Over the years Chelsea have played out countless 0-0 draws, including three in a row in 2018 and four during a dour 2022/23 Premier League campaign that Blues fans will not want to remember. They have also suffered some heavy losses in their long history but thankfully we aren’t here to dwell on those. No, instead, in this feature, we’ll be taking a look back on happier days that Chelsea fans will be more than happy to hear about and remember. Here are Chelsea’s biggest wins ever!
Chelsea’s Biggest Win Ever in All Competitions: Luxembourg 1971
Excluding results from friendly games, Chelsea’s biggest-ever win was a whopping 13-0! That remains their biggest win in any competitive fixture and, we suspect, will remain so for many years. Though who knows, maybe the Blues will put Man City to the sword 14-0 this coming season … or maybe not.
That 13-0 came on the 29th of September, 1971 in the now-defunct European Cup Winners’ Cup and Jeunesse Hautcharage were on the receiving end. The team from Luxembourg had an incredible backstory that told of a team from a tiny village “featuring four brothers, a one-armed striker, a bespectacled midfielder, two players over the age of 40 and a 15-year-old on the bench”.
That they qualified for European football at all was a miracle and they were surely just happy to be there. Drawing a huge team like Chelsea, the defending champions, was a massive bonus and whilst they may have questioned how positive that was when they conceded at home after just two minutes, their story is in some senses what sport is all about. They lost the first leg in Luxembourg 8-0, though kept things respectable in the second half given they were six down at the break!
They could barely afford to travel to London for the return but thanks to a gift from a local brewery they were on their way. A glamour match at Stamford Bridge is a memory the amateurs will surely have treasured but a double-figure defeat always seemed likely.
Peter Osgood, who netted a treble in the first leg, wanted to better the eight goals Milan’s José Altafini had bagged in a 1962 European clash and he even had a wager with his own keeper, the legendary Peter Bonetti, that he would score at least six! He had two after just six minutes and The Cat must have been fearing for his £5 wager.
The score, as we know, finished 13-0 but Osgood “only” managed five. The 21-0 aggregate score remains the joint-largest in European football but, in fact, was perhaps not a sub-par effort from the minnows. They were playing so, so far above their level and the 2-0 first-leg second half was certainly a brilliant outcome. Even so, that 21-0 record, and Chelsea’s biggest win ever of 13-0, will surely stand the test of time.
Chelsea’s Biggest Win in the Premier League: Wigan 2010
Perhaps an indication of just how “good” that 8-0 result was for Jeunesse Hautcharage is the fact that Chelsea have twice beaten Premier League outfits by the same score. On the 9th of May, 2010 they battered Wigan 8-0, whilst more recently they put Aston Villa to the sword by that same scoreline in December 2012.
Both of those mammoth wins were at the Bridge but even so, it gives some perspective to the 8-0 loss suffered by the no-longer extant Hautcharage. Against Villa the Blues, with Rafa Benitez at the helm, had seven different scorers as they inflicted the Midlands club’s worst-ever loss. Against Wigan, Chelsea’s win sealed the Premier League title, Carlo Ancelotti’s troops thumping Roberto Martinez’s men thanks to a Didier Drogba treble. 2009/2010 was an incredible season for the club as they also scored seven against Sunderland, Villa and Stoke, notching a then-record 103 goals in the PL.
Biggest Win in Champions League: NK Maribor 2014
Chelsea never played in European Cup but since that competition was rebranded they have been regulars. On two occasions they have recorded 6-0 wins, the first coming in 2014 at the Group stage. They beat Slovenian outfit NK Maribor at the Bridge with goals from Loic Remy, a Drogba penalty, John Terry, an Eden Hazard brace and a Mitja Viler own goal.
In the 2017/18 UCL Chelsea beat Qarabag FK by the same score, again on home soil. They had five different scorers that night and again benefited from an own goal as the Azerbaijani minnows were beaten with real ease.
Chelsea’s Record FA Cup Win: lowly Worksop Town 1908
In terms of the major domestic cup competition, the Blues’ biggest win is a resounding 9-1 win over lowly Worksop Town back in 1908. That came in the First Round when the cup was very different to the modern era, as were the Blues. Not too much is known about that clash either, although it came on the 11th of January.
Since the early 1930s the biggest win Chelsea have managed in the FA Cup is their relatively recent 7-0 thrashing of Ipswich Town. That was on the 9th of January 2011 at Stamford Bridge. Frank Lampard got the sixth and seventh and also bagged an assist, with Daniel Sturridge also netting a brace.
League Cup: Doncaster Rovers 1960
Concluding our round-up of Chelsea’s biggest-ever wins we have their League Cup thumping of South Yorkshire outfit Doncaster Rovers. It came in the very first year of the competition too, on the 16th of November, 1960. Chelsea have won the EFL Cup on five occasions but have never been able to better that thrashing they managed in the Third Round of the inaugural competition.