Season: 1999–2000
Premier League
- FA Cup
League
Fifth in the Premier League — and Chelsea’s first Champions League campaign ended in the quarter-finals.
- Division
- Premier League (Tier 1)
- Manager
- Gianluca Vialli
- Top scorer (league)
- Tore André Flo & Gus Poyet (10 each)
- Top scorer (all comps)
- Tore André Flo (19)
- Avg. league attendance
- 34,532
Cups & Europe
- FA Cup
- Winners
- League Cup
- Third round
- Europe
- European Cup / Champions League: Quarter-finals
Notes
Fifth in the Premier League — and Chelsea’s first Champions League campaign ended in the quarter-finals. Under Gianluca Vialli the Blues finished 18–11–9, 53–34, on 65 points (18×3+11), twenty-six behind champions Manchester United (91) and eight behind Arsenal (73). Home form was 12–5–2 (35–12); away 6–6–7 (18–22). Goal difference +19 left Liverpool fourth on 67 and Leeds third on 69. Wimbledon, Sheffield Wednesday and Watford went down. Vialli managed every match of the season (he would leave only in September 2000). Summer arrivals remade the midfield again: Didier Deschamps from Juventus, Chris Sutton from Blackburn for a club-record fee, Jes Høgh, Mario Melchiot and Gabriele Ambrosetti. George Weah arrived on loan from Milan in January. League scoring was shared by Tore André Flo and Gus Poyet on 10 apiece; Flo finished on 19 across all competitions, Poyet on 18. Zola managed only four in the league but thrived in Europe. The silverware came at Wembley. Chelsea won the FA Cup for the third time — and the last final under the Twin Towers — beating Aston Villa 1–0 on 20 May 2000, Roberto Di Matteo capitalising on a David James fumble. The path ran Hull City 6–1, Nottingham Forest 2–0, Leicester City 2–1, Gillingham 5–0, Newcastle United 2–1 in the semi-final (Poyet twice), then Villa. The Worthington Cup ended cold: a 0–1 home defeat to Huddersfield Town in the third round. Europe was the adventure of the year. Chelsea’s first Champions League run began with Skonto Riga (3–0, 0–0), topped a first group with Milan, Hertha Berlin and Galatasaray — including a 5–0 in Istanbul and a famous Wise equaliser at San Siro — then finished second behind Lazio in the second group (Feyenoord, Marseille, Lazio). In the quarter-finals Barcelona were beaten 3–1 at the Bridge (Zola free-kick, Flo twice) before a 1–5 reverse at the Camp Nou ended the dream 4–6 on aggregate. Crowds averaged 34,532 for home league games — high 35,113 against Everton, low 31,591 against Bradford City. Umbro’s royal blue with white socks, the clean all-white away, the yellow third, and Autoglass across the chest framed the first Champions League campaign and a Wembley cup.
Kits
Same away and third, FA Cup won at the old Wembley.
- https://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Chelsea/Chelsea.htm
- https://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Chelsea/Chelsea-change-kits.html
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelsea_F.C.
Illustration from hex colours (not official kit photography).
On this day (related years)
History
Eras, trophies, and great matches in the History section.
Explore history →Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chelsea_F.C._seasons
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999%E2%80%932000_Chelsea_F.C._season
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999%E2%80%932000_FA_Premier_League
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999%E2%80%932000_FA_Cup
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999%E2%80%932000_Football_League_Cup
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999%E2%80%932000_UEFA_Champions_League
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_FA_Cup_Final
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gianluca_Vialli
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tore_Andr%C3%A9_Flo
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustavo_Poyet
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chelsea_F.C._managers
- https://www.fchd.info/CHELSEA.HTM
- https://www.bounder.friardale.co.uk/Summaries/1999.htm
- https://bounder.friardale.co.uk/Results/1999.htm
- https://www.bounder.friardale.co.uk/Managers.htm
- https://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Chelsea/Chelsea.htm
- https://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Chelsea/Chelsea-change-kits.html