2009 FA Cup Final: Chelsea 2-1 Everton

The footage

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2009

The match report

Chelsea won the FA Cup at Wembley on Saturday 30 May 2009, beating Everton 2-1 in the 128th final of the competition, the 75th played at Wembley and the third since the stadium was rebuilt. It was the club's fifth FA Cup and its second in three years, and it was won in front of 89,391 spectators in heat that the BBC's pitchside thermometer measured at 41C.[1][3][7][4]

Everton were ahead before some seats were warm. Straight from the kick-off Steven Pienaar crossed from the left, Mikel John Obi's header only half-cleared, Marouane Fellaini nodded the ball down and Louis Saha smashed a first-time left-foot shot past Petr Cech after 25 seconds. It broke the record for the fastest goal in an FA Cup final, which Aston Villa's Bob Chatt had held since scoring after 30 seconds of the 1895 final - a mark that had stood for 114 years. Saha's own record would last only 14, until Ilkay Gundogan scored after 13 seconds of the 2023 final.[1][4][7]

Chelsea's response was patient rather than frantic. Tony Hibbert, Everton's right-back, had been booked in the eighth minute for tripping Florent Malouda, and Chelsea spent the rest of the half aiming everything at him. The equaliser came from exactly that flank in the 21st minute: Malouda was allowed time to measure his cross and Didier Drogba rose in front of Joleon Lescott to head firmly down past Tim Howard. Frank Lampard almost added a second almost straight from the restart, his 25-yarder dipping narrowly over.[3][1]

David Moyes had seen enough at half-time and replaced Hibbert with Lars Jacobsen, and Everton's captain Phil Neville was booked within two minutes of the restart. Guus Hiddink's only change was Michael Ballack for Michael Essien just after the hour. Everton's clearest chance of the half fell to Saha on 67 minutes, but his header from Leighton Baines' cross dropped inches over the bar.[1][4][3]

The winner came on 72 minutes. Ballack moved the ball to Nicolas Anelka, Anelka slipped a pass to Lampard, and Lampard stepped inside Neville, stumbled, righted himself and curled a left-foot strike that Howard got a hand to but could not keep out. Lampard celebrated with a jig around the corner flag - a homage to his father, Frank Lampard senior, who had celebrated the same way after scoring against Everton for West Ham in the 1980 semi-final.[1][3][4][5]

Five minutes later Chelsea should have had a third. Malouda let fly from 35 yards and the ball crashed off the underside of the bar and bounced down, with television replays suggesting it crossed the line. Webb and his assistant were not in a position to give it and play went on, in an era before goal-line technology. Everton's last opening was cut out by Cech, who clawed James Vaughan's cross away from Tim Cahill, and Nicolas Anelka lifted Chelsea's final chance over the bar in added time.[1][3]

The final was Hiddink's last match as Chelsea's interim manager before he returned to his full-time job with Russia, and his players had clubbed together to buy him a watch as a leaving present. He left with his first trophy in English football, having taken over a side drifting under Luiz Felipe Scolari in February; he was later fined for smoking a celebration cigar inside Wembley. For Ashley Cole, named man of the match, the medal was his fifth in the competition, equalling a record no player had reached since the nineteenth century.[4][3][5][1][7]

For Everton, whose chairman Bill Kenwright shed tears at the final whistle, the defeat was an eighth in an FA Cup final - more than any other club - in their first final for 14 years, despite a run that had eliminated both Liverpool and Manchester United. The occasion around the match was as notable as the heat: former United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan was guest of honour and presented the trophy, 13-year-old Faryl Smith sang the national anthem, and Chelsea, having lost a coin toss for first choice of colours, played the final in an all-yellow third kit.[4][1][7]

How the match unfolded

1. 1'Everton attack from the kick-off and lead after 25 seconds. Steven Pienaar's cross is half-cleared by Mikel John Obi, Marouane Fellaini nods the loose ball down and Louis Saha smashes a first-time left-foot shot past Petr Cech - the fastest goal in FA Cup final history.[1][4][3]
2. 8'Tony Hibbert is booked for tripping Florent Malouda. It is the start of a torrid afternoon for the Everton right-back, whom Chelsea target repeatedly.[7][3]
3. 21'Chelsea level. Malouda is given time and space on the left to measure a cross and Didier Drogba rises in front of Joleon Lescott to head firmly down past Tim Howard.[1][3]
4. 45'Half-time at 1-1, Everton hanging on against Chelsea's pressure in punishing heat.[4][1]
5. 46'David Moyes takes off the booked Hibbert and sends on Lars Jacobsen for the second half.[1][4]
6. 47'Everton captain Phil Neville is booked for a clumsy lunge on Mikel John Obi.[4][7]
7. 61'Guus Hiddink makes his only change, Michael Ballack replacing Michael Essien.[1][3]
8. 63'Mikel John Obi becomes the first Chelsea player booked, after a clash with Saha.[4][7]
9. 67'Everton's best chance of the half: Saha meets Leighton Baines' pacy cross but his header drops inches over the bar.[1][3]
10. 72'Ballack moves the ball to Nicolas Anelka, who slips a pass to Frank Lampard. Lampard steps inside Neville, loses his footing, rights himself and curls a left-foot strike past Howard's reach into the corner. 2-1 Chelsea.[1][3][4]
11. 77'James Vaughan replaces Saha. Moments later Malouda lets fly from 35 yards; the shot crashes off the underside of the bar and bounces down, with replays suggesting it crossed the line. Referee Webb waves play on.[1][3][4]
12. 82'Dan Gosling, the extra-time winner against Liverpool in the fourth round, replaces Leon Osman as Everton chase the game. The FA's own report times this change a minute later.[3][1]
13. 84'Lampard is booked for going over Steven Pienaar's outstretched leg.[4][7]
14. 94'In the fourth minute of added time Baines is booked, Anelka lifts a late chance over the bar, and Webb ends it. Chelsea win the FA Cup for the fifth time.[1][4][7]

Match facts

Date

Saturday 30 May 2009

Venue

Wembley Stadium, London

Attendance

89,391The FA's own match report records the goal as 'witnessed by 89,391 spectators inside Wembley', and the BBC's match report carries the same figure.[1][3][6]

Referee

Howard Webb (Sheffield and Hallamshire)[2][3]

Scorers

Louis Saha 1'
Didier Drogba 21'
Frank Lampard 72'[1][3][7]

Half-time

1-1

Competition

2008-09 FA Cup

Where they played

Both sides as they lined up. Choose any player to read what they did in this final.

Select a shirt for that player's note.

Route to the final

Line-ups

Trivia and detail

• Both clubs' first-choice kits are blue, so a coin was tossed for first choice of colours. Everton won and wore blue; Chelsea played the final in an all-yellow third kit rather than their black away strip.[7][4]
• Each club was allocated 25,109 tickets. Everton, who had sold over 32,000 for the semi-final, protested; their chief executive Robert Elstone said the club could have sold in excess of 70,000 for their first final in 14 years.[7]
• The guest of honour was former United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan, who presented the trophy. He told the BBC he had played right wing in his youth.[1][4]
• The national anthem was sung by 13-year-old Britain's Got Talent finalist Faryl Smith, the youngest performer of the anthem at an FA Cup final. Abide with Me was led by the London Community Gospel Choir.[7]
• Referee Howard Webb had been fourth official at the 2007 final, the first back at the rebuilt Wembley, and called the appointment the realisation of a dream he had held since starting refereeing 20 years earlier.[2]
• The BBC's live text noted the match was the first Wembley FA Cup final in which both teams scored since 1993, and that Everton had not beaten Chelsea in 22 meetings stretching back to November 2000.[4]
• The FA's report put the UK television audience at 7 million and claimed around half a billion viewers in 183 countries worldwide.[1]
• Everton's team bus carried players in made-to-measure Gieves and Hawkes navy mohair suits; the BBC's live text lamented that neither club had recorded an official cup final song.[4]
• The official match ball was a gold-coloured Umbro Dynamis, built from 20 panels rather than the traditional 32, which its maker claimed made it faster.[7]

How well do you know the 2009 final?

Five questions. Every answer is sourced from the material on this page.

1. How long after kick-off did Louis Saha put Everton ahead?

   25 seconds30 seconds45 seconds2 minutes
   Answer

   25 seconds. Saha smashed in Fellaini's nod-down after 25 seconds, the fastest goal in FA Cup final history at the time.[1][3]

2. Whose long-standing record for the fastest FA Cup final goal did Saha break?

   Bob Chatt of Aston VillaJackie Milburn of Newcastle UnitedNat Lofthouse of Bolton WanderersBilly Wright of Wolverhampton Wanderers
   Answer

   Bob Chatt of Aston Villa. Chatt scored after 30 seconds of the 1895 final for Aston Villa, and his mark had stood for 114 years.[4][7]

3. Who scored Chelsea's equaliser, and how?

   Didier Drogba, with a headerFrank Lampard, with a free-kickNicolas Anelka, with a lobFlorent Malouda, with a volley
   Answer

   Didier Drogba, with a header. Drogba rose in front of Lescott to head Malouda's left-wing cross firmly down past Howard in the 21st minute.[1][3]

4. What happened when Florent Malouda's long-range shot crashed off the bar in the second half?

   It bounced down and replays suggested it crossed the line, but no goal was givenIt bounced back off the post and Everton clearedIt was given as a goal after the referee consulted his assistantIt hit Tim Howard on the line and rebounded to safety
   Answer

   It bounced down and replays suggested it crossed the line, but no goal was given. The shot bounced down off the underside of the bar; television replays suggested it crossed the line, but Webb and his assistant could not confirm it and waved play on.[1][3]

5. Why was this final the end of Guus Hiddink's time at Chelsea?

   He was interim manager and returned to his full-time job with RussiaHe retired from football managementHe was sacked despite winning the cupHe left to manage Everton
   Answer

   He was interim manager and returned to his full-time job with Russia. Hiddink had combined the Chelsea interim role with managing Russia, and the final was his farewell match; his players clubbed together to buy him a leaving present.[3][4]

What is not settled

Honesty matters more than tidiness. These details are contested or unrecorded, and we have not guessed at them:

• Lampard's winning goal is given at 72 minutes by the BBC and by the standard reference work, but the FA's own report describes it as coming four minutes after Saha's 67th-minute header, which implies the 71st. We publish 72.
• James Vaughan's introduction for Saha is timed at 77 minutes by the FA's report and the BBC's report, and at 75 by Wikipedia. We publish 77.
• Dan Gosling's introduction for Osman is timed at 82 by the BBC's report, at 83 by the FA's report and at 81 by Wikipedia's own prose. We publish 82.
• Saha's goal is timed at 25 seconds by the FA, the BBC and Chelsea's own 2020 retrospective, but a separate Chelsea club feature about the yellow kit says 27 seconds. We publish 25.
• The final pass for Lampard's winner is credited to Anelka by the FA's report and the BBC's live text, while the BBC's written match report credits Ballack, who began the move. We follow the FA.
• Accounts of the flight of Lampard's shot differ in detail: the FA has it dropping into the far corner, the BBC has it still rising into the top corner. Both agree Howard got a hand to it and could not keep it out.
• Whether Malouda's second-half shot crossed the line rests on television replays, which suggested it had; no goal-line technology existed and the officials gave nothing. Reported as replay evidence, not settled fact.
• The FA's claim of a worldwide audience of around half a billion in 183 countries is the governing body's own figure and cannot be corroborated independently.

How we know

Every claim on this page is tied to a numbered source below. These are the contemporary records behind it, each one fetched and matched word for word before publication rather than taken on trust:

• The FA's own match-centre report of the final, 30 May 2009, via the Internet Archive · The Football Association
• The FA's appointment announcement for the 2009 final officials, 21 April 2009, via the Internet Archive · The Football Association
• Chris Bevan's match report from Wembley, 30 May 2009 · BBC Sport
• Caroline Cheese's live text commentary, 30 May 2009, via the Internet Archive · BBC Sport

Where a primary record and a modern account disagree, we show both rather than choosing the tidier number.

Sources

1. Hiddink leads Chelsea to FA Cup glory - Chelsea FC v Everton FC · The Football Association
2. Webb appointed for The Final · The Football Association
3. Chelsea 2-1 Everton · BBC Sport
4. Live text - FA Cup final · BBC Sport
5. Lampard's dance, Hiddink's cigar and the goal that wasn't: the story of our 2009 FA Cup final win · Chelsea FC
6. Starting Lineups - Chelsea vs Everton, The FA Cup Final · Sky Sports
7. 2009 FA Cup final · Wikipedia

Elsewhere in the encyclopedia

Other finals involving these clubs

• 2010 Chelsea: Chelsea 1-0 Portsmouth
• 2012 Chelsea: Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool
• 2017 Chelsea: Arsenal 2-1 Chelsea
• 2018 Chelsea: Chelsea 1-0 Manchester United
• 2020 Chelsea: Arsenal 2-1 Chelsea
• 2021 Chelsea: Leicester City 1-0 Chelsea

Other finals at Wembley Stadium

• 2008 Cardiff City 1-0 Portsmouth
• 2010 Chelsea 1-0 Portsmouth
• 2011 Manchester City 1-0 Stoke City
• 2012 Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool
• 2013 Wigan Athletic 1-0 Manchester City
• 2014 Arsenal 3-2 Hull City

Elsewhere on WhatChan