The first manager of Chelsea Football Club was John Robertson, appointed player-manager in 1905. The current head coach is Enzo Maresca. Chelsea have had 32 permanent managers/head coaches (of whom four also served as player-manager), six interim managers and six caretakers. Ron Suart has served as both caretaker and interim manager. José Mourinho has served two different periods as permanent manager, while Guus Hiddink has been interim manager twice. Roberto Di Matteo was first interim manager, but was later appointed permanent manager, while Frank Lampard was first permanent manager, and later interim manager. Chelsea's first ever manager was Scottish wing-half John Tait Robertson, who continued to play for the club until he resigned a year later. David Calderhead is Chelsea's longest-serving manager, holding the position from 1907 to 1933, spanning 966 matches. Chelsea's shortest reigning permanent manager is Graham Potter, who was in charge for 31 games. Statistically, Chelsea's least successful manager is Frank Lampard during his second stint. The first manager under whom Chelsea won a major trophy was Ted Drake, who guided the club to the league championship in the 1954–55 season, while Dave Sexton managed the club to their first European honour, a UEFA Cup Winners' Cup triumph in 1971, and Gianluca Vialli guided Chelsea to win the 1998 UEFA Super Cup. Mourinho has won the most domestic titles, and total titles with the club (in fact, all titles won with Mourinho were domestic titles – eight in total), Vialli second most titles with five, whereas Carlo Ancelotti led Chelsea to their first league and FA Cup "Double" in 2010. Di Matteo led Chelsea to their first UEFA Champions League for Chelsea in 2012. A year after, Rafael Benítez led the club to win the UEFA Europa League, becoming the first club to hold two major European titles simultaneously and one of five clubs, and the first British club, to have won all three of UEFA's major club competitions. In February 2022, Thomas Tuchel led Chelsea to its first FIFA Club World Cup. He is also the coach who have won the most international titles with the club; all three of his titles were international.

List of managers

Statistics correct as of 1 December 2024. Key

Managers with honours