Chelsea in talks with London City Council to build bigger stadium

English club Chelsea began negotiations on Tuesday (10) with London City Hall to build a new stadium for the team. According to the project, the new venue will have a larger capacity and will be located in the Earls Court neighborhood, which is 2 km from Stamford Bridge, Chelsea's current stadium.

Change of address

According to the newspaper “The Guardian”, the club began talks with Transport for London (TFL), which is responsible for transport services throughout the city. The team took this decision to change address after realizing that they were having difficulties with the renovations at Stamford Bridge. From the beginning, the owners' priority was to increase the stadium's capacity, which is 42,000 people. However, some factors in the location of Chelsea's current home, such as its proximity to a subway line, have made the entire process difficult.

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^{External view of Stamford Bridge, Chelsea's stadium since 1905 (Photo: Reproduction/Ryan Pierse/Getty Images Embed)}

The Earls Court Development Committee (ECDC) currently has no plans to add a stadium to the site, but they would be receptive to Chelsea investing in the development. Should the move go ahead, Chelsea would have to worry about another issue: reaching an agreement with Chelsea Pitch Owner, the company that owns the rights to Stamford Bridge and the name “Chelsea FC”, which could make relocation difficult.

Despite the talks, Chelsea have not yet ruled out the possibility of remaining at Stamford Bridge. However, renovations to the stadium have not yet progressed.

Stamford Bridge

Chelsea's current home ground is one of the oldest football grounds in the UK. The ground opened in 1877 and was initially used almost exclusively for athletics meetings held by the London Athletic Club.

In 1904, Mr. Henry Augustus (Gus) Mears and his brother, Mr. J.T. Mears, became the new owners in order to host games of the newest sport of that time: football.

Initially, the stadium was offered to Fulham FC, who turned it down. The venue was then given to Chelsea, a club that had just been founded in 1905.

Featured photo: Internal view of Stamford Bridge, Chelsea's stadium since 1905 (Reproduction/Instagram/@cfcnewspage)