Chelsea Football Club are an English football club based
in West London. Founded in 1905, they play in the Premier League and have spent
most of their history in the top tier of English football. Chelsea have been
English champions four times, FA Cup winners six times and League Cup winners
four times. They have also been successful in Europe, winning the UEFA Cup
Winners' Cup twice.The club had their first major success in 1955, when they won
the league championship. Chelsea won several cup competitions during the 1960s
and 1970s, but after that did not win another major title until 1997. The past
decade has been the most successful period in Chelsea’s history, capped by
winning Premier League titles in 2005, 2006 and 2010, and reaching their first
UEFA Champions League final in 2008.Despite their name, the club are not based
in Chelsea, but in neighbouring Fulham. The club's home is the 41,841 capacity
Stamford Bridge football stadium in Fulham, where they have played since their
establishment. In 2003, they were bought by Russian oil magnate Roman
Abramovich.Chelsea's regular kit colours are royal blue shirts and shorts with
white socks, the combination used since the 1960s. The club crest has been
changed several times in attempts to modernise or re-brand; the current crest,
featuring a ceremonial lion holding a staff, is a modified version of one first
adopted in the 1950s. The club has sustained the fifth highest average all-time
attendance in English football. Their average home gate for the 2009–10 season
was 41,423, the fifth highest in the Premier League. Stamford Bridge was opened
as an Athletics Stadium in 1877 with the current occupiers Chelsea FC making
residence in 1905. It has the 7th largest capacity in the Premiership and
consists of 4 stands.