Football superstitions exist, and among them, the “No.9 curse” at Chelsea Football Club remains one of the most talked-about.
Traditionally, the No. 9 shirt is associated with top strikers, but Chelsea’s history with the jersey is completely different.
In the last two decades, several exciting footballers joined Chelsea, took the number nine shirt, but failed to live up to expectations.
The curse of Chelsea No.9 has become so popular that even former manager Thomas Tuchel talked about it during his time at Chelsea.
Tuchel said he was informed that the jersey had been cursed, and players did not want to pick it, even though it remained vacant throughout the season.
He explained that strikers feared that the jersey would prevent them not scoring goals like their predecessors who wore it.
“It’s cursed, it’s cursed, people tell me it’s cursed. It’s not the case that we leave it open for tactical reasons, for some players in the pipeline that come in and naturally take it. There was not a big demand for No. 9. Players sometimes want to change numbers, but, surprisingly, nobody wants to touch it,” Tuchel said.
Some of the players who have suffered the curse include Tony Cascarino, Chris Sutton, Mateja Kežman, Khalid Boulahrouz, Steve Sidwell, Franco Di Santo and Fernando Torres.
Others are Radamel Falcao, Álvaro Morata, Gonzalo Higuaín, Tammy Abraham, Romelu Lukaku and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Tony Cascarino
Tony Cascarino was the first player to wear the No.9 in the Premier League era for Chelsea.
The Ireland international scored only six league goals between 1992 and 1994, setting the stage for the start of the curse.
However, Chelsea’s next two players to wear the jersey had impressive seasons.
Mark Stein wore it between 1994-1996 and scored 25 goals across 63 games.
He was followed by Gianluca Vialli, who scored a total of 40 goals for Chelsea in 88 appearances across all competitions.
Chelsea Curse Begins
The No.9 curse was firmly re-established in the 1999-2000 season by Chris Sutton.
He scored only one goal in 28 appearances during the Premier League 1999–2000 season.
Since this time, the No.9 curse has been passed to most of the strikers who arrive at Stamford Bridge.
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (2000-04)
Hasselbaink scored 23 league goals, winning the Golden Boot in his debut Premier League season at Chelsea.
He scored 26 goals across all competitions after arriving from Atletico Madrid.
However, his goal tally fell in his final two Stamford Bridge scoring 15 in 2002/02 and 17 in 2003/04.
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Mateja Kezman (2004-05)
Kezman scored only 7 goals in 41 appearances for Chelsea.
He arrived from PSV with high expectations, but the No.9 curse followed him despite Chelsea winning the Premier League and Carabao Cup that season.
He was sold to Atletico Madrid at season’s end.
Hernan Crespo (2005-06)
Crespo scored 13 goals to help Chelsea win the Premier League title in 2006.
He returned to Italy after the 2005–06 season due to family reasons, scoring 25 goals for Chelsea in 73 appearances.
Khalid Boulahrouz (2006-2007)
Chelsea signed Boulahrouz from Hamburg in summer 2006, and he took the No.9 shirt after Crespo had left.
The defender was sold after just one season due to injuries and a loss of form.
Chelsea won both the FA Cup and League Cup, but Boulahrouz did not receive a winner’s medal since he did not feature in the finals.
Steve Sidwell (2007-08)
Sidwell is another non-striker who wore the No.9 jersey.
The central midfielder joined Chelsea in 2007 after the Championship title with Reading.
He made only appearances at Chelsea with zero goals and assists.
Franco di Santo (2008-09)
Santo arrived at Stamford Bridge and took over the No.9 jersey.
The Argentine brought back the jersey to the attacking player but was too young to lift the curse.
He left on loan for Blackburn Rovers in 2009-10 before moving to Wigan Athletic on a permanent deal.
He played eight Premier League games and scored no goals for the Blues.
Fernando Torres (2011-14)
The No.9 shirt remained vacant until January 2011, when Fernando Torres arrived from Liverpool.
Torres scored 18 goals in the Premier League: 18 goals in just 22 appearances during his last season at Liverpool.
However, he went 903 minutes (14 games) before scoring his first goal for Chelsea.
Torres scored 45 goals in his 172 appearances for Chelsea.
He is, however, remembered for his goal against Barcelona in the 2012 Champions League semi-final.
Radamel Falcao (2015-16)
Falcao joined Chelsea on a season-long loan from AS Monaco.
He scored only one goal in 10 matches and was sent back to Monaco in the summer of 2016.
Alvaro Morata (2017-18)
Morata took over the shirt after Chelsea went without a No.9 in the 2016-17 season.
Morata was at Real Madrid before joining Chelsea, scoring 20 goals in 43 appearances.
He flopped at Chelsea, scoring only 24 goals in 72 appearances.
Gonzalo Higuain (2019)
Maurizio Sarri brought Higuain on loan from Juventus in 2019.
He had impressive performances for Real Madrid, Napoli and Juventus, but scored only five goals in 18 matches for Chelsea.
Also Read: Players Who Have Scored 5 Goals in One Premier League Match
Tammy Abraham (2019-21)
Frank Lampard brought Abraham back to Chelsea after the team was barred from signing players in 2019.
He scored 18 goals in 47 games in the 2019/20 season, helping Chelsea qualify for the Champions League.
However, his form flopped the following season, scoring only 12 goals.
He was sold to Roma in the summer of 2021.
Romelu Lukaku (2021-22)
Lukaku wore the No.9 during his second spell at Chelsea in 2021.
He was on top at Inter Milan, scoring 30 goals in all competitions, and was named in the Serie A Team of the Season.
Lukaku scored only 15 goals in 59 appearances for Chelsea before he was loaned back to Inter.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (2022-23)
Aubameyang arrived at Stamford Bridge late in the summer transfer window of 2022 from Barcelona.
He scored only 3 goals in 21 appearances for Chelsea.
Can Liam Delap break Chelsea’s No.9 curse, or is he the next victim?
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