List of Chelsea F.C. managers
The first manager of Chelsea Football Club was John Tait Robertson, appointed in 1905. The current manager is former player Frank Lampard, appointed in July 2019.
Chelsea have had 28 permanent managers, and nine interim managers. Roberto Di Matteo has served as both interim manager and permanent manager.
Chelsea's first ever manager was Scottish wing-half John Tait Robertson, who continued to play for the club until he resigned a year later. David Calderhead is Chelsea's longest-serving manager, holding the position from 1907–33, spanning 966 matches. Chelsea's shortest reigning permanent manager is Danny Blanchflower, who was in charge for 32 games. Statistically, Chelsea's least successful manager is also Blanchflower.
The first manager under whom Chelsea won a major trophy was Ted Drake, who guided the club to the league championship in the 1954–55 season. Drake led Chelsea to its first league title in 1955, while Sexton managed the club to their first European honour, a UEFA Cup Winners' Cup triumph in 1971 and Vialli guided Chelsea to win the 1998 UEFA Super Cup.
Mourinho has won the most domestic titles, whereas Ancelotti led Chelsea to their first league and FA Cup "Double". Di Matteo won the first UEFA Champions League for Chelsea in 2012. A year after, Benítez led the club to win the UEFA Europa League, becoming the first club to hold two major European titles simultaneously and one of five clubs, and the first British club, to have won all three of UEFA's major club competitions.
List of managers
- Figures correct as of 1 August 2020. Includes competitive matches only.
M = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against
| Picture | Name | Nationality | From | To | M | W | D | L | F | A | Win% | Honours | Notes |
| John Tait Robertson | 1 August 1905 | 27 November 1906 | 54 | 33 | 10 | 11 | 126 | 57 | 61% | – | - | ||
| William Lewis | 27 November 1906 | 1 August 1907 | 27 | 17 | 5 | 5 | 54 | 25 | 63% | – | - | ||
| David Calderhead | 1 August 1907 | 8 May 1933 | 966 | 385 | 239 | 342 | 1376 | 1305 | 40% | – | - | ||
| Leslie Knighton | 8 May 1933 | 19 April 1939 | 269 | 92 | 69 | 108 | 419 | 446 | 34% | – | - | ||
| Billy Birrell | 19 April 1939 | 31 May 1952 | 293 | 97 | 77 | 119 | 410 | 462 | 33% | – | - | ||
| Ted Drake | 1 June 1952 | 30 September 1961 | 426 | 156 | 103 | 167 | 771 | 772 | 37% | see below | - | ||
| Tommy Docherty | 1 October 1961 | 6 October 1967 | 303 | 142 | 65 | 96 | 526 | 422 | 47% | see below | - | ||
| Ron Suart | 6 October 1967 | 23 October 1967 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 0% | – | - | ||
| Dave Sexton | 23 October 1967 | 3 October 1974 | 371 | 164 | 107 | 100 | 569 | 430 | 44% | see below | - | ||
| Ron Suart | 3 October 1974 | 16 April 1975 | 34 | 8 | 12 | 14 | 38 | 62 | 24% | – | - | ||
| Eddie McCreadie | 16 April 1975 | 1 July 1977 | 97 | 37 | 33 | 27 | 141 | 133 | 38% | – | - | ||
| Ken Shellito | 7 July 1977 | 13 December 1978 | 66 | 15 | 19 | 32 | 77 | 115 | 23% | – | - | ||
| Danny Blanchflower | 14 December 1978 | 11 September 1979 | 32 | 5 | 8 | 19 | 34 | 68 | 16% | – | - | ||
| Geoff Hurst | 13 September 1979 | 23 April 1981 | 81 | 35 | 19 | 27 | 108 | 89 | 43% | – | |||
| Bobby Gould | 23 April 1981 | May 1981 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0% | – | - | ||
| John Neal | 28 May 1981 | 11 June 1985 | 203 | 84 | 61 | 58 | 326 | 253 | 41% | see below | - | ||
| John Hollins | 11 June 1985 | 6 March 1988 | 145 | 56 | 38 | 51 | 199 | 217 | 39% | see below | - | ||
| Bobby Campbell | 6 March 1988 | 12 May 1991 | 165 | 77 | 47 | 41 | 287 | 233 | 47% | see below | - | ||
| Ian Porterfield | 11 June 1991 | 15 February 1993 | 90 | 31 | 28 | 31 | 106 | 119 | 34% | – | - | ||
| David Webb | 15 February 1993 | 11 May 1993 | 13 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 19 | 18 | 38% | – | - | ||
| Glenn Hoddle | 4 June 1993 | 10 May 1996 | 157 | 53 | 54 | 50 | 192 | 182 | 34% | – | |||
| Ruud Gullit | 10 May 1996 | 12 February 1998 | 83 | 41 | 18 | 24 | 157 | 109 | 49% | see below | |||
| Gianluca Vialli | 12 February 1998 | 12 September 2000 | 143 | 76 | 38 | 29 | 223 | 123 | 53% | see below | |||
| Graham Rix | 13 September 2000 | 17 September 2000 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 50% | – | - | ||
| Claudio Ranieri | 17 September 2000 | 31 May 2004 | 199 | 107 | 46 | 46 | 358 | 197 | 54% | – | |||
| José Mourinho | 2 June 2004 | 19 September 2007 | 185 | 124 | 40 | 21 | 330 | 119 | 67% | see below | |||
| Avram Grant | 20 September 2007 | 24 May 2008 | 54 | 36 | 13 | 5 | 97 | 36 | 67% | – | |||
| Luiz Felipe Scolari | 1 July 2008 | 9 February 2009 | 36 | 20 | 11 | 5 | 66 | 24 | 56% | – | |||
| Ray Wilkins | 9 February 2009 | 15 February 2009 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 100% | – | |||
| Guus Hiddink | 16 February 2009 | 30 May 2009 | 22 | 16 | 5 | 1 | 41 | 19 | 73% | see below | |||
| Carlo Ancelotti | 1 June 2009 | 22 May 2011 | 109 | 67 | 20 | 22 | 241 | 94 | 61% | see below | |||
| André Villas-Boas | 22 June 2011 | 4 March 2012 | 40 | 19 | 11 | 10 | 69 | 43 | 48% | – | |||
| Roberto Di Matteo | 4 March 2012 | 21 November 2012 | 42 | 24 | 9 | 9 | 43 | 23 | 57% | see below | |||
| Rafael Benítez | 21 November 2012 | 27 May 2013 | 48 | 28 | 10 | 10 | 99 | 48 | 58% | see below | |||
| José Mourinho | 3 June 2013 | 17 December 2015 | 136 | 80 | 29 | 27 | 245 | 121 | 59% | see below | |||
| Steve Holland | 17 December 2015 | 19 December 2015 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 100% | – | |||
| Guus Hiddink | 19 December 2015 | 16 May 2016 | 27 | 10 | 11 | 6 | 52 | 34 | 37% | – | |||
| Antonio Conte | 3 July 2016 | 13 July 2018 | 106 | 69 | 17 | 20 | 212 | 102 | 65% | see below | |||
| Maurizio Sarri | 14 July 2018 | 16 June 2019 | 63 | 39 | 13 | 11 | 112 | 58 | 62% | see below | |||
| Frank Lampard | 4 July 2019 | present | 54 | 29 | 9 | 16 | 101 | 73 | 54% |
Managers with honours
| Name | Nat | Tenure | Honours |
| Ted Drake | 1952–1961 | 1955 First Division 1955 FA Charity Shield | |
| Tommy Docherty | 1961–1967 | 1965 Football League Cup | |
| Dave Sexton | 1967–1974 | 1970 FA Cup 1971 European Cup Winners' Cup | |
| John Neal | 1981–1985 | 1984 Second Division | |
| John Hollins | 1985–1988 | 1986 Full Members Cup | |
| Bobby Campbell | 1988–1991 | 1989 Second Division 1990 Full Members Cup | |
| Ruud Gullit | 1996–1998 | 1997 FA Cup | |
| Gianluca Vialli | 1998–2000 | 1998 Football League Cup 1998 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1998 UEFA Super Cup 2000 FA Cup 2000 FA Charity Shield | |
| José Mourinho | 2004–2007 2013–2015 | 2005 Football League Cup 2005 Premier League 2005 FA Community Shield 2006 Premier League 2007 Football League Cup 2007 FA Cup 2015 Football League Cup 2015 Premier League | |
| Guus Hiddink | 2009 2015–2016 | 2009 FA Cup | |
| Carlo Ancelotti | 2009–2011 | 2009 FA Community Shield 2010 Premier League 2010 FA Cup | |
| Roberto Di Matteo | 2012 | 2012 FA Cup 2012 UEFA Champions League | |
| Rafael Benítez | 2012–2013 | 2013 UEFA Europa League | |
| Antonio Conte | 2016–2018 | 2017 Premier League 2018 FA Cup | |
| Maurizio Sarri | 2018–2019 | 2019 UEFA Europa League |