Season: 2002–03
Premier League
League
Fourth — and a Champions League ticket on the last afternoon of the season.
- Division
- Premier League (Tier 1)
- Manager
- Claudio Ranieri
- Top scorer (league)
- Gianfranco Zola (14)
- Top scorer (all comps)
- Gianfranco Zola (16)
- Avg. league attendance
- 39,784
Cups & Europe
- FA Cup
- Sixth round
- League Cup
- Fifth round
- Europe
- Fairs Cup / UEFA Cup / Europa League: First round
Notes
Fourth — and a Champions League ticket on the last afternoon of the season. Chelsea finished 19–10–9, 68–38, on 67 points (19×3+10), sixteen behind champions Manchester United (83) and eleven behind Arsenal (78), with Newcastle third on 69. Home form was 12–5–2 (41–15); away 7–5–7 (27–23). Goal difference +30 kept Liverpool fifth on 64. West Brom, Sunderland and West Ham went down. Claudio Ranieri’s second full campaign was built around experience and a late run. Gianfranco Zola, in his final season at the Bridge, led the scoring with 14 league goals and 16 in all competitions — ahead of Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (11/15) and Eiður Guðjohnsen (10). Frank Lampard added 6 in the league (8 all comps). Highlights included 5–0 over Manchester City at the Bridge, 3–0 at Maine Road, and the decisive 2–1 home win over Liverpool on 11 May: Desailly equalised, Jesper Grønkjær curled the winner, and fourth place secured a Champions League third-qualifying-round place for 2003–04. It was also Zola’s farewell league afternoon. Domestic cups reached the last eight. The FA Cup cleared Middlesbrough 1–0, Shrewsbury 4–0 and Stoke 2–0, then drew 2–2 at Highbury with Arsenal before a 1–3 Bridge replay ended the run in the sixth round. The Worthington Cup beat Gillingham 2–1 and Everton 4–1 before Manchester United won 1–0 at Old Trafford in the fifth round. Europe was brief and bitter. UEFA Cup first round: Chelsea led Viking FK 2–1 at the Bridge (Hasselbaink, De Lucas), then lost 2–4 in Stavanger (Lampard, Terry; Nevland’s late second made it 4–5 on aggregate). Crowds averaged 39,784 for home league games — high 41,911 against Liverpool on the final day, low 35,237 against Birmingham. Umbro’s royal blue with white socks, the new all-black away, white third, and Emirates across the chest framed the run to fourth.
Kits
The first all-black away kit.
- 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/2002%E2%80%9303_Chelsea_F.C._season
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002%E2%80%9303_FA_Premier_League
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002%E2%80%9303_FA_Cup
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002%E2%80%9303_Football_League_Cup
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002%E2%80%9303_UEFA_Cup
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudio_Ranieri
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gianfranco_Zola
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chelsea_F.C._managers
- https://www.fchd.info/CHELSEA.HTM
- https://www.bounder.friardale.co.uk/Summaries/2002.htm
- https://bounder.friardale.co.uk/Results/2002.htm
- https://www.bounder.friardale.co.uk/Managers.htm
- https://www.bounder.friardale.co.uk/Chelsea%20Managers/Claudio%20Ranieri.htm
- https://www.uefa.com/news-media/news/0191-0f844ca5200d-78c09a2849a8-1000--england-round-up-chelsea-book-champions-league-berth/
- https://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/news/025a-0eaaf4834d92-e95af5df6ee1-1000--chelsea-slip-up-in-stavanger/
- https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/article/beating-liverpool-in-2003
- https://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Chelsea/Chelsea.htm
- https://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Chelsea/Chelsea-change-kits.html