We receive many questions from prospective new and veteran members to the Chelsea in America coalition of supporter groups.
Let's run through a few that may help everyone:
• Chelsea in America is a coalition of 45+ Official Chelsea Supporter Groups working together to share administrative and membership duties, members contests and to enhance each of our groups collectively.
• Chelsea in America is NOT a ticket broker.
When you combine a Chelsea FC £32 membership with a Chelsea in America membership for area, you are actually joining a local group in your area and a coalition member Platinum supporter group in your area too (American Heartland, American SW Blues, Carefree California on west coast, Mid Atlantic and Southeast Blues).
You are able to purchase Chelsea FC tickets through those five Platinum groups under Chelsea FC rules and policy. CIA is simply a shared portal for the five groups.
There are some non-coalition Chelsea groups too so feel free to check out the Chelsea FC website to find the best fit for you. If in doubt, drop us a note and we'll help you find the right group at Club.Secretary@chelseainamerica.com
• Annual physical member welcome packet is sent in late October each year. We are a volunteer group so we do this one time so as to not ask our helpers to continuously do this project.
• CIA membership includes Member Updates, annual gift package, member contests throughout the season, summer tour ticketing access, support of your area groups and, when combined with a CFC paid membership, the very special Chelsea FC ticket access that the club offers to supporter group members (better package than any other big club in Premier League).
• For those with the 'Platinum Level' ticketing membership combined, here are a few notes:
a) All five of our coalition ticketing level groups are again Platinum status for 2022-23 which can include home and away PL ticketing for eligible members (have membership, have required loyalty points for some matches).
b) CFC sets aside 800 home and 150 away tickets for their ticketing level supporter groups (100 for home events, just 32 for away events) per match, In the occasional 'excess demand' occurrences, CFC then gives a % amount of orders to each group. IF THIS OCCURS, your area Platinum member groups prioritize based on length of continuous membership. We are NOT a ticket broker so long time members go ahead of new arrivals who might just be looking for tickets. This happens maybe 2 away matches per year and has happened for only 1 home match in 5 seasons.
Having said that, demand seems high this year as the world reopens post COVID.
c) Orders outweigh supply a couple times a season and though infrequent does happen on occasion for away matches at Spurs, Liverpool, Leeds and Fulham. High demand for home tickets can occur at Thanksgiving time and between Christmas and New Years if facing a 'big club'.
d) Ticketing portla for each match closes 60 days in advance of the match date in most cases.
Orders are due to Chelsea 60 days in advance for home matches and about 45 days for away matches; sometimes less for Cup and Champions League where they match date comes quickly after the draws.
Chelsea then confirms orders within 4-10 days after that date depending on fixture congestion (work load).
e) As Chelsea increase the # of loyalty points required for these high demand matches as of January 1, there is rarely an issue after January 1st.
f) Home match tickets are now electronic PDF's. Away tickets are physically mailed about 10 days before each event; should you not receive the tickets before you arrive, your area group (via CIA) needs to be notified and 72 hours in advance can request a 'duplicate' ticket pick up at the away ground on match day.
• Chelsea FC loyalty points required by CFC for the following matches: Home or away v Arsenal, Liverpool, Man U, Man City, Tottenham, away matches vs the other London area clubs, Leeds away, Champions League knock out stages in spring and last home/away matches each season.
THERE IS NO WAY AROUND THE CFC TICKETING POLICIES.
• We 'strongly' recommend that you not try to beat the system by having a member friend order for you. If that members is caught by CFC, they will banish the member for life.
• CIA member contests are open to all members but do require you to enter. We want active members who want the prizes to win. These contests begin in mid August and run through the year.
• Just joined the Chelsea FC paid membership but don't know your #? Look here.
• Created in 2004, Chelsea in America is a non-profit 501corporation in Texas that is audited, files taxes and is not allowed to generate a profit each season. CIA charge the CFC allowed member dues to cover the operational costs of banking, accounting, websites and then work to give back other proceeds through the member contests and our spending to be gracious hosts when Chelsea are on summer tour in the US. We do charge new members more than continuous renewing members as we are NOT a ticket broker.
We will continue to add to this list as additional 'frequently asked' questions arise.