The Football League Division One winners in 1954-5 was Chelsea (no P.L. in those days). As a result, they were invited by UEFA to join in the following season's inaugural European Cup competition. While the club was very interested in this new venture (for English clubs especially), there was a stumbling block! Joe Mears, the club Chairman, was also President of the Football League, so he was heavily influenced by the Football League's chairman, the forceful Alan Hardaker, who did not like the F.L. selling their soul to Europe. Chelsea therefore, bowed out of the competition and the new tournament went on without The Pensioners.
The week that the new competition got going, Chelsea lost a league game 2-1 to Blackpool, away. Sporting Lisbon, meanwhile, hosted their first European Cup match against Partizan Belgrade, which ended 3-3, with star Joao Martins scoring the first "European" goal after 14 minutes. He scored another, the last one of the match, to force a 3-3 draw.
14 clubs were in the first round: Aaarhus of Denmark, Anderlecht (Belgium), Djugarden (Sweden), Gwardia Warszawa (Poland), Hibernian (Scotland), Milan (Italy), PSV Eindhoven (Holland), Rapid Vienna (Austria), Real Madrid (Spain), Reims (France), Rot-Weiss Essen (W. Germany), Saarbrucken (East Germany), Servette (Switzerland), Voros Lobogo (Hungary). A total of 16 teams participated in the competition. Below 1955-6 draw
 Rapid Wien (3rd) |  Anderlecht (1st) |  AGF Aarhus (1st) |  Stade Reims (1st) |
 Vörös Lobogó (2nd) |  Milan (1st) |  PSV Eindhoven (3rd) |  Gwardia Warszawa (4th) |
 Sporting CP (3rd) |  Saarbrücken (3rd) |  Hibernian (6th) |  Real Madrid (1st) |
 Djurgården (1st) |  Servette (6th) |  Rot-Weiss Essen (1st) |  Partizan (5th) |
Most were their nation's reigning champions, but Hibernian had come 6th in the Scottish league...their chairman was "running" the Scottish FA, so he took advantage of the absence of Scottish champions Aberdeen, who withdrew, considering the tournament as a distraction to their domestic league progress! Hibernian were chosen instead. They were considered one of the best teams in Scotland, having won the Scottish title in 1950-51 and 1951-52. But the main reason they were invited was because they were the only team in Scotland to install floodlights on their ground. The Edinburgh club DID REACH THE SEMI-FINALS...saving some blushes and courageously reached the semi-final, losing to Stade reims 4-3 over two legs. Real Madrid (badge below) beat Milan 5-4 in the other two-legged semi-final.
Real Madrid won the 1956 trophy 4-3 over Stade Reims having been 0-2 behind. Played at the Parc des Princes, Paris.
Chelsea lost an opportunity to expand their horizon and in the following season, when English champions,Chelsea initially agreed to compete, they were drawn against the Swedish side, Djurgården; however, under pressure from the F.L., who saw the tournament as a distraction to domestic football, they later withdrew from the competition and were replaced by Gwardia Warszawa of Poland.
Chelsea were crowned champions of England for the first time in their history at the end of the 1954/55 season, somewhat fittingly 50 years on from the club's formation in 1905...
CHELSEA SUCCESS IN cup COMPETITIONs | TOTAL | YEARS |
|---|---|---|
UEFA Champions League 2 2012, 2021 | ||
First Division/Premier League 6 1955, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2015, 2017 | ||
FA Cup 8 1970, 1997, 2000, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2018 | ||
League Cup 5 1965, 1998, 2005, 2007, 2015 | ||
UEFA Europa League 2 2013, 2019 | ||
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 2 1971, 1998 | ||
FIFA Club World Cup 1 2021 | ||
UEFA Super Cup 2 1998, 2021 | ||
Charity/Community Shield 4 1955, 2000, 2005, 2009 | ||
Full Members' Cup 2 1986, 1990  |
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