Chelsea have confirmed Xabi Alonso as manager until 2030, but the 44-year-old will not assume control until the current season is finished. The club\u2019s statement makes clear his contract does not take effect until July 1, 2026, which marks the soft start of the 2026\u201327 campaign.<\/p>\n
Before Alonso formally takes the reins the Blues face two decisive fixtures. Chelsea host Tottenham at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday, May 19, then travel to the Stadium of Light to play Sunderland on Sunday, May 24. Those matches come with clear consequences: Chelsea sit ninth and the club\u2019s hopes of reaching the top five are gone. Sixth also looks unlikely, while seventh would secure Europa League football and eighth would still qualify for the Conference League.<\/p>\n
There is a separate, tangible opportunity to affect someone else\u2019s season. Tottenham sit precariously above the relegation zone and are locked in a straight shootout with West Ham United. Chelsea can play spoiler when they entertain their north London rivals on Tuesday night. Alonso will watch with interest but will not be in the dugout; interim Calum McFarlane will continue in charge, completing his second temporary spell with the trip to Sunderland.<\/p>\n
The Stadium of Light has proved a difficult venue for the established elite this season. Sunderland are unbeaten at home against Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United, Aston Villa and Liverpool in their first season back. They have already beaten Chelsea once this term, claiming a 2-1 win at Stamford Bridge in October courtesy of a stoppage-time winner.<\/p>\n
Alonso\u2019s first unofficial fixtures arrive at the end of July as Chelsea tour Australia and Asia. “The Olympic Stadium in Melbourne will serve as the grand setting for Alonso\u2019s maiden bow as Chelsea boss when the Blues take on A-League strugglers Western Sydney Wanderers on July 28.” The club\u2019s scheduled tour also lists matches against Tottenham on Aug. 1 in Sydney, Juventus on Aug. 5 in Hong Kong and AC Milan on Aug. 8 in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Having lost the FA Cup final and missed out on the Community Shield, Alonso\u2019s official debut must wait for the opening weekend of the 2026\u201327 Premier League season, scheduled between Aug. 21\u201324. With the summer international tournament running from June 11 to July 19 and most of Chelsea\u2019s squad expected to be involved, Alonso may face a fragmented preseason without many first-team players.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Alonso’s Chelsea start is set for July 1, 2026; interim matches and preseason tour outlined. Update.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13860,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[190,172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea","category-epl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}