When the list of nominees was unveiled, people could have been forgiven for doing a double take. Club of the Year: Chelsea?! Viewed through the prism of men's football in recent years, Chelsea, Barcelona, Lyon and Paris Saint-Germain would be seen as quite the collection of basket cases. Yet this quartet reached the Women's Champions League semi-finals in 2023-24 and they make up the contenders for the Women's Club of the Year award at this year's Ballon d'Or ceremony along with US side NJ/NY Gotham, apparently imported from a Batman comic.
Despite chaos in the men's team, Chelsea's women's team have continued to succeed even after Todd Boehly & Co bought the club.
In the 2022-23 campaign, Chelsea did the domestic league and cup double, serenely picking up 58 points from a possible 66 to pip Manchester United to the WSL crown.
They also ended Lyon's hopes for a seventh Champions League title in eight years by beating them in the quarter-finals, before succumbing to Barcelona in the final four.
Last term, Chelsea won the WSL again, against all odds. When they slumped 4-3 to Liverpool on May 1, they sat six points behind league leaders Manchester City, also eight goals behind on goal difference, with a game in hand but only nine points still available.
"I think the title is done," declared their despondent boss, Emma Hayes, not long after Chelsea had lost to Arsenal in the League Cup final, surprisingly slipped to defeat at Manchester United in the FA Cup semis, then suffered another semi-final heartbreak against Barça in the Champions League. The Blues won the first leg 1-0 in Catalonia, only to go down 2-0 at Stamford Bridge following a red card for Canadian defender Kadeisha Buchanan.
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