True Blues — Chelsea FC
ΕΛ

Season: 1997–98

Premier League

🥈🏅
  • League Cup
  • Cup Winners' Cup

League

A double-cup season for the ages.

Division
Premier League (Tier 1)
Manager
Ruud Gullit (until 12 February) Gianluca Vialli (from 12 February)
Top scorer (league)
Gianluca Vialli / Tore André Flo (11)
Top scorer (all comps)
Gianluca Vialli (19)
Avg. league attendance
33,333

Cups & Europe

FA Cup
Third round
League Cup
Winners
Europe
Cup Winners' Cup: Winners
Other
Charity/Community Shield: Runners-up

Notes

A double-cup season for the ages. Chelsea finished fourth in the Premier League — 20 wins, 3 draws, 15 defeats, 71–43, 63 points (20×3+3) — and lifted both the League Cup and the Cup Winners’ Cup under a mid-season change of command. Home form was 13–2–4 (37–14); away 7–1–11 (34–29). Goal difference +28 left them two points behind Liverpool on 65 and clear of Leeds United on 59. Arsenal were champions with 78; Manchester United finished on 77. Bolton Wanderers, Barnsley and Crystal Palace went down. Ruud Gullit began the year as player-manager, then was dismissed on 12 February 1998 and replaced the same day by Gianluca Vialli. The Italian, still only thirty-three, took the dugout with Chelsea second in the table, in the League Cup semi-finals and through to the Cup Winners’ Cup quarter-finals — and within three months he had silverware at Wembley and in Stockholm. Vialli and Tore André Flo shared the league scoring lead with 11 apiece; Vialli finished top across all competitions with 19, Flo 15, Mark Hughes 13 and Gianfranco Zola 12. Summer arrivals remade the Bridge again: Ed de Goey, Flo, Gus Poyet, Graeme Le Saux, Celestine Babayaro. Highlights included Vialli’s four at Oakwell in a 6–0 of Barnsley, a 6–1 of Tottenham at White Hart Lane, and a 4–1 of Liverpool at the Bridge. The Charity Shield opened the year: Chelsea drew 1–1 with Manchester United at Wembley on 3 August (Hughes) and lost 2–4 on penalties. The FA Cup was brief — a 3–5 home defeat to the same United in the third round on 4 January. The Coca-Cola Cup, though, ran all the way. Blackburn Rovers were edged on penalties after 1–1; Southampton fell 2–1 after extra time; Ipswich Town were beaten on penalties after 2–2 at Portman Road; Arsenal were overturned 3–1 at the Bridge after a 1–2 first leg. On 29 March at Wembley, Frank Sinclair and Roberto Di Matteo scored in extra time for a 2–0 win over Middlesbrough — revenge of a sort for the FA Cup final twelve months earlier, and Chelsea’s first League Cup. Europe was the crowning glory. Slovan Bratislava were beaten 2–0 home and away in the first round — the trip to Tehelné pole still remembered in the fans’ archive. Tromsø led 3–0 in the Arctic before Vialli’s late brace cut it to 2–3, then were swept 7–1 at the Bridge. Real Betis fell 2–1 away and 3–1 at home; Vicenza led after the first leg in Italy before a 3–1 Bridge night (Poyet, Zola, Hughes) put Chelsea into the final. On 13 May at Råsunda in Stockholm, Zola came off the bench and scored the only goal against VfB Stuttgart — Chelsea’s second Cup Winners’ Cup, twenty-seven years after Athens. Crowds averaged 33,333 for home league games — high 34,845 against Bolton Wanderers on 10 May, low 29,075 versus Sheffield Wednesday on 19 April. Umbro’s royal blue with white socks, the yellow-and-sky-blue away, and Autoglass across the chest framed the double-cup year.

Kits

Home
Away
Third—

Autoglass arrived on the shirt for the Cup Winners' Cup triumph.

Illustration from hex colours (not official kit photography).

On this day (related years)

All On this day →

History

Eras, trophies, and great matches in the History section.

Explore history →

Sources

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