Real Sociedad could not have drawn an opponent with a stronger recent domestic record.
Nor one less accustomed to entering qualifying.
Chelsea finished third in the 2025/26 Women’s Super League, ending a run of six consecutive titles. One season earlier, during Sonia Bompastor’s first year as head coach, they had won the league without losing a match and completed a domestic treble.
Third place did not leave Chelsea out of the Champions League, but it did deny them direct entry to the league phase. Manchester City won the title and Arsenal finished second. The London club must now win a qualifying tie to join them.
The season still produced one trophy. Chelsea retained the League Cup by beating Manchester United 2-0 in the final.
In Europe, they finished third in the league phase and advanced directly to the quarter-finals. They lost the first leg 3-1 away to Arsenal before winning the return match 1-0, which was not enough to overturn the deficit.
That record captures the contradiction Chelsea present: they have entered qualifying because they stopped dominating England, but remain one of the deepest and most experienced teams in Europe.
Five departures closed an era
The changes did not begin during the summer. Several important players left Chelsea during the final months of the season.
Guro Reiten joined Gotham FC in March. The Norwegian departed after six and a half seasons in London, having made 207 appearances and scored 59 goals. She had won the league in every full campaign she completed with the club.
A few weeks later, Catarina Macario returned to the United States to join San Diego Wave. The attacker had arrived from Olympique Lyonnais in 2023 and provided Bompastor with an option at centre-forward or as an attacking midfielder.
The departures continued after the season ended.
Sam Kerr left the club after six and a half years. The Australian made 157 appearances and scored 116 goals, drawing level with Fran Kirby as Chelsea’s record goalscorer.
Kerr had spent 20 months out with a knee injury, but returned during the most recent campaign and scored 16 goals in 29 appearances. She scored the winner against Manchester United in her final match.
Captain Millie Bright decided to retire. The defender ended her 12 years at Chelsea with 314 appearances and 20 trophies, leaving as the club’s all-time appearance holder. She had contributed to every league title Chelsea have won.
Johanna Rytting Kaneryd completed the transformation of Chelsea’s attack by joining Olympique Lyonnais. The Swedish winger left after 139 appearances, 17 goals, 26 assists and seven trophies.
Within five months, Chelsea lost their joint-record goalscorer, their captain, two important wingers and another international attacker.
Five signings to rebuild the squad
Chelsea responded by bringing in five players.
Katie McCabe arrived on a free transfer from Arsenal. The Republic of Ireland captain made 305 appearances and scored 36 goals during her 11 years with the north London club. She can play at full-back, on the wing or in midfield and was part of the team that won the Champions League in 2025.
Manaka Matsukubo signed a five-year contract after joining from North Carolina Courage. The 22-year-old Japanese attacker was named NWSL Midfielder of the Year after scoring 11 goals during the previous campaign. She can operate as an attacking midfielder or centre-forward.
Melvine Malard arrived from Manchester United. The 26-year-old French attacker can occupy any of the three forward positions and has scored 14 goals in 41 international appearances. She has known Bompastor since her development years at Olympique Lyonnais and has won the Champions League four times.
Giulia Dragoni joined from Barcelona after completing two consecutive loan spells at Roma. The Italian midfielder is only 19 but already has 25 senior caps. She scored seven goals, provided four assists and was named Serie A Midfielder of the Year last season.
The fifth signing was Nelly Las, an 18-year-old full-back from Leicester who can play on either side.
Not all five will immediately claim a place in the starting XI, but they increase the options available within a squad that already contains several leading internationals.
What remains at Chelsea
The rebuild does not mean Bompastor must start from nothing.
Lauren James was named Chelsea’s Player of the Season. She was injured at the beginning of the campaign and did not make her first appearance until November, but finished with seven goals and four assists.
Her ability to receive between the lines, beat defenders and create something in limited space remains one of the team’s biggest threats.
Aggie Beever-Jones has a greater opportunity at centre-forward following Kerr’s departure. The England striker began pre-season by scoring a hat-trick inside the opening 23 minutes of Chelsea’s friendly against Auckland FC.
Alyssa Thompson ended her first campaign in England as Chelsea’s second-highest scorer, with nine goals in all competitions. Her pace allows the team to attack space from either wing.
Keira Walsh, Erin Cuthbert, Sjoeke Nüsken and Wieke Kaptein remain in midfield. Walsh directs the circulation of the ball, while Cuthbert provides pressing, recoveries and forward runs. Bompastor has also used James in central areas to create numerical advantages around the ball.
The defence still contains Lucy Bronze, Ellie Carpenter, Naomi Girma and Kadeisha Buchanan. Hannah Hampton remains the reference point in goal.
Chelsea have lost players who defined their period of dominance, but not the depth of a squad built to compete in several competitions.
A 7-0 victory to begin pre-season
Chelsea opened their pre-season with a 7-0 victory against Auckland FC in New Zealand.
Beever-Jones completed her hat-trick before the 24th minute and Sandy Baltimore scored the fourth goal before half-time. Dragoni opened her Chelsea account after coming on during the second half, with Maika Hamano and Mayra Ramírez completing the scoring.
McCabe started at left-back. Chelsea began with Livia Peng; Ellie Carpenter, Kadeisha Buchanan, Naomi Girma, McCabe; Nüsken, Lexi Potter, Kaptein; Baltimore, Thompson and Beever-Jones.
The opposition and the friendly nature of the match prevent any definitive conclusions, but the performance offered a few indications. Chelsea produced long passing sequences, pressed close to the opposition penalty area and attacked with players holding wide positions on both sides.
They will complete their Oceania tour against an A-League Women All Stars side on 12 August.
How Bompastor’s team play
Chelsea attempt to establish themselves inside the opposition half and recover the ball quickly. Their full-backs can advance, while the wide attackers can hold the width or move into central areas.
Bompastor has also shown that she can change her approach. Against teams capable of controlling possession, she has used more compact structures and targeted transitions. During a victory over Manchester City last season, Chelsea lowered their defensive block and exploited space on the counterattack.
That flexibility makes it difficult to reduce the team to a single system.
James can start on the wing or operate centrally. Baltimore can play at full-back or as a winger. Nüsken has occupied several positions, while McCabe adds even more alternatives on the left.
Real Sociedad will have to control James’s movement between the lines, Thompson’s runs and Beever-Jones’s presence inside the penalty area. The additions of Malard and Matsukubo could provide even more attacking variations before the tie.
The opportunity lies in the calendar
Chelsea will host Real Sociedad in the first leg on 26 August and will not begin their Women’s Super League campaign until 5 September.
The two legs will therefore be Chelsea’s first two competitive matches of the season.
Real Sociedad will not have started their Liga F campaign when they travel to England either. Their opening fixture against Logroño United is scheduled for 29 August and remains subject to possible changes because of the European tie.
If the calendar remains unchanged, the Basque side will play one competitive match between the two legs. Chelsea will not.
That difference does not erase Chelsea’s enormous advantage in experience and depth, but it offers Real Sociedad a small opening. They will face the English side before the new arrivals have accumulated competitive minutes together and before the rebuilt attack has developed its own understanding following the departures of Kerr, Reiten and Rytting Kaneryd.
Real Sociedad’s first objective will be to keep the tie open in the first leg. A match with large spaces and a constant exchange of attacks would favour the variety of Chelsea’s forward line and the depth of their bench.
If the Basque side reach the return match with a realistic chance of progressing, Chelsea will enter only their second competitive fixture of the season under the pressure of possible elimination.
A giant in transition, not a weakened giant
Chelsea are no longer English champions and have lost several of the players who built their most dominant era.
That does not make them a weakened side.
Bompastor still has European champions and internationals from England, the United States, France and the Netherlands, as well as a squad capable of completely changing its attacking line during a match.
The transition concerns leadership and the distribution of goals above all. Kerr, Reiten and Rytting Kaneryd decided matches for years. Bright directed the defence and represented the team’s competitive identity.
The new Chelsea must demonstrate who will assume those responsibilities.
Real Sociedad will be the first team to find out.
The first leg will be played in England on 26 August, with the return match in Spain on 2 September. The winners will advance to the Women’s Champions League league phase.
