From London to Los Angeles, Dublin to Dubai, Adelaide to Amsterdam, there is barely a city that doesn't have a dedicated group of Chelsea supporters cheering on the Blues, from near or far.

One such fan is Jorrit Jan Meijer in the Netherlands. Unlike other overseas supporters, he and his fellow Dutch Blues come from a country with a long-established competitive league and footballing culture.

Jorrit admits that one of the first questions asked when people discover he is a Chelsea supporter is 'why?’ He leads by answering it for us.

‘When I was younger, my friends used to be Arsenal or Liverpool fans because Dutch players were playing there, and their dads supported Dutch teams,' he said. ‘But Chelsea were on TV a lot and had such a good team when I really started watching football and Champions League nights.

‘It was a golden era. We had Branislav Ivanovic, John Terry, Frank Lampard. The first time I watched Chelsea, I fell in love. Not only because they had the good players, but because of the tactics and way they played.

‘At Chelsea, it was felt the defence needed to be set up correctly. Chelsea did good defensive work first, and afterwards could score a goal. That is my own football opinion.

‘I do not mind if it is 1-0 at the end of the game; all it took was one great Lampard goal and I am happy. Chelsea was determined to be successful, and it really got to me.’

That passion led Jorrit to seek out like-minded supporters in the Netherlands. Tired of following the club on his own and keen to find fellow fans to make the pilgrimage to Stamford Bridge, he trawled to internet to find enclaves around his country.

He then went one further, bringing them together as one community by founding the Dutch Blues supporters club. He then reached out to other groups around Europe and beyond.

‘I started the supporters club almost five years ago, I was only 18 or 19. I went to my first Chelsea game with my dad in 2017, but didn’t really have people to go to games with. So I started a supporters club and now I can go almost anywhere in the world and I will know a Chelsea fan there.

‘That’s one of the special things about Chelsea. The supporters club system is great; everyone can join one, and you become part of the worldwide system. Anyone visiting Amsterdam can find us and ask to watch the game with us.

‘We chat to each other and say, “Let’s go to this away game,” and that’s made it possible. My first away game was
at Dortmund in the Champions League. It was really special and decided after that game I needed to do it much more.

‘Away days are already special because you’re following your club, but it’s also special because you see a different culture and are with your friends there. And finding new friends.’

For Jorrit, it is that ability for supporters from all over the world to get tickets and attend matches – at home, away or across Europe – and make friends with fellow Chelsea fans while doing it, which really underlines the benefits of the official supporters club network set up by the Blues.

‘A few years ago, we had just a couple of small groups of friendly people that we combined, and in the first year, we went from 20 people to 300. Now we have at least 150 Chelsea members who go to games.

‘For me, that’s probably the best thing about the supporters clubs, they give you a great chance of getting a ticket for a game. It’s a great chance to go to games, but also a great chance to make new friends, because you won’t be going alone. On average, we have 10 people at every game.

‘When Chelsea Women played Ajax in the Champions League, we ended up with 80 Dutch Blues in the away end in Amsterdam. For me, it was one of the most special games, because we were all singing together, we all went to the pub before the game.

‘We have one member for whom it is a bit more difficult to travel to London for a game, and we managed to get him and his family tickets so he could make the trip. We got all the travel and everything set up so it would work for him.

‘For me, that was one of the best moments, that someone who would never usually be able to go to a game got that chance. It was special, and shows how I feel like family with him and all the rest of the Dutch Blues. It has become a big community.’