Chelsea have always been one of the most prestigious football clubs in England and Europe.
There have been several spells of success at Stamford Bridge which results in the Blues having six UEFA Competition winner titles.
These successful stints require character and there have been a lot of them to grace the pitch in West London.
Chelsea’s all-time record appearance makers
Across all competitions, club icon Ron Harris who spent 19 years at Chelsea (from 1961 to 1980) is by far leading the charts with 795 matches.
It includes 655 league outings, 27 in European competitions, 48 in the League Cup and 64 in the FA Cup.
Iconic shot-stopper Peter Bonetti is second on the list, having featured in 729 matches in all competitions in the two stints of his 19-year Blues career (1959-1975 and 1976-1979).
Chelsea’s most-successful skipper John Terry is third with 717 games, followed by the legendary midfielder Frank Lampard (648 apps) and another Stamford Bridge great John Hollins (592 apps) in fourth and fifth, respectively.
Premier League record appearance makers
Since the inception of the English top-flight Premier League back in 1992, Terry has made more appearances than anyone else at the club in the competition (492).
The centre-half made his first PL debut as a substitute in a 2-0 away victory over Southampton on 26 December 1998.
John made his final appearance in 2017 against Southampton, in which the Englishman received a guard of honour as Terry left the pitch in the 26th minute of the match, matching the iconic shirt number.
Frank (429) and the club’s legendary goalkeeper Petr Cech (333) have had second and third most top-flight appearances for the London-based heavyweights, respectively.
Active record appearance makers
Among the current Chelsea roster, team skipper Cesar Azpilicueta has made more appearances than anyone else in the squad.
In spite of the interest in the versatile player and stern competition from other elite European clubs, Chelsea managed to snap up the Spain international from the Ligue 1 side Marseille for an undisclosed sum, reported as £7 million in the summer transfer market of 2012.
Since joining the Blues, the 31-year-old defender has made 421 appearances across all competitions, including 293 outings in England’s first tier.
He is, at the present time, joint-eighth in the all-time record list, but this season he will be able to equal Dennis Wise’s record of 445 matches in seventh.
