How to play the Chelsea history timeline

Each card is a Chelsea milestone: first trophies, takeovers, European finals, record signings and title-winning seasons. You sort them by year. A short line under each title describes the moment. One milestone is on the timeline from the start with its year showing. Each card after that is yours to slot into a gap. Pick the right spot and the year shows; a wrong one still puts it in its true place and costs one of three lives.

For most of its history Chelsea won little, so the early cards are few and far apart, and then a change of ownership turned the club into a trophy machine. Most of the deck sits in that modern stretch, where managers came and went quickly and finals pile up. The opponents and host cities in the descriptions are your best way to tell one European night from another. Managers who returned for a second spell make it harder still.

Want a longer game? On the deck tree you can tick this deck alongside any other one measured in release years and dates, and they shuffle into a single timeline together.

What's in the deck

Here are 22 of the 22 cards you might be dealt. Their values stay hidden until you place them.

Club founded at Stamford Bridge Chelsea are established in west London
First league championship Chelsea win their first title
First FA Cup win Chelsea beat Leeds in a replay
Cup Winners' Cup won in Athens Chelsea beat Real Madrid for a European trophy
Abramovich takeover Roman Abramovich buys the club
Mourinho appointed manager Jose Mourinho arrives as the Special One
Mourinho's record-points title Chelsea win the league with 95 points
Moscow Champions League final lost to United Terry slips in the penalty shootout
The domestic double under Ancelotti Chelsea win the league and FA Cup
Torres signs for a British-record fee A record transfer brings the striker from Liverpool
Champions League won in Munich over Bayern Chelsea win the final on penalties in Bayern's stadium
Europa League won in Amsterdam Chelsea beat Benfica to add another European title
Hazard-led title under Mourinho Chelsea win the league again
Conte's record-win title Chelsea win the league with a 3-4-3 and 30 wins
Second Europa League won in Baku Chelsea beat Arsenal in an all-English final
Tuchel appointed mid-season Thomas Tuchel replaces Lampard
Champions League won in Porto over City A Havertz goal beats Manchester City
Club World Cup won in Abu Dhabi Chelsea beat Palmeiras for the world title
Boehly-led takeover A consortium buys the club from Abramovich
Record signing of Caicedo A British-record fee brings the midfielder from Brighton
Conference League won in Athens Chelsea beat Real Betis for a third European trophy type
Club World Cup won in the expanded format Chelsea beat PSG in the New Jersey final