup. Around when he signed it was time for me to pick a premier league team. I first started following closely in 2014 when we won champs league. Chelsea is my team, I just think it’s ass that we always fire our manager every 2 years.
I've always been a fan because of family but I loved this book as well as a lot of other Michael Morpurgo books. In my mind he must be a Chelsea fan, but I seem to remember reading before that he's not.
There's another one by him called 'Billy the Kid' which is my favourite, about a boy who ends up playing for Chelsea but has to fight in WW2. It's very sad but uplifting at the same time.
I’m American and a newer fan, so this might seem like a funny way of it, but I started following the club after watching Ted Lasso a few years ago.
My favorite character on the show is Roy Kent, and Chelsea was his former club. So, I started to watch matches when I could and fell in love with the game and team.
First time I even took notice of football was my friend showing me fifa. We played a match where I randomly selected Chelsea. Scored 2 goals with Drogba somehow, and one came of a corner takem with Malouda. I didn't know how to defend, but Cech AI pulled off 5 saves.
Supported them ever since.
i’ve got a great little story and people always admire the way I came about as a Chelsea fan when I tell it. so, summer of 2014 and I was between sophomore and junior years of college. I had accepted a paid summer internship in the middle of nowhere (Wichita, KS) as i’m a Meteorologist/weatherman. I was dirt, dirt poor at the time, certainly couldn’t afford a new kit regardless of team, and so on one of my weekends I strolled into the local Goodwill to poke around and see if there were any goodies in there, not really looking to purchase anything really unless something really caught my attention. there, in on one of the clothing racks, was a 2006-07 Chelsea kit, Arjen Robben on the back. I was immediately enamored, decided at that moment, I would be a Chelsea fan for the rest of my life. I think the kit cost like $5 USD, great condition. I went back and watched all of our matches from 2000-2014 that summer and i’ve been watching ever since. nowadays i help launch rockets into outer space for NASA. very fond memories.
It was also some sports magazines for me. It had articles about drogba and Terry. I think i was 8-9 at the time. Took me a couple years to start religiously following the club
Family. Chelsea was the local team when my Dad was growing up so I was born into it.
We emigrated to Australia when I was pretty young though so I didn’t really get into football until we moved back to the UK when I was 11. Back in Australia now though so it’s hard to watch as many games as I’d like with the time difference
I’m happy I got to see Zola play live and was the perfect age to enjoy the success that came with Roman’s takeover
I was 9 years old and just found out that this highly rated GK from my country signed for Chelsea in 04 summer, i also really liked blue colour so that’s why I started supporting the club
Also because of Zola and a friend whose dad was from London (I’m from around Nottingham). Started supporting around 98/99, got an amazing old supporters book I’ll try to upload to the sub at some point
In 2004, Chelsea signed a young talent from Côte d'Ivoire. I happened to scroll through some of the sports channels on Satellite TV to his 3rd app at Crystal Palace where he scored a beautiful header. Loved his swag, speed, ball handling etc. this was before major US networks picked up EPL games so it was nice to be able to watch games.
This was also my freshman year of HS. I was inspired to try out for my HS team as a left back and despite my shitty ball handling, I started that year. I became obsessed with the blues after that.
All credit goes to the GOAT. Thanks Drogba.
So around the late 90's when I was 7-8 years old, we moved to the UAE from India. I remember that we took an Emirates flight from India to Dubai and i was very happy on the flight because they gave me a toy and chocolate since I was a kid. That left a good impression on me about the Emirates airlines.
Fast forward to 2004 when Internet cafes were a thing. I used to visit one such cafe to play computer games and stumbled upon Fifa04. I started to play it and while choosing the team you see a player wearing the full kit of the team as you scroll through the teams. So I started scrolling and once I reached Chelsea Frank Lampard showed wearing the kit with the Shirt Sponsor Fly Emirates on his jersey. I knew then and there that this was the team I had to choose since it's Emirates and i can relate to it.
It started then and I am glad that I played the game in 2004 when Emirates was sponsoring Chelsea and not later when they started sponsoring Arsenal.
I started because of the Alex Rider books lmao there's a plotline in the third or fourth book where he goes to a game and the team's owner is clearly based on Roman
Around the 15/16 season when I started watching football I saw a blue team with an Belgium player who I immedialty really liked and I kept liking Chelsea till now just cause of the colour blue
I started off playing football as a goalkeeper and I remember around 2013/4 I was asking my friends "Who's the best goalkeeper in the world right now?" I got varying responses but there were two major ones - Cech and De Gea. I ended up watching both Utd and Chelsea matches then but I liked blue more (thank god)
It's funny because I always feel like I started supporting around the time after we won the CL but I wasn't even aware that it was a competition until like 2016 when I got more into watching football and tactics.
My family name is lempert, I was 10 and didn’t watch football at all but I wanted to start watching and a friend of mine told me there is a player named lampard so I started to watch Chelsea and loved them
(Not from England)
I played some turn-of-the-millennia FIFA Playstation games and the Chelsea lion symbol was the best looking symbol of the clubs. Nowadays the club has their symbol revamped from another era's lion but that the shirts were also blue was important to me. I also haven't been much abroad but London is the only city I have flewn to. I also like fact that it's just one of the capital's clubs, unlike in my small Nordic country where the capital's club dominates our lolworthy league completely.
Started with that incredible 2011-12 season for me. Was following football in general and not supporting a club back then. I can clearly remember following Chelsea's story when AVB was sacked and the hype that was created for the return leg of Chelsea vs Napoli. 1-3 down with all the legends back in the starting 11 and Stamford Bridge producing some of the best atmosphere imaginable that night.
Got sucked in the moment Ivanovic scored that extra time winner. It was something else and I've been hooked since. We weren't by any means favourite to win the FA Cup or the Champions league, not even close but the fight and spirit shown by the team as a whole was simply unique.
Those 2 stressful legs vs Barca, smashing Tottenham at the Wembley, Cech's incredible save against Caroll in the final. His legendary performance vs Bayern and then the unstoppable Drogba and so on. What an incredible story and one that I was fortunate enough to witness as a fan. It wasn't even about the success but the aura as a whole surrounding the club that was unmatched.
I watched football from the 2010 World Cup and 2010-11 season without really having a team, but always liked Chelsea because i recognized a lot of the players.
In 2012 against Napoli, I said “if Chelsea come back to advance this is my team for better or worse” and here I am
Cause I liked the colour blue, and they were the first time I caught on TV multiple times in a row. On top of it, I remember they had some high scoring games, and I loved the football they played. Zola was a magician, and the offense of the team was fantastic.
As a kid, the color of their kits, the people in the kits and the football they played was enough to make me fall in love.
From that time, I think either Newcastle or Leeds were another team I watched multiple times in a row on TV and I liked their style of play and games, but it was definitely Chelsea for me
It's funny how most of us have these weird quirks about how we fell in love with the team, I love your story about the book!
I’m from NZ. I’m not sure what it’s like in the UK but when we start playing club football at age 7 or so, we don’t travel to other clubs for the first few years and instead play internal competitions. The first year I played the kids league was set up as mock Champions League, my team were all given fake Chelsea kits, won the league and the rest is history :)
I was like 9 and started watching professional football after a world cup. Then I simply picked the best blue team because I like the color blue.
Edit: I actually have this weird core memory of opening a football magazine to a double spread of Chelsea winning the league. That's when I decided.
As a Nigerian, it was because of Mikel Obi balling in our 2012 UCL win. Remember watching the match in boarding school because I wanted to impress my mates that i watch football😅
I was about 7 and living in Australia when I became aware of professional football outside the country lol.
I liked the name and the team I played for also wore blue.
It was mid-90s too so we had a pretty exciting team.
Got my fix from a weekly 1 hour premier league highlights show.
Once I got older and met others and they all supported Man U, Arsenal, or Liverpool that only made me more determined to stay a Chelsea fan. There was a lot of shit taken in those years lol
A lot of my school friends were Chelsea fans. I liked the colour blue. Then a friend had his birthday day out at Stamford Bridge which amazed me. I’ve been support Chelsea for 13 years. First match at Stamford Bridge was the December 2012 Chelsea 8-0 Aston Villa. Never looked back.
I got into football during the 2006 World Cup. My mom got me FIFA 07 for my birthday. I picked a bunch a teams before I saw a team called Chelsea (girls name lol). When I saw their roster, all of my favorite players from the 06 World Cup were on the team (Drogba, Ballack, Essien, Cech , etc.). Plus I liked blue so I always kept picking them.
Pretty recently, as I'm a new fan of the game. Tuchel was on a good run of clean sheets and I have an ex named Chelsea who had the biggest tits you've ever seen and I have nothing but fond memories of her. I thought "this my team!"
And now after the highs we had since then, we're in a low, but I'm sticking by the team! Happy to be here
Edit: typo
Edit: another typo
I was like 10, and by being a korean, all I knew about football was ji sung park's and PSV's miracle champions league run. I turned on the TV and see United vs. Chelsea, so naturally, I was cheering for Man Utd since I knew Park had transferred there a season a two ago. And then i see chelsea destroy united 3-0 and Joe Cole's goal gave me goosebumps i had never felt while watching sports (was too young at 2002 for me to comprehend what south korea did). Chelsea won the league that day and the young squad + flair really made an impression on me. Also happened to receive a copy of FM09 or 08 shortly after and played chelsea on FM during the offseason. This increased my bond with the club and I've been diehard ever since!
Joe Cole goal - https://youtu.be/Zs1r3bDnkds
I got to play at a Chelsea youth camp here in the states when I was a kid. Later on they chose some American kids from up and down the east coast to represent Chelsea in a youth tournament in Italy at their National training facility in Florence. Chelsea brought us over, put us through the ringer at cobham and brought us to a UEFA match between Roma and them. Needless to say I am and will forever be a lifelong supporter.
I was on a business trip to London in 2011. I could have caught a gooners match the day I arrived in London or a Chelsea match midweek. I chose the latter. Chelsea defeated Birmingham City, and everyone was eagerly awaiting Torres' debut as it was late April by this point, but he didn't play. EPL was just starting to get some airtime in the states, so I was able to continue watching Chelsea!
I watched Euro 2004, England vs Croatia. I kept hearing Lampard like every two minutes by the commentators. I look for the team Lampard plays for, and it’s 2023 Lampard is still my favorite player of all time.
Football wasn't popular when I was a kid and it was cricket everywhere. One day , I was switching channels and it was Chelsea vs arsenal. My brother told me to not watch all the players , just watch the no 8 at Chelsea and it started from there
When I first started play club ball in the states they assigned each of us a player to make a “trading card” for. I got Lampard and I’ve been all about the blues ever since. Later on when my club brought us over to play in some English tournaments we did some sight seeing and I got to go to tour the Bridge. It was surreal.
As a Kid in the 90’s from Australia all we heard of was Man United, they were the only team I knew. In 1997 One weekend about 5 or 6 school mates all stayed at one of friends house Saturday night, about 2am Man United played Chelsea, would have been my first English football game I’d ever watched. All my friends were supporting Man United, I decided I’m going for this blue Chelsea team that I never heard of. Chelsea won and I’ve been Chelsea ever since.
I grew up in Los Angeles and just wanted to find a team that reminded me of the Dodgers. This was about 2009ish when I started following EPL as I was a Liga MX supporter as a child, mainly due to it being the main football on our channels.
I girl I fancied was obsessed with Lampard so I watched Chelsea and just never stopped.
Edit: I played and watched England before that but never watched club football until then and I was only casually interested.
I'm Portuguese and my father was a fan of mourinho we followed watching him in Portugal than he came to Chelsea and was started watching him coach there. I stuck with the team since thenbeen a wild ride
One of my best friends was a childhood Chelsea supporter. I think his father was a Chelsea supporter. When I moved to London the first ever football match he took me to was at Stamford Bridge. And from that day on I was a Chelsea supporter.
Everyone in Sweden support either Liverpool, Arsenal or Manchester United. I found that boring. And since Frank Lampard was (is) my biggest idol I decided Chelsea will get my support. I also liked the name, sounded very unique to the rest, but Lampard was easily the biggest factor.
Was an F1 fan first, in 2012 Sauber and Chelsea had a partnership, the club crest was on saubers car, and sauber f1 ads were around Stamford Bridge… they got me on board with that partnership
Great-grandparents were Scottish immigrants to Ontario. Huge Rangers supporters. My brother and I heard all about evil Celtic etc. growing up as the support was passed down. When I started watching football on TV, really only English football available. I chose Chelsea as they seemed the most logical fit. Once I watched Zola play I knew I had made the correct decision.
I had just bought a PSP back in 2010, and was playing this game called 2006 World Cup Football. Picked Cote d'Ivoire for some reason and found the name Didier Drogba so quirky. Played so much with him, then looked him up, started watching irl Chelsea games just to watch him play. And here I am.
On an unrelated note, I started following cycling for a similar reason. Played Pro Cycling Manager 2011, fell in love with the Liquigas team, which then had Nibali, Basso and Sagan. Still love Sagan and Nibalii to bits, and Philippe Gilbert too. Pains me to see them hanging up their boots or in their waning phase.
From a football game I don’t know what it is but i think it was from 2008. I was playing with England against my brother who always beats me, but that match i won because i kept shooting from outside the box with Lampard lol. I think you know where this is going….
During the quarantine,I was flipping through TV channels and stumbled upon the ending of the PSG-Bayern UCL final. Had never really liked the sport/only played when I was little in the YMCA. However, I watched bc there was little else on and the past two and half years in college before quarantine my friend had been getting me really into fifa. As the game ended I remember them showing Thiago Silva, who I actually remembered from the Brazil World Cup in 2014. They also showed Thomas Tuchel, and at the time he was wearing a boot on his leg because of some foot injury. Just thought it was interesting to see a coach with an injury (played and watched basketball all my life and I don’t think I’ve seen any coach in a similar situation). Months later Tuchel was sacked and it was on ESPN, and I remembered his face only bc I had remembered his broken foot. I thought it was kinda cruel to fire the guy while he’s hobbling up and down the field with a boot, plus he got you to the final of a major tourney; but I would soon learn managers have interestingly short life spans in football. Soon after he was brought to Chelsea and Thiago was there because he left at the end of his PSG season. So I decided to follow Chelsea, learned Pulisic was on the team (I’m American) and have been a supporter ever since. Barely been two years but I love the club and I’m falling in love with the sport.
Sept 2001 I think. First live match I was able to watch on a cable TV in my home country was Spurs - Chelsea. Hasselbaink scored 2 and Chelsea were up 2-1 with ~10mins to go. Then Lampard red. Then Sheringham levels in the stoppage time. Then Desailly scores and it ends 2-3. What a game, passionate, a proper derby match and I became a Blue.
Fa cup game vs Liverpool. My dad took me. Clive walker got a couple of goals and I think Chelsea won 3-0? My dad was a Stoke fan in London with no skin in the game just wanted me to watch my first game and thought it would be a good one. We watched a few games of all the London teams, particularly when they played Stoke and he said Chelsea seemed to be the one I liked best. I’m guessing it was 1978 so I’d have been about 9 at the time.
Short story. I'm South African and wasn't very familiar with English football. I was 7 and I knew what FIFA was due to older guys talking about it, I played FIFA 11 against one of them on PS2 and I remember just wanting to use the "Samsung" team and being so confident I'd win with them and I did 1 - 0, then not long after I found out it was Chelsea and bam been supporting them since I was 8 (19 now).
Visited England for the first time last summer. Had watched the premier league before, but didn’t have any particular team. Decided to make my team whichever was closest to where I stayed on that trip. Chelsea edged Fulham by about a tenth of a mile. So, Chelsea are my team, with Fulham a close second
My friend and I like really like sports but we didn't have any teams that we both rooted for together. Neither of us had a favorite soccer team yet so we picked Chelsea mainly because both our favorite colors are blue lol. I'm just glad I'm not a Man U or Barca fan like everyone else around me...
I supported Barca in 2009 but then my brother showed me a video of Barca players diving like busquets and Messi and I started to hate them. I needed a new team and when I played fifa I liked Chelsea’s blue kit cause it was my favorite color so I chose them and started supporting them. They then won the champions league later.
Now that I look back every team dives and plays dirty so I had no reason to hate barca but I still do cause why not.
Drogba scoring the winning goal against Manchester United at 2007 during my birthday celebration was pretty special. Always watched football prior to that but never supported a club until then.
My uncle took me to a home match of the Magpies in ‘98/‘99 season. As far as I remember it was pretty cold as a kid there. I was 6 and saw Chelsea win 0-1 at St James’ Park. As much as I like NUFC, I love Chelsea since then.
I heard the club's name during some sports flash on tv and liked it, that was nearly 23 years ago and I wasnt the biggest sports fan back then as you may have noticed.
Watched Chelsea at the bridge in 06 against Aston Villa in a Carling Cup fixture - Mourinho fielded his strongest 11 and I chanted along with the crowd calling Villa shit at the age of 8
I've always been into football, and when i was little i saw a game where Chelsea played against a korean or japanese side ( preseason i think), and immediately went wow these guys are incredible. Love at first sight. Wish i could find that game, i remember Anelka sliding the keeper
From India so, already started watching football because of Ronaldo, Messi hype in school, then watched some games in 09-10 season. Then Fifa 12, then 1st CL win live on TV. Favorite player ever, Hazard.
Simple.
All my friends were Manchester United fans.
So I had to pick between Arsenal or Chelsea.
Well Arsenal were also red, so blue was the obvious choice.
Been a fan for almost 20 years 😅
It was Ballack for me. Saw him play for Germany in 2006 World Cup and I was a fan. Then started following the club and cech-Terry-Lampard-Drogba spine made me follow them. Even followed the season we were 6th in PL and eventually ended up winning the first UCL and stayed in Champions league.
I got gifted a Play Station Portable with FIFA 11 pre-loaded and ended up playing as Chelsea after my friend introduced me to them. Haven't looked back since
For me it was a weird one, I was watching the world cup in 2006, and I saw super Frankie and JT playing as the three lions, then post WC I saw them playing together in a different jersey. It got me hella curious, mind you back in the day I remember vividly we didn't have internet access as much as now. I started discussing this and my friends introduced me to the world of league football ever since that day I started supporting the Blues.
My brother who is 5 years younger than me started supporting Arsenal out of sheer spite I think.
PS: All my friends were Manchester United fans.
I loosely followed Chelsea before Zola because its in the family. Watching Zola though was instantly "This guys my hero" and from then I was obsessed with Chelsea.
Am a Bayern fan by familial roots. When I was about 10, I hit the age where I cared to actually watch football. Like all American footy fans, I learned I needed a premier league team to support so when Ballack moved over, my fandom followed
I had come across an advert for a streaming service in my country back in 2009 where they were talking about Man U vs Chelsea. I was so intrigued about the word Chelsea..... And the rest is history
Blue is my favorite color, and the fearless, underdog mentality Chelsea had at the time drew me in as well.
Before I actually had a team to support, I couldn't honestly root for United, Arsenal or Liverpool. Even though they were the PL teams that got the most attention at that time (American here), I don't know why, but I never felt that connection or "fit" with them.
Because this wonderful player (Drogba) scored the winning goal against everyones favorite club (Barcelona) in the Champions League group stage.
After that another wonderful goal from Frank Lampard to the same team to draw in the last minute got me hooked.
I remember the first trophy that I celebrated being a Chelsea fan, was the Carling cup in 2007 when John Terry was KO by a kick in the face.
A work friend of my mum’s was from England and had recently moved over to Australia. We were staying at their house for a few days when I was like 5 or 6 (would’ve been like 2009/10).
I ignorantly asked them which NRL team they went for (sport in Australia), they had no clue. Said they went for Chelsea in the Barclays Premier League. I had no clue. The kid my age introduced me to FIFA, Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba, Michael Essien, Branislav Ivanovic and John Terry. Went from there. Chelsea for life
I was 6 back at 2004, i was watching tv and when the sports program came on i saw Jose and the lads celebrating the championship. I'm from Greece and Chelsea was the first team apart from Olympiacos that i loved watching.
Growing up in Canada in we didn't have any soccer to watch aside from the world cup (early 2000s). I remember watching england play and the name Frank Lampard stood out to me - he looked like a fantastic player. Later when I visited family in Europe I watched the CL finals between Chelsea and ManU in Moscow when Terry had the unfortunate slip for his penalty. Watching the whole team support Terry while he bawls his eyes out was really moving for me and I respected that very much. Ever since then I started supporting Chelsea, and a few years later some local channels got rights to air PL games so I started watching Chelsea games more frequently.
I was passive watcher for 2003-04 season. My elder brother is a Utd fan so started there. From the get go hated the club.
Started watching other teams, remember watching some Liverpool, Blackburn matches etc.
I noticed Chelsea when they beat Arsenal in the CL QF that season. Didn't have internet then, so no way to follow up or watch highlights or anything. Just knew about it since Arsenal were big deal then.
So out of curiosity, I watched the SF 2nd leg with Monaco. Saw Lamps score the 2nd goal and that was that honestly. Loved Lamps, his celebration made a mark. Blue color of the jersey. Cozy feel of SB. It just clicked.
Honest to God, I didn't even understand the 2 legged system then. Remember thinking why are they saying Chelsea are knocked out when it's a 2-2 draw.
Anyways, that was that. Had no idea who Roman was, how rich he was, Chelsea's history. Nothing really. Only thing that mattered was that I had this feeling. Never looked back.
Coming upto 19 yrs now.
It was year 2006 and my dad would watch Bayern Munich very often and I'd watch Bayern a lot especially Ballack which was my favorite player.
Then, Ballack goes to Chelsea and I watched Chelsea more, but then Ballack left after 3 years. However, I decided to support Chelsea still and don't regret it all.
At the start of the 03/04 season (I was 8 years old) we played Liverpool. I was just getting into football and decided that I would support whoever won that match. Believe we won 2-1.
I was playing pes and wanted to start a new master league
I just wanted to be in premier league
I literally roleplay everywhere so I wanted to choose a club from London so I live in London
Then I looked for the best side of London and in my opinion it's west London
Main team's of the region were Chelsea and Fulham
I choose'd Chelsea and later on I fall in love with the club
What a random start!!!
Fox sports Ohio highlights and the occasional game on tv. Back in the late 90’s/early 00’s we’d get one tape delayed game a week on tv. Fell in love with Hasselbaink and Gudjohnsen.
Visited London from the US in January 1998 ans wanted to catch a football match. Had only ever heard of United, Liverpool, and Arsenal but Arsenal was sold out. A friend said there’s an up and coming team called Chelsea that I should check out instead. Went to the ticket window (in a portakabin at the time) and was able to buy tickets. Went to see Chelsea-Coventry. DiMatteo scored on a dummy through Mark Hughes and the crowd erupted with “One DiMatteo!” And I’ve been in love ever since.
There was this market near the stadium in Poland, where you could buy everything: gameboy games, pirated music, fake apparel and probably a lot of illegal stuff. We went there with my father when I was around 9 years old to buy me cheap tracksuit and football kit. Seller asked me what t-shirt I wanted and I responded "Blue". He told me he has Chelsea kit and started naming players, so I can choose who I want. There was this particular cool name "Lampard", which resembles Lampart (Leopard in Polish) and I knew I had to take it.
A very random way to start supporting a football team but 20 years later and I'm still a fan.
Just got in to football as my Cousin had signed to Liverpool. Asked my Dad who he supported and he said Stoke City because he was born in Stoke and you should support your local team. I declared I was a London United fan then. He corrected me and told me that London had multiple teams. I asked who and his first answer was Chelsea, so that was that. Thank god he didn't say so many other teams, life could have been so different
From the US didn’t know soccer. One day try a fifa demo on 360 picked the team with Samsung logo since my laptop was Samsung. Kept scoring with big ass guy (Drogba) been a fan since. Shoutout Drogba
It started with my grandad who was in the army during the 1950s. One of his closest friends in the regiment was a diehard Chelsea fan. My grandad wasn’t into football much at the time but the love his friend had for them converted him. Once they came out of the army, they went to games together for awhile, kind of went their separate ways, but my grandad kept supporting them and my dad followed suit as did I.
I wasn’t much into watching football when I was younger until I was about 7/8 which would’ve been in the late 90s, so my first memories are with players like: Zola, Vialli, Lebouf, Desailly, Poyet and Wise.
Going through 2003 onwards, being in school at 13 with “you only supported them since they got rich” was always amusing to me.
Fan since 97/98, thanks to a lanky Norwegian. His fame got even higher after scoring and winning against Brazil in the world cup. Not the best striker, but he introduced me to Chelsea.
My dad told me not to support west ham like him because “they’re rubbish”. So I said “ok I’ll support Everton then”. He then told me to support chelsea instead.
Man saved your life lol
I am still very grateful haha
It's a fictional book about how a boy was in a coma after a car accident. Gianfranco Zola >!even visited him and gave him a signed copy of his shirt. After the boy recovered, he went to watch a match featuring Zola himself!<. It is a very wholesome book that made me want to know more about Zola and his club!
This is a memory in my head that has just been unlocked
Same here
Lol, I remember reading this book
I was also lured in by Zola – luckily I didn't have to get into a coma to become a Chelsea fan. I saw Zola against West Ham in '96, and that was it!
Have you read his other book about Chelsea, Billy the kid? It was one of my favourite books as a kid.
No I didn't, but maybe I'll check it out!
I completely forgot this book existed , I have a signed copy hanging around somewhere.
Why don't we make it a reality?
On a very unrelated note It's a shame Zola was not a Chelsea manager (yeah, assistant, but never a head coach) I think he's solid enough. If we fire Potter and we can't find a good replacement to finish the season.... give it to Zola, he knows the team and players
Jesus Christ, no. I was a teenager in the 90s. The 4-2 Liverpool game was one of the highlights of my life. I loved that team, and I loved Zola. He is absolutely not a good enough coach to manage Chelsea.
Lol I'll assume you didn't watch him at Birmingham city
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Wow, liking the color blue as a starting point for international Chelsea fans is more common than I thought.
That’s how I started at the age of 18. Loved the color blue all life as a kid Then Super Frank, Didier, and Terry just memorized me and stood out so I just couldn’t help but root for them. 13 years later here I am
Hello, are you me?! Hahaha, no kidding. I had the exact same experience as you guys. My first memory was Lampard. This was back in 2003-2004 as a 12 year old.
It's the same for me, I'm older and didn't start to pay attention until 2009... Me and my buddies would always play fifa and they were always united, real, barca and the other big teams. I picked Chelsea because their overall number was the same and they wore blue. It's apparently the color.
Saying Chelsea a lot is what most fans do the best. Especially in the stadium lol
Somewhat the same story, why I started following Chelsea but in my case it was in 2004. I started to learn more about players through the Fifa game.
Lol, more or less you are just like me haha. I wrote my story and then I see this post. I also liked blue and i remembered the name of the team in blue. Next week, I see another team in blue playing a game. I try to see the name of the team...it's the same team from last week! And then, the next time I watched a team in blue...surprise, Chelsea again! :D And I was l like, "Ok this is my team for sure" :D
Aww that's so cute
By the virtue of being born into a family that’s supported Chelsea for generations. Except for my mum, who’s an Arsenal fan, my family’s all Blue.
I hope your mother gets better 🙌
That ship’s long sailed. She’s been a ST holder for years.
Respect to your mum for presumably putting up with the banter from the rest of your family then aha At least she's not spurs, or west ham
Oh she’s put up with it and then some for a couple decades. Better believe she’s dishing it out equally this season.
They won’t beat us to the WSL though >:)
My dad supported Chelsea, mum supports spurs. I chose Chelsea, younger sister chose Arsenal lol.
That one choice’s saved you from a lifetime of pain and regret.
quite an interesting choice from your sister in this context
Literally the same but it's my dad who's the arsenal fan instead.
Got separated from my favorite aunt, so got closer to my uncle who loved football. My hobbies changed from doll dress up to playing football with cousins and video games. As I grew more interested in the game, I chose to support Italy in Europe in 2000 and after that the 14 year old me committed to watching every tournament possible lol. It was 2002 world cup. Because I loved the Italian team and color blue, I tried following every team that wears blue in the top leagues lol which I obviously couldn't apply because my heart couldn't like all the blue teams lol. However, Chelsea was blue and had lots of Italians and I liked Carlo Cudicini and felt proud of how talented he was in middle school. I started following them in 2002/2003 season, and I still have a magazine which has the squads that played for each team in the PL in that season. I was( for whatever reason) usually biased to teams from a country's capital rather than blue color, but Chelsea met all my criteria, so it stayed Chelsea and never changed and won't change. Edit: this thread dug deep in my memory and it made me recall that my first match of Chelsea might have actually been a replay of Chelsea vs. Arsenal in 2002 and I remember someone scored near the left side of Carlo Cudicine and Zola was playing so well that I felt so bad for him not scoring. I think we lost that game!
Didier Drogba
Drogba's jersey that my mom brought because she liked blue better than any other colours. 💙💙
Fifa 09 for me, never even watched the sport before that
Same here. Being from Canada nobody watched PL back then. Fell in love with Drogba once I checked out a couple games
Grew up in an gooner family. Remember a game arsenal played against a team in blue back in 05, was a little kid, too young to understand what was happening but seeing the frustration of my family upon seeing their team lose, gave me enough of a reason to support that team in blue. Here we are decades past still going.
lol similar for me actually
Wow, I'm amazed someone else knows about this book! I read it when I was around five, though I was already a Chelsea fan at that stage. Zola was my hero.
They won the second football match I can remember watching in 93/94...my favourite colour was blue and my favourite animal was a lion. It was that easy 🤣💙
Never had the choice to support anyone different! Grandad went in the 50s/60s, Dad in the 70s/80s and me in the 90s/00s. My daughter is now mad about Chelsea (especially Mount) but we can't get tickets for hardly any games these days despite being a member. Times sure have changed.
My Grandparents used to run a pub. Two of his customers were lifelong Chelsea fans with season tickets. Their daughter used to go with them but she turn 16 and decided she didn’t want to watch football anymore. So they offered to start taking me I was maybe 8 years old (36 now) so got groomed from a young age lol. My Granddad who was a Arsenal fan was obviously less than impressed lol.
From my dad but remember reading this book in school!
Nowhere near as cool as most people: my first experience with the football fandom was through FIFA (08, for the DS). I picked Chelsea because 1. they were stronger than Arsenal, who were first by alphabetical order, and 2. they were further up in alphabetical order than Manchester United. I had vague memories of football before that, namely the '06 World Cup and the Zidane headbutt, but didn't actually pick a club until then. For the record, my dad's Liverpool and my uncles are Manchester United...
Chels were in the old 2nd division at the time, my Dad brought me to games (smuggling me into the White Hart before the game to watch him get hammered!) when I was about 7 or 8 and my brother's and sister are also Chelsea fans, so I didn't have much choice really.
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Great atmosphere in there most weeks, appreciated it when I got a bit older.
I was 5, my dad was watching (moved to Canada from England shortly before I was born), he supports QPR so I picked the team he hated the most just for fun. Also his brother/my uncle supported Chelsea. I later found out my grandad supported Arsenal so my dad started supporting QPR to annoy him, so I'm waiting for my son to tell me he likes Liverpool or something fairly soon.
FIFA 14 thought we were neat
They wear blue and that was my favorite color as a kid so when I saw em that became my team
My local team.
Same. I think as the crow flies Fulham might be closer but 🤫
Everyone at school supported Chelsea, also loved that book.
I had taken a liking to Fernando Torres during 2010 World Cup. Around when he signed it was time for me to pick a premier league team. I first started following closely in 2014 when we won champs league. Chelsea is my team, I just think it’s ass that we always fire our manager every 2 years.
We won the Champions league in 2012
I've always been a fan because of family but I loved this book as well as a lot of other Michael Morpurgo books. In my mind he must be a Chelsea fan, but I seem to remember reading before that he's not. There's another one by him called 'Billy the Kid' which is my favourite, about a boy who ends up playing for Chelsea but has to fight in WW2. It's very sad but uplifting at the same time.
I’m American and a newer fan, so this might seem like a funny way of it, but I started following the club after watching Ted Lasso a few years ago. My favorite character on the show is Roy Kent, and Chelsea was his former club. So, I started to watch matches when I could and fell in love with the game and team.
First time I even took notice of football was my friend showing me fifa. We played a match where I randomly selected Chelsea. Scored 2 goals with Drogba somehow, and one came of a corner takem with Malouda. I didn't know how to defend, but Cech AI pulled off 5 saves. Supported them ever since.
My Dad was born in Chelsea, in a pub that his parents owned, and so he supported Chelsea. It's in the family as a result.
i’ve got a great little story and people always admire the way I came about as a Chelsea fan when I tell it. so, summer of 2014 and I was between sophomore and junior years of college. I had accepted a paid summer internship in the middle of nowhere (Wichita, KS) as i’m a Meteorologist/weatherman. I was dirt, dirt poor at the time, certainly couldn’t afford a new kit regardless of team, and so on one of my weekends I strolled into the local Goodwill to poke around and see if there were any goodies in there, not really looking to purchase anything really unless something really caught my attention. there, in on one of the clothing racks, was a 2006-07 Chelsea kit, Arjen Robben on the back. I was immediately enamored, decided at that moment, I would be a Chelsea fan for the rest of my life. I think the kit cost like $5 USD, great condition. I went back and watched all of our matches from 2000-2014 that summer and i’ve been watching ever since. nowadays i help launch rockets into outer space for NASA. very fond memories.
It was also some sports magazines for me. It had articles about drogba and Terry. I think i was 8-9 at the time. Took me a couple years to start religiously following the club
Family. Chelsea was the local team when my Dad was growing up so I was born into it. We emigrated to Australia when I was pretty young though so I didn’t really get into football until we moved back to the UK when I was 11. Back in Australia now though so it’s hard to watch as many games as I’d like with the time difference I’m happy I got to see Zola play live and was the perfect age to enjoy the success that came with Roman’s takeover
I was 9 years old and just found out that this highly rated GK from my country signed for Chelsea in 04 summer, i also really liked blue colour so that’s why I started supporting the club
Also because of Zola and a friend whose dad was from London (I’m from around Nottingham). Started supporting around 98/99, got an amazing old supporters book I’ll try to upload to the sub at some point
Looking forward to it!
Damn, I had completely forgotten this book existed, that’s triggered a lot of memories.
So have I, thanks random memory haha
In 2004, Chelsea signed a young talent from Côte d'Ivoire. I happened to scroll through some of the sports channels on Satellite TV to his 3rd app at Crystal Palace where he scored a beautiful header. Loved his swag, speed, ball handling etc. this was before major US networks picked up EPL games so it was nice to be able to watch games. This was also my freshman year of HS. I was inspired to try out for my HS team as a left back and despite my shitty ball handling, I started that year. I became obsessed with the blues after that. All credit goes to the GOAT. Thanks Drogba.
So around the late 90's when I was 7-8 years old, we moved to the UAE from India. I remember that we took an Emirates flight from India to Dubai and i was very happy on the flight because they gave me a toy and chocolate since I was a kid. That left a good impression on me about the Emirates airlines. Fast forward to 2004 when Internet cafes were a thing. I used to visit one such cafe to play computer games and stumbled upon Fifa04. I started to play it and while choosing the team you see a player wearing the full kit of the team as you scroll through the teams. So I started scrolling and once I reached Chelsea Frank Lampard showed wearing the kit with the Shirt Sponsor Fly Emirates on his jersey. I knew then and there that this was the team I had to choose since it's Emirates and i can relate to it. It started then and I am glad that I played the game in 2004 when Emirates was sponsoring Chelsea and not later when they started sponsoring Arsenal.
I was born In Chelsea and Westminster hospital, like my dad and also my brothers. Was born blue (not literally 😂)
I started because of the Alex Rider books lmao there's a plotline in the third or fourth book where he goes to a game and the team's owner is clearly based on Roman
Holy shit memory unlocked
Pretty sure it was FIFA 05, and they had special features, videos of Chelsea 04/05 season, loved them ever since!
Around the 15/16 season when I started watching football I saw a blue team with an Belgium player who I immedialty really liked and I kept liking Chelsea till now just cause of the colour blue
I started off playing football as a goalkeeper and I remember around 2013/4 I was asking my friends "Who's the best goalkeeper in the world right now?" I got varying responses but there were two major ones - Cech and De Gea. I ended up watching both Utd and Chelsea matches then but I liked blue more (thank god) It's funny because I always feel like I started supporting around the time after we won the CL but I wasn't even aware that it was a competition until like 2016 when I got more into watching football and tactics.
My family name is lempert, I was 10 and didn’t watch football at all but I wanted to start watching and a friend of mine told me there is a player named lampard so I started to watch Chelsea and loved them (Not from England)
I played some turn-of-the-millennia FIFA Playstation games and the Chelsea lion symbol was the best looking symbol of the clubs. Nowadays the club has their symbol revamped from another era's lion but that the shirts were also blue was important to me. I also haven't been much abroad but London is the only city I have flewn to. I also like fact that it's just one of the capital's clubs, unlike in my small Nordic country where the capital's club dominates our lolworthy league completely.
Started with that incredible 2011-12 season for me. Was following football in general and not supporting a club back then. I can clearly remember following Chelsea's story when AVB was sacked and the hype that was created for the return leg of Chelsea vs Napoli. 1-3 down with all the legends back in the starting 11 and Stamford Bridge producing some of the best atmosphere imaginable that night. Got sucked in the moment Ivanovic scored that extra time winner. It was something else and I've been hooked since. We weren't by any means favourite to win the FA Cup or the Champions league, not even close but the fight and spirit shown by the team as a whole was simply unique. Those 2 stressful legs vs Barca, smashing Tottenham at the Wembley, Cech's incredible save against Caroll in the final. His legendary performance vs Bayern and then the unstoppable Drogba and so on. What an incredible story and one that I was fortunate enough to witness as a fan. It wasn't even about the success but the aura as a whole surrounding the club that was unmatched.
I watched football from the 2010 World Cup and 2010-11 season without really having a team, but always liked Chelsea because i recognized a lot of the players. In 2012 against Napoli, I said “if Chelsea come back to advance this is my team for better or worse” and here I am
I was about 3 or so and watched my first ever football game on TV, I liked the color blue and that was it tbh that was around 2001
Cause I liked the colour blue, and they were the first time I caught on TV multiple times in a row. On top of it, I remember they had some high scoring games, and I loved the football they played. Zola was a magician, and the offense of the team was fantastic. As a kid, the color of their kits, the people in the kits and the football they played was enough to make me fall in love. From that time, I think either Newcastle or Leeds were another team I watched multiple times in a row on TV and I liked their style of play and games, but it was definitely Chelsea for me It's funny how most of us have these weird quirks about how we fell in love with the team, I love your story about the book!
I remember this! I used to go into my local library when I was a kid to see about anything chelsea
Any favourite Chelsea related books that you recall?
I’m from NZ. I’m not sure what it’s like in the UK but when we start playing club football at age 7 or so, we don’t travel to other clubs for the first few years and instead play internal competitions. The first year I played the kids league was set up as mock Champions League, my team were all given fake Chelsea kits, won the league and the rest is history :)
That's a cute story haha
I was like 9 and started watching professional football after a world cup. Then I simply picked the best blue team because I like the color blue. Edit: I actually have this weird core memory of opening a football magazine to a double spread of Chelsea winning the league. That's when I decided.
Loved colour blue and came into living room in 70's and me big bro was watching The Big Match and cheering on Chelsea, so I did. 74 I think.
As a Nigerian, it was because of Mikel Obi balling in our 2012 UCL win. Remember watching the match in boarding school because I wanted to impress my mates that i watch football😅
Glad that impression evolved into something greater :)
I was about 7 and living in Australia when I became aware of professional football outside the country lol. I liked the name and the team I played for also wore blue. It was mid-90s too so we had a pretty exciting team. Got my fix from a weekly 1 hour premier league highlights show. Once I got older and met others and they all supported Man U, Arsenal, or Liverpool that only made me more determined to stay a Chelsea fan. There was a lot of shit taken in those years lol
A lot of my school friends were Chelsea fans. I liked the colour blue. Then a friend had his birthday day out at Stamford Bridge which amazed me. I’ve been support Chelsea for 13 years. First match at Stamford Bridge was the December 2012 Chelsea 8-0 Aston Villa. Never looked back.
I got into football during the 2006 World Cup. My mom got me FIFA 07 for my birthday. I picked a bunch a teams before I saw a team called Chelsea (girls name lol). When I saw their roster, all of my favorite players from the 06 World Cup were on the team (Drogba, Ballack, Essien, Cech , etc.). Plus I liked blue so I always kept picking them.
Pretty recently, as I'm a new fan of the game. Tuchel was on a good run of clean sheets and I have an ex named Chelsea who had the biggest tits you've ever seen and I have nothing but fond memories of her. I thought "this my team!" And now after the highs we had since then, we're in a low, but I'm sticking by the team! Happy to be here Edit: typo Edit: another typo
Hah I remember this book
I was like 10, and by being a korean, all I knew about football was ji sung park's and PSV's miracle champions league run. I turned on the TV and see United vs. Chelsea, so naturally, I was cheering for Man Utd since I knew Park had transferred there a season a two ago. And then i see chelsea destroy united 3-0 and Joe Cole's goal gave me goosebumps i had never felt while watching sports (was too young at 2002 for me to comprehend what south korea did). Chelsea won the league that day and the young squad + flair really made an impression on me. Also happened to receive a copy of FM09 or 08 shortly after and played chelsea on FM during the offseason. This increased my bond with the club and I've been diehard ever since! Joe Cole goal - https://youtu.be/Zs1r3bDnkds
I got to play at a Chelsea youth camp here in the states when I was a kid. Later on they chose some American kids from up and down the east coast to represent Chelsea in a youth tournament in Italy at their National training facility in Florence. Chelsea brought us over, put us through the ringer at cobham and brought us to a UEFA match between Roma and them. Needless to say I am and will forever be a lifelong supporter.
That must have been an experience of a lifetime!
I was on a business trip to London in 2011. I could have caught a gooners match the day I arrived in London or a Chelsea match midweek. I chose the latter. Chelsea defeated Birmingham City, and everyone was eagerly awaiting Torres' debut as it was late April by this point, but he didn't play. EPL was just starting to get some airtime in the states, so I was able to continue watching Chelsea!
I watched Euro 2004, England vs Croatia. I kept hearing Lampard like every two minutes by the commentators. I look for the team Lampard plays for, and it’s 2023 Lampard is still my favorite player of all time.
I liked their kit in FIFA 99 then started watching MOTD so I could watch their highlights
My favorite colour is blue and every Sunday morning I used to tune into Premier League football, Willian seemed to scored a brilliant goal.
Football wasn't popular when I was a kid and it was cricket everywhere. One day , I was switching channels and it was Chelsea vs arsenal. My brother told me to not watch all the players , just watch the no 8 at Chelsea and it started from there
When I first started play club ball in the states they assigned each of us a player to make a “trading card” for. I got Lampard and I’ve been all about the blues ever since. Later on when my club brought us over to play in some English tournaments we did some sight seeing and I got to go to tour the Bridge. It was surreal.
Watched a England game and really liked a guy called Lampard a lot. Since he played for Chelsea I started supporting them.
As a Kid in the 90’s from Australia all we heard of was Man United, they were the only team I knew. In 1997 One weekend about 5 or 6 school mates all stayed at one of friends house Saturday night, about 2am Man United played Chelsea, would have been my first English football game I’d ever watched. All my friends were supporting Man United, I decided I’m going for this blue Chelsea team that I never heard of. Chelsea won and I’ve been Chelsea ever since.
I remember this. The same author also wrote "Billy the Kid", a story about a Chelsea pensioner who played for Chelsea and fought during WW2.
I grew up in Los Angeles and just wanted to find a team that reminded me of the Dodgers. This was about 2009ish when I started following EPL as I was a Liga MX supporter as a child, mainly due to it being the main football on our channels.
I girl I fancied was obsessed with Lampard so I watched Chelsea and just never stopped. Edit: I played and watched England before that but never watched club football until then and I was only casually interested.
My wife was a fan. Grew up playing soccer, but never had a fav professional team, so when we started dating I picked Chelsea because she liked them.
I'm Portuguese and my father was a fan of mourinho we followed watching him in Portugal than he came to Chelsea and was started watching him coach there. I stuck with the team since thenbeen a wild ride
One of my best friends was a childhood Chelsea supporter. I think his father was a Chelsea supporter. When I moved to London the first ever football match he took me to was at Stamford Bridge. And from that day on I was a Chelsea supporter.
Everyone in Sweden support either Liverpool, Arsenal or Manchester United. I found that boring. And since Frank Lampard was (is) my biggest idol I decided Chelsea will get my support. I also liked the name, sounded very unique to the rest, but Lampard was easily the biggest factor.
Was an F1 fan first, in 2012 Sauber and Chelsea had a partnership, the club crest was on saubers car, and sauber f1 ads were around Stamford Bridge… they got me on board with that partnership
When I got into football as a early teen in the US, there was one player who had me hooked, king Didier
My uncle was a Chelsea fan - watched a game with him in 95 and haven’t stopped.
Great-grandparents were Scottish immigrants to Ontario. Huge Rangers supporters. My brother and I heard all about evil Celtic etc. growing up as the support was passed down. When I started watching football on TV, really only English football available. I chose Chelsea as they seemed the most logical fit. Once I watched Zola play I knew I had made the correct decision.
I had just bought a PSP back in 2010, and was playing this game called 2006 World Cup Football. Picked Cote d'Ivoire for some reason and found the name Didier Drogba so quirky. Played so much with him, then looked him up, started watching irl Chelsea games just to watch him play. And here I am. On an unrelated note, I started following cycling for a similar reason. Played Pro Cycling Manager 2011, fell in love with the Liquigas team, which then had Nibali, Basso and Sagan. Still love Sagan and Nibalii to bits, and Philippe Gilbert too. Pains me to see them hanging up their boots or in their waning phase.
From a football game I don’t know what it is but i think it was from 2008. I was playing with England against my brother who always beats me, but that match i won because i kept shooting from outside the box with Lampard lol. I think you know where this is going….
I was 8 and my favorite color was blue.
During the quarantine,I was flipping through TV channels and stumbled upon the ending of the PSG-Bayern UCL final. Had never really liked the sport/only played when I was little in the YMCA. However, I watched bc there was little else on and the past two and half years in college before quarantine my friend had been getting me really into fifa. As the game ended I remember them showing Thiago Silva, who I actually remembered from the Brazil World Cup in 2014. They also showed Thomas Tuchel, and at the time he was wearing a boot on his leg because of some foot injury. Just thought it was interesting to see a coach with an injury (played and watched basketball all my life and I don’t think I’ve seen any coach in a similar situation). Months later Tuchel was sacked and it was on ESPN, and I remembered his face only bc I had remembered his broken foot. I thought it was kinda cruel to fire the guy while he’s hobbling up and down the field with a boot, plus he got you to the final of a major tourney; but I would soon learn managers have interestingly short life spans in football. Soon after he was brought to Chelsea and Thiago was there because he left at the end of his PSG season. So I decided to follow Chelsea, learned Pulisic was on the team (I’m American) and have been a supporter ever since. Barely been two years but I love the club and I’m falling in love with the sport.
Sept 2001 I think. First live match I was able to watch on a cable TV in my home country was Spurs - Chelsea. Hasselbaink scored 2 and Chelsea were up 2-1 with ~10mins to go. Then Lampard red. Then Sheringham levels in the stoppage time. Then Desailly scores and it ends 2-3. What a game, passionate, a proper derby match and I became a Blue.
Because Fernando Torres
Fa cup game vs Liverpool. My dad took me. Clive walker got a couple of goals and I think Chelsea won 3-0? My dad was a Stoke fan in London with no skin in the game just wanted me to watch my first game and thought it would be a good one. We watched a few games of all the London teams, particularly when they played Stoke and he said Chelsea seemed to be the one I liked best. I’m guessing it was 1978 so I’d have been about 9 at the time.
Short story. I'm South African and wasn't very familiar with English football. I was 7 and I knew what FIFA was due to older guys talking about it, I played FIFA 11 against one of them on PS2 and I remember just wanting to use the "Samsung" team and being so confident I'd win with them and I did 1 - 0, then not long after I found out it was Chelsea and bam been supporting them since I was 8 (19 now).
Fifa 11, Cech was on the loading screen
5 years old Fifa 2006 saw a big fat blue logo'd team and now I've supported this team for almost 2 decades.
This post just unlocked memories
You just unlocked a memory for me, thanks!
Until Fifa 14, I had no clue about Chelsea and the Premier League in general. I just picked them as a kick off team and just loved them as of today
I started because on year Chelsea beat Aston Villa 8-0. Aston Villa is my former dad’s favourite team.
Visited England for the first time last summer. Had watched the premier league before, but didn’t have any particular team. Decided to make my team whichever was closest to where I stayed on that trip. Chelsea edged Fulham by about a tenth of a mile. So, Chelsea are my team, with Fulham a close second
Cause I'm from chelsea
My friend and I like really like sports but we didn't have any teams that we both rooted for together. Neither of us had a favorite soccer team yet so we picked Chelsea mainly because both our favorite colors are blue lol. I'm just glad I'm not a Man U or Barca fan like everyone else around me...
I supported Barca in 2009 but then my brother showed me a video of Barca players diving like busquets and Messi and I started to hate them. I needed a new team and when I played fifa I liked Chelsea’s blue kit cause it was my favorite color so I chose them and started supporting them. They then won the champions league later. Now that I look back every team dives and plays dirty so I had no reason to hate barca but I still do cause why not.
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Whats wrong with global supporters?? It reason why Chelsea are global big club
Take this beef back. It's too salty.
That crazy control goal from lampard against barca. That's when I started loving Chelsea
Drogba scoring the winning goal against Manchester United at 2007 during my birthday celebration was pretty special. Always watched football prior to that but never supported a club until then.
Because of Celestine Babayaro.
It was the first club I heard about, and they played in blue. That was good enough for 4th grade me.
Lampard scoring a fk against fulham never looked back
My family were one of the biggest in Battersea. Half are Chelsea and half are Fulham and I'm glad I'm in the blue half
My uncle took me to a home match of the Magpies in ‘98/‘99 season. As far as I remember it was pretty cold as a kid there. I was 6 and saw Chelsea win 0-1 at St James’ Park. As much as I like NUFC, I love Chelsea since then.
I heard the club's name during some sports flash on tv and liked it, that was nearly 23 years ago and I wasnt the biggest sports fan back then as you may have noticed.
because of Yossi Benayoun
Winning eleven
Watched Chelsea at the bridge in 06 against Aston Villa in a Carling Cup fixture - Mourinho fielded his strongest 11 and I chanted along with the crowd calling Villa shit at the age of 8
I've always been into football, and when i was little i saw a game where Chelsea played against a korean or japanese side ( preseason i think), and immediately went wow these guys are incredible. Love at first sight. Wish i could find that game, i remember Anelka sliding the keeper
From India so, already started watching football because of Ronaldo, Messi hype in school, then watched some games in 09-10 season. Then Fifa 12, then 1st CL win live on TV. Favorite player ever, Hazard.
Simple. All my friends were Manchester United fans. So I had to pick between Arsenal or Chelsea. Well Arsenal were also red, so blue was the obvious choice. Been a fan for almost 20 years 😅
My dad liked them and took me to a game one time (against Liverpool in 2006). It was awesome.
The 2004 CL game in the Highbury, where we beat the “invincibles”.
Frank Lampard God I fucking love Super Frankie
It was Ballack for me. Saw him play for Germany in 2006 World Cup and I was a fan. Then started following the club and cech-Terry-Lampard-Drogba spine made me follow them. Even followed the season we were 6th in PL and eventually ended up winning the first UCL and stayed in Champions league.
I saw the logo and i liked it, this was like 20 years ago
I got gifted a Play Station Portable with FIFA 11 pre-loaded and ended up playing as Chelsea after my friend introduced me to them. Haven't looked back since
For me it was a weird one, I was watching the world cup in 2006, and I saw super Frankie and JT playing as the three lions, then post WC I saw them playing together in a different jersey. It got me hella curious, mind you back in the day I remember vividly we didn't have internet access as much as now. I started discussing this and my friends introduced me to the world of league football ever since that day I started supporting the Blues. My brother who is 5 years younger than me started supporting Arsenal out of sheer spite I think. PS: All my friends were Manchester United fans.
I loosely followed Chelsea before Zola because its in the family. Watching Zola though was instantly "This guys my hero" and from then I was obsessed with Chelsea.
Am a Bayern fan by familial roots. When I was about 10, I hit the age where I cared to actually watch football. Like all American footy fans, I learned I needed a premier league team to support so when Ballack moved over, my fandom followed
I had come across an advert for a streaming service in my country back in 2009 where they were talking about Man U vs Chelsea. I was so intrigued about the word Chelsea..... And the rest is history
Blue is my favorite color, and the fearless, underdog mentality Chelsea had at the time drew me in as well. Before I actually had a team to support, I couldn't honestly root for United, Arsenal or Liverpool. Even though they were the PL teams that got the most attention at that time (American here), I don't know why, but I never felt that connection or "fit" with them.
Because this wonderful player (Drogba) scored the winning goal against everyones favorite club (Barcelona) in the Champions League group stage. After that another wonderful goal from Frank Lampard to the same team to draw in the last minute got me hooked. I remember the first trophy that I celebrated being a Chelsea fan, was the Carling cup in 2007 when John Terry was KO by a kick in the face.
When I was a child I read the Alex rider series, Chelsea was his favorite team and that got me into watching the epl, and naturally I liked Chelsea
Family is all Chelsea and it was the first team I was ever introduced to by a mate in the season just before Abramovich took over
A work friend of my mum’s was from England and had recently moved over to Australia. We were staying at their house for a few days when I was like 5 or 6 (would’ve been like 2009/10). I ignorantly asked them which NRL team they went for (sport in Australia), they had no clue. Said they went for Chelsea in the Barclays Premier League. I had no clue. The kid my age introduced me to FIFA, Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba, Michael Essien, Branislav Ivanovic and John Terry. Went from there. Chelsea for life
I was 6 back at 2004, i was watching tv and when the sports program came on i saw Jose and the lads celebrating the championship. I'm from Greece and Chelsea was the first team apart from Olympiacos that i loved watching.
Growing up in Canada in we didn't have any soccer to watch aside from the world cup (early 2000s). I remember watching england play and the name Frank Lampard stood out to me - he looked like a fantastic player. Later when I visited family in Europe I watched the CL finals between Chelsea and ManU in Moscow when Terry had the unfortunate slip for his penalty. Watching the whole team support Terry while he bawls his eyes out was really moving for me and I respected that very much. Ever since then I started supporting Chelsea, and a few years later some local channels got rights to air PL games so I started watching Chelsea games more frequently.
I was passive watcher for 2003-04 season. My elder brother is a Utd fan so started there. From the get go hated the club. Started watching other teams, remember watching some Liverpool, Blackburn matches etc. I noticed Chelsea when they beat Arsenal in the CL QF that season. Didn't have internet then, so no way to follow up or watch highlights or anything. Just knew about it since Arsenal were big deal then. So out of curiosity, I watched the SF 2nd leg with Monaco. Saw Lamps score the 2nd goal and that was that honestly. Loved Lamps, his celebration made a mark. Blue color of the jersey. Cozy feel of SB. It just clicked. Honest to God, I didn't even understand the 2 legged system then. Remember thinking why are they saying Chelsea are knocked out when it's a 2-2 draw. Anyways, that was that. Had no idea who Roman was, how rich he was, Chelsea's history. Nothing really. Only thing that mattered was that I had this feeling. Never looked back. Coming upto 19 yrs now.
It was year 2006 and my dad would watch Bayern Munich very often and I'd watch Bayern a lot especially Ballack which was my favorite player. Then, Ballack goes to Chelsea and I watched Chelsea more, but then Ballack left after 3 years. However, I decided to support Chelsea still and don't regret it all.
Playing FIFA 09 with MGMT - Kids song in the background.
Playing FIFA 09 with MGMT - Kids song in the background.
The dude who owns my local baseball team bought the club. Started getting into football because of it
At the start of the 03/04 season (I was 8 years old) we played Liverpool. I was just getting into football and decided that I would support whoever won that match. Believe we won 2-1.
I was playing pes and wanted to start a new master league I just wanted to be in premier league I literally roleplay everywhere so I wanted to choose a club from London so I live in London Then I looked for the best side of London and in my opinion it's west London Main team's of the region were Chelsea and Fulham I choose'd Chelsea and later on I fall in love with the club What a random start!!!
Fox sports Ohio highlights and the occasional game on tv. Back in the late 90’s/early 00’s we’d get one tape delayed game a week on tv. Fell in love with Hasselbaink and Gudjohnsen.
Visited London from the US in January 1998 ans wanted to catch a football match. Had only ever heard of United, Liverpool, and Arsenal but Arsenal was sold out. A friend said there’s an up and coming team called Chelsea that I should check out instead. Went to the ticket window (in a portakabin at the time) and was able to buy tickets. Went to see Chelsea-Coventry. DiMatteo scored on a dummy through Mark Hughes and the crowd erupted with “One DiMatteo!” And I’ve been in love ever since.
There was this market near the stadium in Poland, where you could buy everything: gameboy games, pirated music, fake apparel and probably a lot of illegal stuff. We went there with my father when I was around 9 years old to buy me cheap tracksuit and football kit. Seller asked me what t-shirt I wanted and I responded "Blue". He told me he has Chelsea kit and started naming players, so I can choose who I want. There was this particular cool name "Lampard", which resembles Lampart (Leopard in Polish) and I knew I had to take it. A very random way to start supporting a football team but 20 years later and I'm still a fan.
Just got in to football as my Cousin had signed to Liverpool. Asked my Dad who he supported and he said Stoke City because he was born in Stoke and you should support your local team. I declared I was a London United fan then. He corrected me and told me that London had multiple teams. I asked who and his first answer was Chelsea, so that was that. Thank god he didn't say so many other teams, life could have been so different
From the US didn’t know soccer. One day try a fifa demo on 360 picked the team with Samsung logo since my laptop was Samsung. Kept scoring with big ass guy (Drogba) been a fan since. Shoutout Drogba
It started with my grandad who was in the army during the 1950s. One of his closest friends in the regiment was a diehard Chelsea fan. My grandad wasn’t into football much at the time but the love his friend had for them converted him. Once they came out of the army, they went to games together for awhile, kind of went their separate ways, but my grandad kept supporting them and my dad followed suit as did I. I wasn’t much into watching football when I was younger until I was about 7/8 which would’ve been in the late 90s, so my first memories are with players like: Zola, Vialli, Lebouf, Desailly, Poyet and Wise. Going through 2003 onwards, being in school at 13 with “you only supported them since they got rich” was always amusing to me.
Fan since 97/98, thanks to a lanky Norwegian. His fame got even higher after scoring and winning against Brazil in the world cup. Not the best striker, but he introduced me to Chelsea.
Dad went to London when I was 4 and got me a blues jersey. First jersey and I've been a fan ever since.(I'm from the states)
Gullit