One of the biggest and most successful teams in English soccer over the past decade, Chelsea has enjoyed a glorious period in their history under the ownership of Roman Abramovich.
With their Russian owner now history, the club has entered an era of uncertainty that threatens to halt their success.
Whatever happens in this regard, you can be sure that the blues will look good on the field, and that is what we’re focusing on today.
The club has had some fantastic kits over the years, and we’ll be introducing you to the best Chelsea kits of all time in this piece.
Here are the 10 best Chelsea FC kits of all time.
10. 1999/01 Home Kit
We start our list at the turn of the millennium and a period in which the club began to first taste its success, with a sense that something was building around Stamford Bridge.
The club had finished 3rd in the 1998/99 Season, and the general thought was that they would be champions come to the end of the season; it was not to be tough with the club falling to 5th.
This kit is most well known for being worn in the last ever FA Cup final to be held at the old Wembley though. Its clean design by Umbro features the iconic blue with small pinstripes running throughout the jersey, the stylish-looking Autoglass sponsor helped to complete this sleek look for the FA Cup Winners.
Whilst they didn’t win the Premier League, Chelsea was propelled forward by the goals of Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and the skills of Gianfranco Zola.
9. 1884/85 Home Kit
Throughout much of their history, Chelsea has donned kits with hoops running around them (they still often have jerseys featuring the design today), and the 1984/85 home kit by Le Coq Sportif is a prime example of this.
The French company designed a simple and sponsorless jersey for the club that was nowhere near the dizzy heights of the 2000s yet. The jersey had a mix of blue and red, with the teams’ original logo emblazoned across the chest.
It would not prove to be an iconic season in terms of events on the field though, as Chelsea stumbled to a 6th-place finish in the First Division and crashed out of the FA Cup and League Cup at the 4th round and semi-final stages, respectively.
Things were looking up, though, as the club won the golden boot for the first time in years thanks to the goals of Kerry Dixon.
8. 2020/21 Third Kit
We always like to include a curveball in our lists, and today that comes in the form of the 2020/21 Chelsea third kit. The kit was a bold move by Nike, with the club’s traditional blue colors being forced into the background by a prominent red color scheme throughout the kit.
The controversial three sponsorship took center stage on the jersey with a giant 3 being placed onto it, an alternative and pretty cool design choice, in our opinion. The print on the back of the shirt also stood out nicely, with new signings Timo Werner and Kai Havertz both looking the part in it.
On the field, it would become a famous year for the club as they took their 2nd UEFA Champions League title by beating fellow Premier League side Manchester City in the final. It was a surprise win for the blues, who failed to make any real impact in the domestic competitions under Frank Lampard.
7. 2003/05 Away Kit
Worn for two seasons, this sleek Umbro kit featured three different colors that came together to form one of the most iconic Chelsea kits of all time and were used in one of the most famous times in the club’s history.
After a relatively poor season in 2003/04, the club sacked their manager Claudio Ranieri and appointed Portuguese manager Jose Mourinho from Porto.
What followed was an immense rise to the pinnacle of English Soccer and a first-ever Premier League title. The club also completed a domestic double by winning the League Cup.
As for the jersey itself, the white color scheme was broken up by a centralized parting made up of black and blue, akin to the jerseys of Inter Milan. Perhaps it’s famous for what it represents, but either way, we believe it deserves a spot on this list.
6. 2014/15 Away Kit
This was a year that signified massive changes at Stamford Bridge, as it would be the last title that the ‘old guard’ of John Terry and Didier Drogba would win before leaving the club. This was also the first season that Chelsea played without Frank Lampard in the team for 15 years.
This Adidas away kit was a lovely addition to an already appealing team to watch, the dazzling footwork of Eden Hazard and Oscar proved to be too much for anyone else to handle, and so was this kit.
Featuring a black main body that faded into blue at the bottom of the jersey and continued into the stripes of the shorts and socks, the kit is already one of the hardest to find on the internet and is worth a lot on the resale market.
Chelsea also won the League Cup to complete another domestic double.
5. 1997/99 Home Kit
It’s back to Umbro for the next kit on our list, and it’s the 1997/99 Home Kit that takes 5th today. This is another classy effort from Umbro that has a ’90s swagger to it as well as the quality finish that you would expect from the English manufacturers.
The kit is, of course, all blue and features a lovely white color and a slither of yellow down the side of the jersey. There are also the famous Autoglass sponsors on the center of the jersey which just adds to the classic feel of this kit.
On the field, Chelsea enjoyed a solid period under Dutch legend Ruud Gullit and later Gianluca Vialli, with them winning three trophies in two seasons.
In the first season, Gullit led the club to the FA Cup title before Vialli took over in 1998 to help Chelsea on their way to the League Cup and UEFA Cup Winners Cup.
4. 2022/23 Home Kit
The latest effort from Nike takes the 4th spot on this list as it simply does what a Chelsea kit needs to do without being too over the top or basic in equal measure.
The jersey once again features the three logos to the center (a soon to be iconic sponsor in our opinion) with the collar remaining simple, but with a lighter shade of blue to the rest of the jersey giving it a nice finish.
It doesn’t look like this will be a well-remembered kit, however, as the club is undergoing some major changes that could derail much of the progress of the past couple of decades.
The loss of Roman Abramovich due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine has meant that American owner Todd Boehly has taken over.
Boehly has since relieved Thomas Tuchel as manager and brought in Englishman Graham Potter, a move that many found baffling. Time will tell if it was a good decision.
3. 2008/09 Third Kit
A year after their UEFA Champions League final defeat to Manchester United in Moscow, Chelsea had to regroup and regather in an attempt to replicate the form that took them all that way in the first place.
They managed to do so and were duly rewarded by success in the FA Cup under Guus Hiddink. The kit itself was another yellow one that has proven popular with fans over the years.
It features a centralized Adidas logo that was seen as strange at the time but has since become appreciated, alongside the Samsung sponsor in blue and stripes of the same color running along the sleeves of the jersey.
2. 2003/05 Home Kit
Before Emirates became synonymous with Chelsea’s London rivals Arsenal, they actually sponsored the blues for a while and were a very popular addition the club’s jerseys.
Umbro once again knocked it out the park with this simple design in 2003, the kit which marked the start of an amazing period of success with Didier Drogba at the forefront.
The Ivorian began his Chelsea career after moving from Marseille in the Summer transfer window as Abramovich began to really splash the cash in his second season as owner.
As we touched upon earlier, this spending would deliver both the Premier League and League Cup trophies to Stamford Bridge.
1. 1970/71 Home Kit
Undeniably the quintessential Chelsea home kit, it is nothing more than a complete blue ensemble with no sponsor or manufacturer’s logo anywhere on the kit. It’s crazy how weird it looks without sponsors!
All that the jersey features are the old-style Chelsea logo that is made up of the team’s lion mascot and the letter ‘CFC’ below.
It may not be the most elaborate design as we see with more recent kits, but it didn’t need to be in those days. Chelsea played in blue, so a blue kit was all they needed, and we love that.
It would be a good season for the club too, with them winning the FA Cup whilst wearing this home kit. Simple, sleek, and blue, it really was the most complete Chelsea kit ever.