Trying to rank Chelsea football club’s greatest ever players is a fantastic way to annoy thousands of people you’ve never even met. Drop your list into a group chat or bring it up at a wet, freezing bus stop, and suddenly everyone is a tactical genius who thinks your opinions are completely daft.
Chelsea makes this job twice as hard. This is a club with two distinct histories crammed together: the gritty, muddy, old school days of the 20th century, and the glittering, trophy hoarding juggernaut of the modern era. How do you compare a 1970s hardman to a modern millionaire winger?
Well, I’ve had a proper go at it. No bias, just facts sprinkled with a bit of common sense. If your favourite player didn’t make the cut, write a letter to your local MP, because my mind is made up.
Let the countdown begin.
10. Cesar Azpilicueta
In modern football, £7 million barely buys you a reserve defender’s left boot. Chelsea paid that for Azpilicueta in 2012, and he went on to win every single major trophy available in club football. They called him “Dave” because no one could spell his name at first, but he ended up as captain. He wasn’t flashy, he didn’t do silly stepovers, he just tucked his shirt in and gave wingers a miserable afternoon for over 500 games. A proper, dependable bargain.
9. N’Golo Kante
There is a running joke that 70% of the Earth is covered by water, and the rest is covered by N’Golo Kante. The man simply never stopped running. But he wasn’t just a marathon runner in football boots; his reading of the game was pure genius. He won the Premier League, the Champions League, and the World Cup, usually while smiling. While other footballers bought massive sports cars, he drove a second hand Mini Cooper. You simply cannot hate him.
8. Ashley Cole
Opposing wingers used to develop mysterious, sudden illnesses when they saw Ashley Cole’s name on the Chelsea teamsheet. He was an absolute brick wall. Easily the best left back England has ever produced, he won four FA Cups and a Champions League during his time in blue. He had this annoying habit of perfectly timing a slide tackle right as the striker thought they were through on goal. A complete nightmare to play against.
7. Peter Osgood
Long before the billionaires arrived in West London, Peter Osgood was the absolute coolest bloke at Stamford Bridge. He was so iconic they eventually built a statue of him outside the stadium. The main fact you need to know about the “King of Stamford Bridge” is from the 1970 FA Cup: Chelsea won the trophy, and Osgood scored in every single round of the tournament. You just don’t see that kind of magic anymore.
6. Gianfranco Zola
Before the massive money rolled in, Chelsea fans voted Gianfranco Zola as the club’s greatest ever player in 2003. He was a tiny Italian wizard who made giant English defenders look like their shoelaces were tied together. Scoring 80 goals for the club, including some of the most ridiculous free kicks you will ever see. He played football like he was just having a laugh with his mates in the park, and the fans absolutely worshipped him for it.
5. Petr Cech
In the 2004-05 season, Petr Cech conceded just 15 goals in the Premier League. Let that sink in. You concede more goals than that playing fifa on the beginner setting. He kept 24 clean sheets that year, a record that still stands today. Even after a terrible head injury forced him to wear a protective helmet, he remained brave enough to dive at the feet of flying strikers. The ultimate safety net.
4. Eden Hazard
If you wanted to take the ball off Eden Hazard, your best bet was to just foul him. For seven years, he was the most entertaining player in the country. He scored 110 goals for Chelsea, and half of them seemed to involve him picking the ball up, weaving past four grown men as if they were training cones, and rolling it into the net. He made the hardest sport in the world look entirely effortless.
3. John Terry
“Captain, Leader, Legend.” It is written on a banner at the stadium, and it is entirely accurate. Terry came right through the Chelsea youth system and stayed to play 717 matches. He wasn’t the fastest runner on the pitch, but his brain was always three seconds ahead of everyone else. He was so brave he would have tried to head away a flying fridge if it meant keeping a clean sheet. Oh, and he scored 67 goals. As a centre back. Incredible.
2. Didier Drogba
If a mad scientist tried to build the perfect striker in a lab, they would just create Didier Drogba. He was a massive, powerful machine who bullied defenders for fun. His record in massive games is frankly ridiculous: 10 goals in 10 cup finals. When a trophy was on the line, he simply refused to let Chelsea lose. His late header in the 2012 Champions League final rescued the club, and his penalty won it. The ultimate big game player.
1. Frank Lampard
Let’s get straight to the numbers. 211 goals. Frank Lampard is Chelsea’s all time top goalscorer. He scored more goals than any of the legendary strikers the club ever bought. The crazy part? He was a midfielder. Scoring 20 goals a season from the middle of the pitch is just greedy, but he did it year after year. He had a spooky ability to arrive in the penalty box at the exact perfect second, completely unmarked. He worked harder than anyone else, and it made him the greatest player ever to wear the shirt.
There you have it. The definitive top ten.
Chelsea’s history is packed with completely different characters. You’ve got absolute warriors who would run through brick walls, and little magicians who could land a ball on a 50 pence piece from forty yards away. The club has changed a lot over the years, but they have never been boring.
If this list has ruined your day because I left out your favourite, then that’s just the beauty of the game. We all see it differently.
For more of my sport reviews, articles, and inevitable football arguments, you can catch my latest pieces over at the sports archives.
