Following a first pre-season under new head coach Sonia Bompastor, we will kick-off our WSL campaign at 7pm on Friday evening when we host Aston Villa at Kingsmeadow.

Before we begin the defence of our title, here are five things you need to know about Chelsea Women heading into the new season...

Head coach

Chelsea Women’s head coach is the newly-appointed Bompastor, who joined the club this summer following the departure of long-serving manager Emma Hayes.

Bompastor arrived in London on a four-year deal from French side Lyon, where she had led the senior team for three seasons. During her time in charge, she won seven trophies, including three league titles and a Champions League.

Those trophies were added to Bompastor's impressive collection from her illustrious career as a player, which saw her mainly play in her homeland of France and two seasons in the United States with Washington Freedom.

Regarded as one of the best to play the game, the left-sided player won 11 trophies at Lyon – including two European triumphs - adding to the three domestics honours she won during a spell at Montpellier.

On the international stage, Bompastor, who could play in defence or midfield, won 156 caps with France before she retired from playing in 2013. Moving into coaching, she headed up Lyon’s academy until taking the reins of the senior team in 2021.

Stadium

Chelsea Women play the majority of their home games at Kingsmeadow, but also feature at Stamford Bridge, with three WSL games – against Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool – already set to take place in SW6 this season.

Our record attendance for a women's game stands at 39,398 when we hosted Barcelona at the Bridge in the second leg of last season's UWCL semi-final. The WSL attendance for the stadium is 32,970 which came in our 3-1 win over rivals Arsenal last season.

Kingsmeadow became our new home ahead of the start of the 2017/18 season. We moved to our Kingston base having previously played at Wheatsheaf Park in Staines since 2012.

Honours

The Blues have 16 major domestic honours - seven league titles, five FA cups, two League Cups, the WSL Spring Series, and the Community Shield – all of which were won during Hayes’ tenure.

We are the reigning WSL champions after winning the league title in dramatic fashion with a 6-0 victory against Manchester United at Old Trafford on the final day of last season.

That was our seventh triumph in total. The first came in 2015 and five have been back-to-back in an unprecedented run since the 2019/20 season.

Our first major trophy was won in 2015 when we lifted the FA Cup at Wembley. It was the first women’s showpiece to be hosted at the national stadium and more than 30,000 fans were in attendance to watch Chelsea beat Notts County 1-0.

We lifted the League Cup for the first time in 2019/2020 at the City Ground, the home of Nottingham Forrest. Our triumphant run was the biggest field of competitors the contest had seen at that time, with 23 teams involved.

There is only one player in the current squad who has been here for all 16 trophies and that is our...

Captain

England international Millie Bright has worn the captain’s armband permanently since the 2023/24 season, succeeding former Blue Magdalena Eriksson.

Although her first season as captain was disrupted by injury, the defender still lead the squad admirably in what proved to be a rollercoaster season that culminated in another league trophy.

Bright joined Chelsea in 2014 from Doncaster Rovers Belles, where she had impressed and was shortlisted for the WSL 2 Player of the Year.

During her time at the Blues, the defender has established herself on the international stage. A first cap with the Lionesses came in 2016, the same year she was named England’s Young Player of the Year.

She has gone on to become a formidable force in the backline for her national team, like she has done at Chelsea, and was a key part of the squad who won the European Championships in 2022 and she skippered England to a second-place finish at the World Cup in 2023.

On the European stage

Chelsea Women history was made during the 2020/21 season when we reached the final of the Champions League for the first time.

Our route to the final saw us enter the competition in the round of 32, with this being the final season without a group stage in the competition.

After overcoming Benfica and Wolfsburg in our first two encounters, it was onto the final four where we faced Bayern Munich over two legs.

A 2-1 defeat in the first leg meant we had it all to do at Kingsmeadow… and the players certainly stepped up to the plate for the occasion.

Former Chelsea forward Fran Kirby gave us an early lead, before the visitors scored soon after to level the game on the day and to go back in front on aggregate. It was goals galore in Kingston as efforts from Ji So-Yun and Pernille Harder put us 4-3 up on aggregate, before Kirby added another in injury time to wrap up proceedings and claim a 5-3 victory over both legs.

Sadly, it wasn’t to be that year as we lost 4-0 to Barcelona in the final in Gothenburg. Despite the defeat, reaching the showpiece event on Europe’s biggest stage remains an important milestone in our history.

Last season, we fell just short of reaching our second Champions League final. A fantastic 1-0 win over Barcelona away from home in the first leg gave us advantage ahead of the return fixture, which we unfortunately went on to lose 2-0.

How to watch Chelsea Women this season

• You can watch Chelsea Women this season home and away! You can find all the ticket information for our matches on the road, at Kingsmeadow and at Stamford Bridge here!

• Games may also be selected for broadcast by the BBC or Sky Sports in the UK. You can find out which of our fixtures have already been chosen here.

• For all the latest news, interviews and match previews, reports and reaction, click here to take you to the designated women's section of our club website!

• This season, we have also introduced a new line of communication for Chelsea fans! To get all the matchday information from Kingsmeadow, Stamford Bridge, and on the road, join our WhatsApp channel.