The 2002–03 season was Chelsea's 89th competitive season, 11th consecutive season in the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

and 97th year as a club. The club was managed by

Claudio Ranieri Claudio Ranieri (; born 20 October 1951) is an Italian professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who is the head coach of Serie A club AS Roma, Roma but will leave on 30 June 2025, followin ...

. In the

, Chelsea finished fourth behind

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

and

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

. With the fourth-place finish, Chelsea secured a place in the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round. In the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

, Chelsea took a first round exit, losing 5–4 on aggregate to Norwegian club

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

. Chelsea also managed to reach the quarter-finals of both the

Football League Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

and the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

, but lost 1–0 to

and 3–1 to

in a replay, respectively.

Final league table

First team squad

:''Squad at end of season''

Left club during season

Reserve squad

Team kit

The team kit was produced by

Umbro Umbro is an English sports equipment manufacturer founded in 1924 in Wilmslow, Cheshire, and based in Manchester. They specialise in football and rugby sportswear featuring their ''Double Diamond'' logo. Umbro products are sold in over 100 c ...

. The shirt sponsor was

Emirates Airline Emirates is one of the two flag carriers of the United Arab Emirates (the other being Etihad Airways). Based in Garhoud, Dubai, the airline is a subsidiary of The Emirates Group, which is owned by the government of Dubai's Investment Corpor ...

; the kit bore the "Fly Emirates" logo. Chelsea's home kit (all blue with a white trimmed collar) was carried over from the previous campaign. Their new away kit was all black with blue accents. The club's third kit for this season was the club's away kit from the previous season, all white with blue socks and accents.

Statistics

Statistics taken fro

. Squad details and shirt numbers fro

an

Results

FA Premier League

UEFA Cup

First Round

FA Cup

League Cup

Transfers

In

Out

References

External links

Chelsea FC Official Website

Chelsea FC on Soccerbase

Chelsea FC on BBC
{{DEFAULTSORT:2002-03 Chelsea F.C. season Chelsea F.C. seasons Chelsea