History
A black and white picture of Herbert Kilpin, the first captain of A.C. Milan
Herbert Kilpin, the first captain of A.C. Milan
The club was founded as a cricket club in 1899 by British expatriates Alfred Edwards and Herbert Kilpin, who came from the British city of Nottingham. In honor of its origins, the club has retained the English spelling of its city's name, instead of changing it to the Italian Milano, although it was forced to do so during the fascist regime. Milan won its first Italian championship in 1901 and a further two in succession in 1906 and 1907.
In 1908, the club experienced a split caused by internal disagreements over the signing of foreign players, which led to the forming of another Milan-based team, Internazionale.
Foundation and early years
In 1916, Milan won the Federal Cup, a national trophy which had replaced the Italian league, suspended because of World War I. This cup was never recognized as an Italian title.
In 1919, the team changed its name to Milan Football Club. After their first triumphs, Milan was unable to continue with their former high-level success, obtaining only a number of half-table placements, even if always playing in the top Italian division.
In 1939 the fascist regime imposed a new italianized name, Associazione Calcio Milano, for the team. However, that name was abandoned immediately after the World War II, but maintaining the initial part: the team was called Associazione Calcio Milan, which is the current official name.
1950s
In the post-war period, Milan was among the three top Italian teams, and won the Scudetto in 1951 - the first time since 1907. Il Grande Milan included the famous Gre-No-Li, a trio of Swedish players composed by Gunnar Gren, Gunnar Nordahl and Nils Liedholm who were Olympic winners. That team also fielded quality players such as Lorenzo Buffon, Cesare Maldini and Carlo Annovazzi.
Perhaps the most resounding victory of this period was the 7-1 defeat of Juventus in Turin on February 5, 1950, with Gunnar Nordahl bagging a hat-trick.
After the 1951 Scudetto, Milan won another three Serie A seasons, in 1955, 1957 and 1959, and two Latin Cups, in 1951 and 1956. In the end, Milan always placed among the top three teams from 1947/1948 to 1956/1957.
The 10th scudetto and the first Serie B
In the 1970s, Milan won three Italian Cups and its second Cup Winners' Cup during the 72-73 season. Greek referee Christos Michas, who officiated the final, was later sentenced of match fixing in his home country, though no involment by Milan was ever proved. The real goal of the Rossoneri was the tenth Scudetto, which would have awarded the first stella ("star") to the team. In 1972 they reached the semi-final of the UEFA Cup losing to eventual cup winners Tottenham Hotspur. A strong 1972/1973 season provided their first opportunity for the tenth Scudetto, but ultimately proved a failure after a humiliating defeat against Hellas Verona on the last day of the season.
Milan had to wait until 1978/1979 to win their tenth Scudetto, primarily being led by Gianni Rivera who retired from football after this final triumph.
However, the worst was yet to come for the Rossoneri: after the 1979/1980 season, Milan was relegated to Serie B by the Football Federation, together with S.S. Lazio, because of a betting scandal.In 1980-81, Milan easily won the Serie B, and returned to Serie A, where it would suffer its worst season ever, in 1981/1982, being relegated once again.
Berlusconi presidency
After several different financial troubles had caused bad times and a lack of success, Milan was bought on February 20, 1986 by Silvio Berlusconi, a Milanese enterpreneur. Berlusconi brought in a rising coach, Arrigo Sacchi, and three Dutch players, Marco van Basten, Frank Rijkaard and Ruud Gullit, to return the team to glory. He also signed some Italian stars: Roberto Donadoni, Carlo Ancelotti and Giovanni Galli.
Sacchi won the 1987-88 scudetto, in addition to three consecutive scudetti (from 1992 to 1994, including the feat of not losing a single match in the 1991/1992 season).
In 1988-1989, Milan won its third European Cup, defeating Steaua Bucuresti 4-0 in the final, and its second Intercontinental cup against National de Medellin (1-0, goal in the last minute of extra time). The team repeated their triumph the following season, against Benfica (1-0), and earned its second Intercontinental Cup in a row and third overall beating Olimpia Asunción in 1990. Their European winning line-up was: Giovanni Galli; Mauro Tassotti, Alessandro Costacurta, Franco Baresi, Paolo Maldini; Angelo Colombo, Frank Rijkaard, Carlo Ancelotti, Roberto Donadoni; Ruud Gullit, Marco van Basten. During this period the team was nicknamed Gli Immortali ("The Immortals").
With Sacchi leaving Milan to coach the Italy national football team, Fabio Capello was hired and under him, the Rossoneri kept being successful and came to be known as Gli Invicibili ("The Invincibles"). With an unprecedented 58-match run with no defeats the Invincibili team had the likes of Franco Baresi, Alessandro Costacurta and Paolo Maldini commanding one of the best defences in history, with Marcel Desailly and Roberto Donadoni in midfield and Dejan Savićević, Zvonimir Boban, and Daniele Massaro playing in attack.
Milan also reached the Champions League final for three consecutive years: in 1993 they were defeated by Olympique de Marseille; this match was disputed by a match-fixing scandal in the French league involving Marseille's then club president. In 1994 it was F.C. Barcelona who experienced the taste of defeat, after a famous 4-0 win at the hands of the Rossoneri.
After winning the UCL in 2002–03, 2006–07, Milan reached second place in the Ucl top winning teams.
Milan have won honours both domestically and in European cup competitions. They have won the Scudetto 17 times, the Coppa Italia five times and the Supercoppa Italiana a record five time.[1] They won their first Scudetto in their second season, 1901, while their most recent success came in 2007, when they won the FIFA Club World Cup for the first time.
A black and white picture of Herbert Kilpin, the first captain of A.C. Milan
Herbert Kilpin, the first captain of A.C. Milan
The club was founded as a cricket club in 1899 by British expatriates Alfred Edwards and Herbert Kilpin, who came from the British city of Nottingham. In honor of its origins, the club has retained the English spelling of its city's name, instead of changing it to the Italian Milano, although it was forced to do so during the fascist regime. Milan won its first Italian championship in 1901 and a further two in succession in 1906 and 1907.
In 1908, the club experienced a split caused by internal disagreements over the signing of foreign players, which led to the forming of another Milan-based team, Internazionale.
Foundation and early years
In 1916, Milan won the Federal Cup, a national trophy which had replaced the Italian league, suspended because of World War I. This cup was never recognized as an Italian title.
In 1919, the team changed its name to Milan Football Club. After their first triumphs, Milan was unable to continue with their former high-level success, obtaining only a number of half-table placements, even if always playing in the top Italian division.
In 1939 the fascist regime imposed a new italianized name, Associazione Calcio Milano, for the team. However, that name was abandoned immediately after the World War II, but maintaining the initial part: the team was called Associazione Calcio Milan, which is the current official name.
1950s
In the post-war period, Milan was among the three top Italian teams, and won the Scudetto in 1951 - the first time since 1907. Il Grande Milan included the famous Gre-No-Li, a trio of Swedish players composed by Gunnar Gren, Gunnar Nordahl and Nils Liedholm who were Olympic winners. That team also fielded quality players such as Lorenzo Buffon, Cesare Maldini and Carlo Annovazzi.
Perhaps the most resounding victory of this period was the 7-1 defeat of Juventus in Turin on February 5, 1950, with Gunnar Nordahl bagging a hat-trick.
After the 1951 Scudetto, Milan won another three Serie A seasons, in 1955, 1957 and 1959, and two Latin Cups, in 1951 and 1956. In the end, Milan always placed among the top three teams from 1947/1948 to 1956/1957.
The 10th scudetto and the first Serie B
In the 1970s, Milan won three Italian Cups and its second Cup Winners' Cup during the 72-73 season. Greek referee Christos Michas, who officiated the final, was later sentenced of match fixing in his home country, though no involment by Milan was ever proved. The real goal of the Rossoneri was the tenth Scudetto, which would have awarded the first stella ("star") to the team. In 1972 they reached the semi-final of the UEFA Cup losing to eventual cup winners Tottenham Hotspur. A strong 1972/1973 season provided their first opportunity for the tenth Scudetto, but ultimately proved a failure after a humiliating defeat against Hellas Verona on the last day of the season.
Milan had to wait until 1978/1979 to win their tenth Scudetto, primarily being led by Gianni Rivera who retired from football after this final triumph.
However, the worst was yet to come for the Rossoneri: after the 1979/1980 season, Milan was relegated to Serie B by the Football Federation, together with S.S. Lazio, because of a betting scandal.In 1980-81, Milan easily won the Serie B, and returned to Serie A, where it would suffer its worst season ever, in 1981/1982, being relegated once again.
Berlusconi presidency
After several different financial troubles had caused bad times and a lack of success, Milan was bought on February 20, 1986 by Silvio Berlusconi, a Milanese enterpreneur. Berlusconi brought in a rising coach, Arrigo Sacchi, and three Dutch players, Marco van Basten, Frank Rijkaard and Ruud Gullit, to return the team to glory. He also signed some Italian stars: Roberto Donadoni, Carlo Ancelotti and Giovanni Galli.
Sacchi won the 1987-88 scudetto, in addition to three consecutive scudetti (from 1992 to 1994, including the feat of not losing a single match in the 1991/1992 season).
In 1988-1989, Milan won its third European Cup, defeating Steaua Bucuresti 4-0 in the final, and its second Intercontinental cup against National de Medellin (1-0, goal in the last minute of extra time). The team repeated their triumph the following season, against Benfica (1-0), and earned its second Intercontinental Cup in a row and third overall beating Olimpia Asunción in 1990. Their European winning line-up was: Giovanni Galli; Mauro Tassotti, Alessandro Costacurta, Franco Baresi, Paolo Maldini; Angelo Colombo, Frank Rijkaard, Carlo Ancelotti, Roberto Donadoni; Ruud Gullit, Marco van Basten. During this period the team was nicknamed Gli Immortali ("The Immortals").
With Sacchi leaving Milan to coach the Italy national football team, Fabio Capello was hired and under him, the Rossoneri kept being successful and came to be known as Gli Invicibili ("The Invincibles"). With an unprecedented 58-match run with no defeats the Invincibili team had the likes of Franco Baresi, Alessandro Costacurta and Paolo Maldini commanding one of the best defences in history, with Marcel Desailly and Roberto Donadoni in midfield and Dejan Savićević, Zvonimir Boban, and Daniele Massaro playing in attack.
Milan also reached the Champions League final for three consecutive years: in 1993 they were defeated by Olympique de Marseille; this match was disputed by a match-fixing scandal in the French league involving Marseille's then club president. In 1994 it was F.C. Barcelona who experienced the taste of defeat, after a famous 4-0 win at the hands of the Rossoneri.
After winning the UCL in 2002–03, 2006–07, Milan reached second place in the Ucl top winning teams.
Milan have won honours both domestically and in European cup competitions. They have won the Scudetto 17 times, the Coppa Italia five times and the Supercoppa Italiana a record five time.[1] They won their first Scudetto in their second season, 1901, while their most recent success came in 2007, when they won the FIFA Club World Cup for the first time.
