Levi Colwill's Journey: Overcoming Injury and Finding Strength

Levi Colwill had just touched the sky. A FIFA Club World Cup winner, days away from a new Premier League season, riding the surge that every young defender dreams of.

Then everything stopped.

One serious injury. Eight to nine months wiped out. The kind of blow that doesn’t just take your place in the team – it takes your rhythm, your routine, your sense of who you are.

Chelsea’s new CFC+ documentary tracks that fall and the long, brutal climb back, with Colwill allowing the cameras into a year he openly calls the most challenging of his career. No gloss, no shortcuts – just the grind of rehab and the mental weight that comes with it.

“I didn’t believe it to be honest,” he says, looking back on the moment he was told the extent of the damage. One minute, he was “flying” and “buzzing”. The next, as he puts it, he “hit rock bottom”.

That sudden silence is what defines long-term injuries. The noise of matchdays, the adrenaline of preparation, the constant chatter around selection – gone. In their place: treatment rooms, gym sessions, and long days that all look the same.

“When your life stops for eight or nine months, you know that you’re going to get through, whatever you can,” Colwill says. “It’s time to move on and you know the hard work really starts now.”

The film leans into that line. The hard work. The defender details the treatment, the daily steps forward, the setbacks, and the mental strain that came especially in those early weeks. The cameras check in with him at every milestone, building a picture not just of a player healing, but of a young man learning how to cope when football is suddenly taken away.

He didn’t do it alone.

“At home I had my friends and family checking up on me all the time,” Colwill explains. “When I first did the injury and I was back home, every day I had someone new coming and seeing me and just spending time with me. It gave me that motivation to work harder to be back on the pitch and make them proud again.”

The support network stretches well beyond his front door. At Cobham, Chelsea’s medical and coaching staff are a constant presence. So are his team-mates, who keep him tethered to the group even when he can’t lace up his boots.

One name stands out: Wesley Fofana. A fellow defender, a fellow survivor of serious injury, and a sounding board who understands every dark corner of the process.

“Wes has been really top with me – any advice, anything I need,” Colwill says. It’s a simple line, but it carries weight. When the days drag and doubts creep in, having someone who has already walked that path matters.

Colwill is adamant that the people around him deserve as much credit as the hours he put in himself.

“All these people have been there every step of the way with me,” he says. “I know everyone thinks it’s my hard work, but I think in my way, it’s a lot down to them. They’ve done a lot for me, and I’ll only be here because of them. Big thank you to those guys.”

The documentary captures a shift as the months pass. The tentative movements become sharper. The gym work turns into ball work. The idea of playing again stops feeling distant and starts to feel real.

Then comes the moment every injured player circles in their mind: stepping back over the white line.

“The moment I step back on the pitch with the squad is going to be a really good moment,” Colwill says beforehand, the excitement obvious. “Because I’ve been through a lot with them by my side and obviously, to be back with them, it will be the best moment ever.”

That moment arrives at Stamford Bridge, against Nottingham Forest in the Premier League. He comes off the bench, the comeback finally no longer a target on a calendar but a reality under the lights in west London.

CFC+ follows him through that day – before, when anticipation tightens the chest, and after, when relief and joy mix with the knowledge that this is not the end of the journey, just the first proper step back into it.

Across the 2025/26 season, the regular catch-ups build a layered portrait of Colwill: not just the composed defender Chelsea fans see on the pitch, but the person who had to learn patience, resilience, and trust in the people around him.

The trophies and clean sheets will always define careers on paper. Yet for players, seasons like this one can define something deeper. How far can you fall, and how hard are you willing to fight to rise again?