In Chinese culture, the zodiac cycle lasts for 12 years, with each year represented by a different animal. In 2025, it is the turn of the Wood Snake, a symbol of wisdom and transformation.

As the club wishes all supporters a joyous Lunar New Year, our men’s and women’s first teams will wear exclusively designed warm-up shirts to commemorate the celebration. The limited-edition Nike Year of the Snake Collection is available here.

This will be the ninth Year of the Snake that the Blues have contested competitive matches in, and we will be hoping to enjoy some standout games like those that have come before…

Chelsea 4-0 Blackpool, 26 December 1929 – Earth Snake

Downing the leaders on Boxing Day

In a time when teams played the same team on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, the fixture scheduling paired the Pensioners with Blackpool, a promotion-chasing rival.

Andy Wilson earned the Blues a creditable point at Bloomfield Road on Christmas Day before both sides headed south to London to renew hostilities.

A crowd of 53,819 packed out Stamford Bridge and watched as Wilson netted twice more, with further goals from George Mills – the only fresh face in the team – and George Pearson earning a commanding victory against the Division Two leaders. The result and performance ignited a promotion push that would, come April 1930, prove successful.

‘Chelsea played extremely good football all through the first half of the game,’ read The Times match report. ‘The whole team had a thorough understanding of what was being done at the moment and the logical outcome of every plan of attack and defence, and on that form they might beat any team in the country.’

Chelsea line-up: Sam Millington, George Smith, Tommy Law, William Russell, George Rodger, Sid Bishop, Jackie Crawford, Andy Wilson, George Mills, Harold Miller, George Pearson

Chelsea 3-1 Manchester City, 29 April 1953 – Water Snake

At a crossroads

It all came down to this. Chelsea simply had to beat Manchester City in our final game of the 1952/53 season to leapfrog Stoke and avoid relegation to the Second Division. The Potters had already played their last fixture, while Man City stood two points and two places clear of us.

A crowd of almost 50,000 packed inside Stamford Bridge for this Wednesday evening showdown, and they saw Ted Drake’s Blues seize the initiative with two goals in four first-half minutes. John Harris fired home from the penalty spot and the amateur Jim Lewis quickly doubled our advantage.

City’s Johnny Williamson made things nervy, but Scotsman John McNichol re-established our two-goal advantage on the hour, and that was enough to ensure survival. Within two years, Drake had guided Chelsea to our first league championship win, with many of the starters on that decisive evening in April 1953 playing a key role in our success.

Chelsea line-up: Bill Robertson, John Harris, Stan Willemse, Ken Armstrong, Jack Saunders, Bill Dickson, Eric Parsons, Johnny McNichol, Jim Lewis, Roy Bentley, Frank Blunstone

Leicester 0-0 Chelsea, 5 April 1965 – Wood Snake

Securing silverware!

In the second leg of the League Cup final, Chelsea travelled to Filbert Street holding a 3-2 advantage given to us by Eddie McCreadie’s late winner at the Bridge.

What followed was a dour goalless draw in stark contrast to the thrilling first leg, but it mattered not a jot. For the first time in our history we had won the League Cup, and Tommy Docherty’s Diamonds – average age 24 - deservedly had some silverware to show for their vibrant brand of football.

Chelsea line-up: Peter Bonetti, Marvin Hinton, Eddie McCreadie, Ron Harris, John Mortimore, Frank Upton, Bert Murray, John Boyle, Barry Bridges, Terry Venables, Bobby Tambling

Wolves 1-1 Chelsea, 7 May 1977 – Fire Snake

Back in the big time

Wolves and Chelsea were neck and neck at the top of Division Two for much of the 1976/77 campaign, so it was fitting the teams went head-to-head in the penultimate fixture a few months into the Year of the Fire Snake. A win for Chelsea would send McCreadie’s side above Wolves with a game to go; anything else and the title was Wolves’.

A draw would suit both teams, however, and that was how it finished. A sublime pass from Ray Wilkins released Tommy Langley to put the Blues ahead early on, only for the hosts to level with ten minutes remaining. So while the title wasn’t ours, promotion was guaranteed.

‘I’ve not always enjoyed being manager,’ said McCreadie, who took over in April 1975, ‘but I must admit it brought me a great deal of happiness today.’

Chelsea line-up: Peter Bonetti, Gary Locke, John Sparrow, Charlie Cooke, Steve Wicks, Ron Harris, Ian Britton, Ray Wilkins, Steve Finnieston, Ray Lewington, Tommy Langley

Chelsea 4-0 Millwall, November 1989 – Earth Snake

Top of the tree

There were no shortage of Chelsea victories in the Year of the Earth Snake as the Blues blitzed Division Two in the first half of 1989 before impressively establishing ourselves back in the top flight.

For our highlight, we’ve plumped for a 4-0 thrashing of Millwall at the Bridge in November 1989 in which Kerry Dixon and Kevin Wilson netted a brace apiece. The significance of the win extended beyond simply beating a London rival; it sent us top of the First Division with 12 games played, ahead of Liverpool and Arsenal.

Alas, we couldn’t maintain our title charge, finishing fifth, but the campaign did prove we could mix it with the big boys once more. By the time the Premier League was born a few years later, Chelsea were firmly a top-flight team.

Chelsea line-up: Dave Beasant, Steve Clarke, Tony Dorigo, Graham Roberts, David Lee, Ken Monkou, Alan Dickens, Peter Nicholas, Kerry Dixon, Kevin Wilson, Micky Hazard

Chelsea 4-0 Liverpool, 16 December 2001 – Metal Snake

The Blues at their best

The most recent Year of the Metal Snake, between January 2001 and February 2002, typified the Chelsea team of that era as we bounced between the sublime and the ridiculous. Capable of beating anyone one weekend, and losing to just about anyone the next.

That was no better illustrated than December 2001, when either side of a chastening 1-0 home defeat to Charlton we thumped Man United 3-0 at Old Trafford and then took the league leaders Liverpool apart at Stamford Bridge with a devastating display of attacking football.

Graeme Le Saux's first goal in almost four years was followed by further strikes by Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Sam Dalla Bona, with a late goal from Eidur Gudjohnsen providing the crowning glory on an afternoon in which Carlo Cudicini also saved a penalty.

Chelsea line-up: Carlo Cudicini, Mario Melchiot, John Terry, William Gallas, Celestine Babayaro, Mario Stanic (Slavisa Jokanovic 67), Frank Lampard, Sam Dalla Bona, Graeme Le Saux (Bolo Zenden 90), Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (Gianfranco Zola 88), Eidur Gudjohnsen

Chelsea 2-1 Benfica, 15 May 2013 – Water Snake

Making European history – again!

Chelsea travelled to Amsterdam for the penultimate fixture of the longest season in our history still hunting silverware. We had lost the Super Cup and Club World Cup finals, been knocked out of the domestic cup competitions at the semi-final stage, and fallen well short in the Premier League.

The defence of our Champions League crown had ended in the groups, with the consolation a second chance at European glory in the form of the Europa League. It was a chance we took!

In the final against Benfica, Fernando Torres put us ahead only for the Portuguese side to level from the spot. It looked like we were heading for extra-time, only for Branislav Ivanovic to loop in an injury-time header and win UEFA’s second competition for the very first time.

Chelsea line-up: Petr Cech, Cesar Azpilicueta, Branislav Ivanovic, Gary Cahill, Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard, David Luiz, Ramires, Juan Mata, Oscar, Fernando Torres

You can learn more about our Nike Year of the Snake Collection by clicking below and the limited-edition collection is available here.