Season: 2001–02
Premier League
League
Sixth again — but Ranieri’s first full season, and an FA Cup final at the Millennium Stadium.
- Division
- Premier League (Tier 1)
- Manager
- Claudio Ranieri
- Top scorer (league)
- Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (23)
- Top scorer (all comps)
- Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (29)
- Avg. league attendance
- 39,030
Cups & Europe
- FA Cup
- Runners-up
- League Cup
- Semi-finals
- Europe
- Fairs Cup / UEFA Cup / Europa League: Second round
Notes
Sixth again — but Ranieri’s first full season, and an FA Cup final at the Millennium Stadium. Chelsea finished 17–13–8, 66–38, on 64 points (17×3+13), twenty-three behind Double winners Arsenal (87), with Liverpool second on 80 and Manchester United third on 77. Home form was 11–4–4 (43–21); away 6–9–4 (23–17). Goal difference +28 left Leeds fifth on 66 and Newcastle fourth on 71. Ipswich, Derby and Leicester went down. Summer remade the midfield: Frank Lampard from West Ham, Emmanuel Petit and Boudewijn Zenden from Barcelona, William Gallas from Marseille. Dennis Wise left for Leicester, Gus Poyet for Tottenham, Frank Leboeuf for Marseille. Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink scored 23 in the league (29 all competitions) — second only to Thierry Henry’s 24 — with Eiður Guðjohnsen on 14 league / 23 all comps. Highlights included 3–0 at Old Trafford, 4–0 over Liverpool at the Bridge, and Hasselbaink’s hat-trick in a 4–0 thrashing of Tottenham. Domestic cups went deep. The FA Cup ran Norwich (0–0, 4–0 replay), West Ham (1–1, 3–2 replay — Terry’s late winner), Preston 3–1, Tottenham 4–0 in the quarter-final, and Fulham 1–0 in the semi at Villa Park (Terry again). In the final on 4 May, Arsenal won 2–0 (Parlour 70, Ljungberg 80) before 73,963 in Cardiff; Roberto Di Matteo, retired mid-season after a broken leg, led the team out. The Worthington Cup reached the semi-finals — Coventry, Leeds and Newcastle cleared — then Tottenham overturned a 2–1 Bridge lead with a 5–1 second leg at White Hart Lane (agg 3–6). Europe ended earlier. UEFA Cup first round saw Levski Sofia swept 3–0 and 2–0; in the second round six first-team players refused to travel to Tel Aviv after September 11, Hapoel won 2–0, and a 1–1 Bridge draw (Zola) sent Chelsea out 1–3 on aggregate. Sixth place still meant another UEFA Cup ticket when Arsenal’s cup route took the Champions League slot. Crowds averaged 39,030 for home league games — high 41,725 against Manchester United, low 33,504 against Charlton. Umbro’s royal blue with white socks, the white away, amber third, and Emirates across the chest for the first time framed the final run.
Kits
Emirates' first season.
- 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/2001%E2%80%9302_Chelsea_F.C._season
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001%E2%80%9302_FA_Premier_League
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001%E2%80%9302_FA_Cup
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_FA_Cup_Final
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001%E2%80%9302_Football_League_Cup
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001%E2%80%9302_UEFA_Cup
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudio_Ranieri
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Floyd_Hasselbaink
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chelsea_F.C._managers
- https://www.fchd.info/CHELSEA.HTM
- https://www.bounder.friardale.co.uk/Summaries/2001.htm
- https://bounder.friardale.co.uk/Results/2001.htm
- https://www.bounder.friardale.co.uk/Managers.htm
- https://www.bounder.friardale.co.uk/Chelsea%20Managers/Claudio%20Ranieri.htm
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/uefa_cup/1606617.stm
- https://www.theguardian.com/football/2001/nov/01/match.sport3
- https://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Chelsea/Chelsea.htm
- https://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Chelsea/Chelsea-change-kits.html