Three Chelsea legends nominated for Premier League Hall of Fame induction

The 2023 nominees for induction into the Premier League Hall of Fame have been announced, with three Chelsea icons making the list.

The Premier League have put forward a list of 15 players, all of whom enjoyed stellar careers at the very top of English football.

The nominees include former players from a smattering of clubs such as Manchester United, Arsenal, Manchester City and Chelsea, with the Blues being well represented in the line-up.

Petr Cech, Ashley Cole and John Terry were named in the illustrious list with all three performing at an exceptional level consistently throughout the 2000s and the mid 2010s.

Full list of nominees

• Tony Adams
• Sol Campbell
• Michael Carrick
• Petr Cech
• Andrew Cole
• Ashley Cole
• Jermain Defoe
• Les Ferdinand
• Rio Ferdinand
• Robbie Fowler
• Gary Neville
• Michael Owen
• John Terry
• Yaya Toure
• Nemanja Vidic

Cech, who joined Chelsea in 2004, played 443 times in the Premier League, winning the league four times along the way, before finishing his career in north London at Arsenal.

The giant goalkeeper holds multiple league records, boasting the most clean sheets of any shot stopper in Premier League history with 202 in total, however his most notable season perhaps came in Chelsea’s title winning campaign in 2004/05.

Cech managed to keep 24 clean sheets and was part of a defence which conceded just 15 goals in the league, both of which remain as Premier League records today.

Terry was also part of that impregnable defence and remained a stalwart in Chelsea’s backline until 2017.

Commonly referred to as “captain, leader, legend”, the English centre-back was known for his body-on-the-line defending as well as his potency from set-pieces, scoring 41 goals in total, again a Premier League record for a defender.

Wearing 26 on his back, Terry captained his boyhood club to five titles in 2004/05, 2005/06, 2009/10, 2014/15 and finally 2016/17, in his final year at the club.

Cole started his career at Arsenal and was part of Arsenal’s title win in 2003/04, a season in which the north London side went unbeaten, before making the move to west London in 2006.

Widely regarded as the Premier League and England’s best ever left-back, Cole amassed three league titles and played out many high-profile battles with one Cristiano Ronaldo.

All three played key roles in helping Chelsea lift the 2012 Champions League in Munich as well, the first in the club’s history.

The voting for the three nominees who will be inducted this year has already begun, with Cech, Terry and Cole all hoping to join legendary company with names such as Alan Shearer and Thierry Henry already in the Hall of Fame.