Chelsea has played 34 seasons in the divisions covered here since 1992/93: 34 in the Premier League. It has been in the Premier League since 1992/93 (34 seasons). It won the Premier League 5 times (2004/05, 2005/06, 2009/10, 2014/15 and 2016/17).
Chelsea
2025/26: 10th in the Premier League · 2026/27: Premier League
How high can Chelsea realistically go?
Based on finishing 10th in the Premier League in 2025/26
About 1 in 6
Of the 60 times a club finished 8th to 12th in the Premier League between 2004/05 and 2015/16, 10 reached the top four within ten seasons.
10 of 60 (17%); likely range 3%–33%, 24 different clubs.
| Reached the top six within ten seasons | about 3 in 10 19 of 60; range 14%–49% |
| Stayed up for all of the next five seasons | about 6 in 10 51 of 85; range 45%–73% |
Chelsea itself: 10 of the last 10 seasons in the Premier League; 6 top-four finishes; 1 title.
Chelsea has done this far more often than most clubs in this position, so the figure above understates its own chances. Its wage bill in 2024/25 was the 4th highest of 36 clubs with published accounts in the top two divisions.
Taking its wage bill into account
Of clubs in a similar position with a wage bill like Chelsea's — the 4th highest of 36 in the top two divisions in 2024/25, 2.4 times the average — this share went on to:
| Reached the top four within five seasons | about 6 in 10 range 22%–89% |
| Stayed in the top flight for all of the next five seasons | about 8 in 10 range 61%–93% |
How is this worked out?
A model fitted on every club-season with a published wage bill (England from 2011/12, France from 2008/09) relates each goal to two things: where the club finished and how its wage bill compared with the season's average. Five-year goals are used because the wage records are too recent for ten-year ones. We checked the model on clubs it had not seen: adding the wage bill makes the figures more accurate for most goals, and where it does not, the page says so. The range comes from refitting the model on clubs drawn at random with replacement. Like every figure here, it describes clubs like this one, not a forecast for this club; wage bills include all staff, not only players. This model was added after the registered tests and is descriptive, not one of them.
How do we know?
We took every season since 2004/05 in which a club finished in the same part of the same league, and followed each club forward. The figure is the share that reached each goal. Ten-year goals use finishes from 2004/05 to 2015/16, five-year goals from 2004/05 to 2020/21, so every case has had the full time to play out; results run to the end of 2025/26.
It describes what happened to clubs in this position, not a forecast for one club. A club with much more money or history than is usual for its position has better chances than the figure suggests, which is why the club's own record is shown underneath.
The likely range is a 95% interval worked out by resampling clubs rather than seasons, because the same club often appears several times. It is wide where only a few clubs have been in a position, and two leagues whose ranges overlap may not really differ. Reserve teams such as Barcelona B or Real Madrid Castilla are left out of these counts, because they cannot be promoted into their first team's division.
Counts: reached the top four within ten seasons: 10 of 60; reached the top six within ten seasons: 19 of 60; stayed up for all of the next five seasons: 51 of 85.
The story so far
Final position each seasonRinged dots are titles
How to read this chart
Every club in the divisions covered is placed on one ladder each season: the champions are 1st, and the top club of the second division comes straight after the bottom club of the first. Shaded bands are the divisions. Hover over or tap a dot for the season.
34seasons since 1992/93
34seasons in the Premier League
5league titles
20top-four finishes
0promotions
0relegations
Against the money
About where its money would put it
Over 13 seasons, the average gap was -0.0 places, which is within what chance alone would produce. It finished above its money in 8 of 13 seasons with published figures.
£326mwage bill, 2024/25
4thhighest of 36 clubs with published accounts
4thfinish in the Premier League, 2024/25
Where Chelsea finishedWhere its wage bill normally finishes
Season by season
| Season | Finish | Wage bill | Wage rank | Places above its money |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024/25 | 4th, Premier League | £326m | 4th of 36 | +0.3 |
| 2023/24 | 6th, Premier League | £296m | 5th of 36 | -0.5 |
| 2022/23 | 12th, Premier League | £373m | 2nd of 39 | -7.8 |
| 2021/22 | 3rd, Premier League | £314m | 4th of 38 | +0.2 |
| 2020/21 | 4th, Premier League | £309m | 4th of 37 | -0.3 |
| 2019/20 | 4th, Premier League | £259m | 4th of 39 | +1.3 |
| 2018/19 | 3rd, Premier League | £263m | 4th of 37 | +1.3 |
| 2017/18 | 5th, Premier League | £223m | 5th of 35 | +0.0 |
| 2016/17 | 1st, Premier League | £203m | 4th of 33 | +2.9 |
| 2015/16 | 10th, Premier League | £203m | 2nd of 36 | -5.1 |
| 2014/15 | 1st, Premier League | £200m | 2nd of 38 | +3.7 |
| 2013/14 | 3rd, Premier League | £177m | 2nd of 36 | +1.4 |
| 2012/13 | 3rd, Premier League | £163m | 2nd of 34 | +2.1 |
How do we know?
For every season, we compare each club's wage bill with the average in the top two divisions, and work out the finish that wage bill usually brings, allowing for differences between seasons and assuming a bigger wage bill never lowers the expected finish. The gap between that and the actual finish, averaged over the seasons, is the figure above. An overall verdict needs at least eight seasons, and a signed number is given only when the gap is clearly larger than chance.
Wage bills are the staff costs in each club's statutory accounts at Companies House (all staff, not only players), read without any language model and checked against the note's own components and the next year's accounts. Seasons where two readings disagree by more than 2% are left out.
On average, most of a big over-performance fades: clubs that finished at least four places above their money (on average 6.4 places) were +2.0 places the next season, so about 69% of it disappeared and the rest persisted. Some clubs beat their money season after season. It mixes good management, luck and resources the measure cannot see, so it is not a score for how well a club is run.
Clubs with a similar path
Clubs whose finishing positions over the last 15 seasons were closest to Chelsea's, with recent seasons counting more.
In England
LiverpoolEngland · 5th in the Premier League, 2025/26Tottenham HotspurEngland · 17th in the Premier League, 2025/26Manchester CityEngland · 2nd in the Premier League, 2025/26ArsenalEngland · 1st in the Premier League, 2025/26
Elsewhere in Europe
JuventusItaly · 6th in Serie A, 2025/26LyonFrance · 4th in Ligue 1, 2025/26RomaItaly · 3rd in Serie A, 2025/26
Compare Chelsea with another club
Sources
- Final tables to 2025/26. Top-flight positions follow the official classification, including head-to-head tie-breaks and point deductions. Lower-division positions before 2025/26 are worked out from match results and can differ from official tables where points were deducted.
- Relegations include dropping out of the divisions covered.
- All figures can be downloaded on the data page. Spotted a mistake? Report it with a source.