The end of a World Cup is usually a good sign for Chelsea, with some of the most successful and important seasons in our history coming immediately after the international showpiece.
The latest edition of the FIFA World Cup came to a close on Sunday evening, when Spain were crowned champions for the second time with a 1-0 win over Argentina in the 2026 final in New Jersey.
People sometimes talk about a World Cup hangover, with some of the players who star at the tournament having difficult seasons afterwards as their summer exertions and late return for pre-season catch up with them.
However, if history is anything to go by, that is unlikely to be the case for the 11 Chelsea players who competed at the 2026 World Cup, with the post-World Cup seasons producing some of the Blues’ most memorable campaigns.
That started with one of the biggest seasons in Chelsea’s history, back in 1954. After West Germany had become world champions for the first time that summer, the Pensioners – as we were still known then – sealed our first-ever top-flight title in 1954/55.
Admittedly we only had one player called up for that smaller 16-team tournament, Ken Armstrong – and he didn’t travel to Switzerland, as England only took 17 players, leaving the rest of their squad at home on reserve.
The trend was set though, as Chelsea edged Wolverhampton Wanderers in a tight race for the trophy, with just six points separating the top seven sides in the table at the end of the season.
By the time the 1962 World Cup came around things had turned a bit sour at Stamford Bridge, with relegation to Division Two meaning there was little surprise we had no representatives in England’s squad.
However, big things were happening that summer, as manager Tommy Docherty built a new youthful team in west London. When club football resumed, an exciting side led by teenage captain Terry Venables and featuring future legends such as Ron Harris and Peter Bonetti secured promotion back to the big time at the first attempt.
Indeed, Bonetti’s rise meant that when England hosted the World Cup four years later in 1966 – and won it for the first time – he was a member of their squad. He then returned to club duty with Chelsea to play a big part in our run to the FA Cup final in 1966/67. It was just our second appearance in the final and became dubbed the ‘cockney cup final’ as the first played between two teams from London. Unfortunately it ended in defeat to Tottenham Hotspur, but Bonetti and Co would be back to lift the trophy in 1970.
That epic final win over Leeds United came shortly before the next World Cup, when Bonetti was joined in the England squad by fellow Blues legend Peter Osgood. They may not have been able to lift that trophy again in Mexico, but the Chelsea duo would continue to claim silverware with the Blues, following up their crucial roles in FA Cup victory by securing the club’s first-ever European triumph, defeating Real Madrid in the final of the 1970/71 Cup Winners’ Cup.
The increasingly international nature of football – especially at Chelsea – since then, meant that by the 1998 World Cup, our supporters would get to see two members of France’s victorious squad competing at Stamford Bridge week in, week out the following season.
Centre-back pairing Marcel Desailly and Frank Leboeuf were part of the foundations of Gianluca Vialli’s side which secured the club’s then highest finish of the Premier League era in 1998/99, ensuring a UEFA Champions League debut in the process.
From there, our post-World Cup achievements only became more notable, as the Blues went from strength to strength during one of the most successful periods in the club’s history.
Chelsea’s players who departed to Germany for the World Cup in the summer of 2006 did so as back-to-back Premier League champions, and the trophies kept coming after that tournament.
This time it was in the knockout competitions, as the Blues completed a first domestic cup double by beating Arsenal 2-1 in the League Cup final and then Manchester United 1-0 in the FA Cup final. All three of those Chelsea goals were scored by Didier Drogba, fresh from starring for the Ivory Coast on their World Cup debut.
The Premier League trophy was back at the Bridge in 2014/15. That title charge was led in part by a strong Brazilian contingent at Chelsea featuring David Luiz, Oscar, Ramires and Willian, who put the heartbreak of their semi-final exit from a home World Cup the previous summer behind them to become champions of England.
It was the French who were on top of the world in 2018, with Chelsea duo N’Golo Kante and Olivier Giroud playing important parts in their triumph at the summer tournament, just as they did for the Blues on their return.
True, it was the brilliant Eden Hazard who inspired us to victory in the 2018/19 UEFA Europa League, but the Belgian also owed much to his impressive attacking partnership with Giroud – they got three of the four goals in our final win over Arsenal between them – and the midfield dominance of Kante behind them.
So, with six trophies lifted among a series of post-World Cup successes for Chelsea after previous editions of the tournament, could 2026/27 continue the trend with another memorable campaign for the Blues? Here’s hoping.