A brief history of A.C Milan

Source Wikipedia

Milan were founded in 1899 as Milan Football and Cricket Club. The club was formed by a group of Englishmen and Italians, including the first president Alfred Edwards.

In 1900 they joined the FIF, Italian Football Federation and in 1901 won their first Scudetto. They won the title again in 1906 and 1907.

In 1908 some of the members, in disagreement with the policy not to have foreign players, left the club and founded the Football Club Internazionale Milano (modern day Inter).

In 1919 the Rossoneri became Milan Football Club. In 1926 the San Siro stadium was built while Inter played at the Arena Civica.

In 1936 they became Milan Associazione Sportiva and in 1945 Associazione Calcio Milan.

In 1951 they won their 4th Scudetto and the Latin Cup. These were the years of great Swedish trio Gre-No-Li, Gunnar Gren, Gunnar Nordahl and Nils Liedholm. More league titles followed in 1955, 1957, 1959 and 1962 (with José Altafini as top scorer).

In 1963 they won their first European Cup, under Nereo Rocco, defeating Eusebio's Benfica 2-1 at Wembley. These were the years of a rising star, Gianni Rivera.

In 1967 they won their first Coppa Italia, under Arturo Silvestri, defeating Padova 1-0 in the final in Rome.

In 1968 they won both the Scudetto (9th) and the Cup Winners Cup, defeating SV Hamburger 2-0 in the final.

In 1969 they won their second European Cup defeating Ajax 4-1 and a year later won the Intercontinental Cup beating Estudiantes La Plata 4-2 on aggregate. In the same year Gianni Rivera won the Golden Ball.

In the 1970's they won the Coppa Italia three times (1972, '73 and '77) and the Cup Winners Cup for the second time in 1973 defeating Leeds United 1-0.

In 1979 they finally won the Scudetto again, their 10th title which earned them their first star on their jerseys. The manager was former player Nils Liedholm.

The euphoria did not last long as in 1980 they were relegated to Serie B for their involvement in the Totonero betting scandal (with Lazio).

They bounced straight up again but were relegated again in 1982, this time on the pitch. They then won the second flight league but the early 80's were mediocre years for the Rossoneri.

Things improved from 1986 with the arrival of entrepreneur Silvio Berlusconi as new owner while Dutch stars Marco Van Basten and Ruud Gullit were added to Italians Paolo Maldini and Franco Baresi.

In 1987-88 they won the Scudetto again, under Arrigo Sacchi. A year later they added another Dutchman Frank Rikjaard and won the European Cup for the 3rd time defeating Steaua Bucharest 4-0. They also won their first Italian Supercoppa beating Sampdoria 3-1 and the Intercontinental Cup again beating Atletico Nacional from Colombia 1-0

These were glory years for Milan and more trophies followed; 5 league titles (1992, 1993, 1994, 1996 and 1999), 2 European Cups/ Champions Leagues (1990, 1994), 3 European Super Cups (1990, 1991, 1995), 4 Italian Supercoppe (1989,1993, 1994, 1995) and 1 Intercontinental Cup (1990). In 1992 Fabio Capello took over from Sacchi who had become the Italy head coach but the successes had continued.

In 1996 Capello left for Real Madrid and the Rossoneri won their next Scudetto in 1999 under Alberto Zaccheroni.

The new millennium saw Carlo Ancelotti arrive as manager in 2001 and more trophies came in between 2003 and 2008; the Champions League twice (2003 and 2007), the Scudetto (2004), the European Super Cup twice (2004, 2008), an Italian Supercoppa (2005) and World Cup for Clubs (2008).

In 2010 Max Allegri became manager and in 2011 Milan won their 18th Scudetto and in 2012 the Italian Supercoppa.

Their next trophy was not until 2017 when they won the Italian Supercoppa, under Vincenzo Montella.

They won the Scudetto again in 2022 under Stefano Pioli while their last trophy was the recent Italian Supercoppa in January 2025 when, under new manager Sergio Conceição, they defeated city rivals Inter 3-2 after being 0-2 down.

For 2025-26 Massimiliano Allegri will be back.

The Milan colours, red and black, were chosen by founder Herbert Kiplin who was inspired by his first club as a player, Notts Olympic from Nottingham who wore the same colours.

The Milan flag is a combination of the Rossoneri colours and the flag of the city of Milan, a red cross on a white background. The red was to represent fire and the black to instil fear in their opponents. Their symbol is the devil and have always been known as "Il Diavolo".

Milan's top five for number of appearances are Paolo Maldini (902), Franco Baresi (719), Alessandro "Billy" Costacurta (663), Gianni Rivera (658) and Mauro Tassotti (583).

Top five goal scorers are; Gunnar Nordahl (221), Andrij Shevchenko (175), Gianni Rivera (164), José Altafini (161) and Aldo Boffi (136).

Milan players have won the prestigious Golden Ball award six times; Rivera 1969, Ruud Gullit 1987, Marco Van Basten 1988, '89, '92, George Weah 1995, Shevchenko 2004 and Ricardo Kaká 2007.

Other great players not mentioned yet who have worn the Milan jersey include; Renzo De Vecchi (1909-'13), Cesare Maldini (1954-'66), Juan Alberto Schiaffino (1954-'60), Carlo Galli (1956-'61), Giovanni Trapattoni (1958-'71), Giorgio Ghezzi (1959-'65), Giovanni Lodetti (1961-'70), Bruno Mora (1962-'69), Karl-Heinz Schnellinger (1965-'74), Pierino Prati (1966-73), Angelo Anquilletti (1966-'77), Fabio Cudicini (1967-'72), Roberto Donadoni (1986-'96, 1997-'99), Carlo Ancelotti (1987-'92), Jean-Pierre Papin (1992-'94), Dejan Savićević (1992-'98), Zvonimir Boban (1992-2001), Marcel Desailly (1993-'98), Roberto Baggio (1995-'97), Manuel Rui Costa (2001-'06), Andrea Pirlo (2001-'11), Filippo Inzaghi (2001-'12), Rivaldo (2002-'03), Alessandro Nesta (2002-'12), Clarence Seedorf (2002-'12), Marcos Cafu (2003-'08), Ronaldo (2007-08), Ronaldinho (2008-'11), Thiago Silva (2009-'12), Zlatan Ibrahimović (2010-'12, 2019-'23) and many more.

Milan are one of the big three of Italian football. It has been calculated that, in Italy, Juventus have almost nine million fans, Inter and Milan almost four million. Wherever you go in Italy you will find Milan fan clubs, especially in the provinces and Romagna, Marche, Puglia, Calabria and Sicily.

In Milan the Rossoneri fans used to be called "casciavit" (screwdrivers in dialect) due to their original working class backgrounds as opposed to the "baùscia" (boasters) of Inter, more from the middle classes. These differences however have faded in more recent times.

The historic "Ultras" groups were Fossa dei Leoni, Brigate Rossonere and Commandos Tigre but they have nowadays all merged into Curva Sud Milano.

Milan fans main rivals are obviously Inter but they also have a strong rivalry with Genoa and lesser ones with Verona, Lazio, Atalanta, Fiorentina, Sampdoria and Cagliari. Their friendships include Brescia, Reggina, Olympique Lyonnais and Sevilla.

Famous Milan fans include: playwright, actor and more Dario Fo, actors Ugo Tognazzi, Diego Abatantuono, Giorgio Panariello, Gene Gnocchi and Claudio Bisio, film director Gabriele Salvatores, tennis players Jannik Sinner, Novak Djokovic and Flavia Pennetta, cyclists Vincenzo Nibali, Ivan Basso, F1 drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa, motorcyclists Andrea Dovizioso and Andrea Iannone, politician Matteo Salvini. Some have passed away such as basketball player Kobe Bryant, cyclist Marco Pantani and motorcyclist Marco Simoncelli.

Regarding Lazio, in direct matches the Rossoneri have won 86, drawn 65 and lost 40.

Sources

Wikipedia