Our long and proud history in Europe dates back to 1958. Incidentally, our next oponents FC Copenhagen hail from the same city as our very first European foes, Frem Copenhagen.

We won 3-1 in the Danish capital on that occasion, Jimmy Greaves among the scorers, and since then hundreds of players have turned out for the Blues in the Champions League, Cup Winners’ Cup, UEFA Cup/Europa League, Conference League, Super Cup, and Fairs Cup.

Here are the top 20…

John Terry – 124 games, 13 goals

Unsurprisingly, our longstanding skipper holds the record having featured in a mammoth 16 different European campaigns. Terry made his continental debut when he was 18 years old and played his last such game just after his 35th birthday.

Frank Lampard – 119 games, 25 goals

That Lampard averages almost ten games a season for each of his 13 years at Chelsea highlights how successful we were in Europe in that period, and what an instrumental role the midfielder, who captained us in Munich, played in that success.

Petr Cech – 105 appearances, 41 clean sheets

Cech was another mainstay of the team that consistently reached the business end of the Champions League, and he saved penalties in two different finals, most memorably on that night in Munich.

Cesar Azpilicueta – 82 appearances, 4 goals

Azpilicueta became the second Chelsea captain to lift the Champions League when we defeated Manchester City in Porto. He also won the Europa League twice with us as well as the Super Cup.

Didier Drogba – 74 appearances, 36 goals

Perhaps no Chelsea player has had a more dramatic European arc than Drogba, who was sent off in our 2008 Champions League final defeat, and whose late equaliser and then winning penalty secured the trophy for us on the same stage four years later.

Branislav Ivanovic – 66 appearances, 8 goals

Ivanovic saved some of his biggest individual moments for the European stage, including his brace at Anfield which earned him the nickname ‘Two-goal Ivanovic’!

Ashley Cole – 65 appearances, zero goals

Regarded by many as the best left-back in the world for much of his time at Chelsea, Cole’s experience and quality came to the fore during the many heavyweight European clashes we contested during his time at the Bridge.

John Mikel Obi – 65 appearances, 2 goals

Mikel’s tactical awareness and positional mobility lent itself to European football, and he was arguably our player of the match in the 2012 final.

Willian – 56 games, 13 goals

Willian’s superb performances for Shakhtar Donetsk against us in 2012 caught Chelsea’s eye. The Brazilian would go on to be a regular in Europe in six different campaigns, winning the Europa League in 2019.

Eden Hazard – 55 games, 12 goals

Hazard won the Europa League in his first and last season at Stamford Bridge, scoring twice on his farewell appearance against Arsenal in the 2019 final.

Ramires – 55 games, 7 goals

The next member of the class of 2012 to feature on this list, Ramires’ contribution to our European story will never be forgotten because of that extraordinary chip in the Nou Camp.

Joe Cole – 53 games, 6 goals

Cole played in the Champions League in each of his seven seasons as a Chelsea player between 2003 and 2010, starting the final defeat in Moscow.

Michael Essien – 49 games, 6 goals

Though Essien’s iconic European moment for Chelsea – that stunning volley against Barcelona – proved in vain, he did have the satisfaction of picking up a Champions League winners’ medal three years later.

Salomon Kalou – 49 games, 7 goals

Kalou was another member of the Chelsea teams that regularly reached the latter stages of the Champions League, with two of his seven European goals for us coming in the victorious 2011/12 campaign.

Claude Makelele – 49 games, zero goals

Having been a key part of Real Madrid’s Champions League triumph in 2002, Makelele added European nous to our team when he joined Chelsea a year later, featuring regularly for us over the next five years.

Gary Cahill – 48 games, 5 goals

Cahill had never played Champions League football before he was thrust into the spotlight of knockout football in 2012, most notably in Munich. His final act in a blue shirt was lifting the Europa League as Chelsea skipper seven years later.

Ricardo Carvalho – 47 games, 2 goals

Arriving at Chelsea fresh from winning the Champions League, the classy Portuguese defender was a near ever-present in our run to the semi-finals of that tournament in 2005 and 2007, and the final in 2008.

Florent Malouda – 47 games, 3 goals

Malouda bowed out in blue by winning the Champions League in 2012 having come off the bench during the second half in Munich, a fitting finale to an accomplished European career at Stamford Bridge.

Jorginho – 46 games, 7 goals

Jorginho started all but one game – when he was suspended – in our run to glory in the Champions League in 2021, having also been instrumental in our Europa League triumph two years prior.

Mateo Kovacic – 46 games, 2 goals

Kovacic often played alongside Jorginho in our midfield in those European conquests, and he memorably opened his Chelsea account with a fine low strike in the Mestalla in 2019.