Everything about Ac Milan totally explained
Associazione Calcio Milan, commonly referred to by the abbreviation
AC Milan or simply
Milan, is an
Italian professional
football club based in
Milan,
Lombardy. The club was founded in 1899 and has since spent most of its history in the
top flight of
Italian football.
In
European and
World competitions AC Milan have won 18 officially recognised international titles, more than any other club in the world. The club have won what is today known as the
UEFA Champions League on
seven occasions; only
Real Madrid have won it more times (9). As far as Italian competitions are concerned, AC Milan is the second most successful club with 17 league titles; only
Juventus have won more (27). AC Milan have won
Intercontinental Cup/
Club World Cup four times, more than any other team in the world.
Other important titles which Milan have won includes the
European Super Cup five times, the
Cup Winners' Cup twice, however they've never reached the
UEFA Cup final (only two semi-finals). In Italy, the
Coppa Italia five times as well as five
Italian Super Cups. AC Milan is also one of the
G-14’s founding members, a group that represented eighteen of the largest and most prestigious European football clubs before it's disbandment.
Their home games are played at
San Siro, also known as the
Stadio Giuseppe Meazza. The ground, which is shared with rivals
Internazionale, is the largest in Italian football, with total capacity of 82,955.
History
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 honour of its origins, the club has retained the
English spelling of its
city's name, instead of changing it to the
Italian Milano (though it was forced to do it during the
fascist regime, like
Genoa and Inter); it should be noted that the Italian
pronunciation is actually
MEE-lan, even though the English one is the same as in the local dialect and many other dialects of Northern Italy. AC Milan won their first Italian championship title in
1901, and then again 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,
F.C. Internazionale Milano. Following these events, AC Milan didn't manage to win a single domestic title until
1950-51. In
1963 they ensured their first continental title, winning
European Cup beating
S.L. Benfica in the final. This success was repeated in
1969, and followed by an
Intercontinental Cup title the same year. Following retirement of
Gianni Rivera, Milan started a declining period, during which they were involved in the
1980 Totonero scandal and were relegated to
Serie B as punishment, for their first time in history. The scandal was centred on a betting syndicate paying players and officials to fix the outcome of matches. AC Milan quickly returned back to Serie A, but returned to
Serie B only one year later as they ended in the relegation zone their
1981-82 Serie A campaign.
In
1986, entrepreneur
Silvio Berlusconi acquired the club, and immediately invested a lot of money in the team, appointing rising coach
Arrigo Sacchi at the helm of the
rossoneri and signing a
Dutch trio of
Marco van Basten,
Ruud Gullit and
Frank Rijkaard. This was the beginning of the most successful time in the club's history, as AC Milan won seven domestic titles, five
UEFA Champions League trophies, and three Intercontinental Cups.
More recently, Milan were involved in the
2006 Serie A scandal where five teams were accused of fixing matches by selecting favourable referees. Milan were initially punished with a 15 point deduction and banned from the Champions League. An appeal saw their penalty reduced to 8 points and allowed to retain their 2006-07 Champions League participation, where they won the competition.
Current squad
As of 1 March 2008
For all transfers and loans pertaining to AC Milan for the current season, please see; 2007–08 transfers.
Out on loan
Retired numbers
» Main article:
Retired numbers in football
3 –
Paolo Maldini,
left full-back and later
centre-back (1984-2009)
might be restored for either of Maldini's sons
6 –
Franco Baresi,
sweeper (1977-1997)
Notable players
Presidential history
Milan has had numerous presidents over the course of their history, some of which have been the owners of the club while others have been honorary presidents. Here is a complete list of them.
| |
| Name |
Years |
| Alfred Edwards |
1899–1909 |
| Giannino Camperio |
1909 |
| Piero Pirelli |
1909–1928 |
| Luigi Ravasco |
1928–1930 |
| Mario Bernazzoli |
1930–1933 |
| Luigi Ravasco |
1933–1935 |
| Pietro Annoni |
1935 |
Pietro Annoni
G. Lorenzini
Rino Valdameri |
1935–1936 |
|
|
| Name |
Years |
| Emilio Colombo |
1936–1939 |
| Achille Invernizzi |
1939–1940 |
| Umberto Trabattoni |
1940–1944 |
| Antonio Busini |
1944–1945 |
| Umberto Trabattoni |
1945–1954 |
| Andrea Rizzoli |
1954–1963 |
| Felice Riva |
1963–1965 |
| Federico Sordillo |
1965–1966 |
| Franco Carraro |
1967–1971 |
| Federico Sordillo |
1971–1972 |
|
|
| Name |
Years |
| Albino Buticchi |
1972–1975 |
| Bruno Pardi |
1975–1976 |
| Vittorio Duina |
1976–1977 |
| Felice Colombo |
1977–1980 |
| Gaetano Morazzoni |
1980–1982 |
| Giuseppe Farina |
1982–1986 |
| Rosario Lo Verde |
1986 |
| Silvio Berlusconi |
1986–2004 |
| Presidential Commission |
2004–2006 |
| Silvio Berlusconi |
2006–2008 |
|
Managerial history
» For more information please see; Milan managers
Below is a list of Milan coaches from 1900 until the present day.
Club statistics and records
Paolo Maldini presently holds both records for number of total and Serie A appearances for Milan with a total of 837 games played in total, and 600 in the
Serie A (as of May 14, 2007, not including playoff matches), the latter being also an all-time Serie A record. Paolo had been quoted that he wants to go on playing for Milan until he reaches his 1000th game, however this is highly unlikely as he's expected to retire in 2008.
Milan's all time top goalscorer is a
Swede,
Gunnar Nordahl who, in 268 games, managed to score 221 goals.
Andriy Shevchenko is in second place with 173 goals in 298 games for the club. The highest scoring present squad member is
Filippo Inzaghi who has scored 98 goals in 214 games.
The club hold the unique record of having gone a whole season without losing a game during the
1991–92 season. In total, that unbeaten streak lasted 58 games, starting with a 0–0 draw with
Parma on
26 May 1991 and ironically ending with a 1–0 loss at home to Parma on
21 March 1993. This unbeaten streak is a
Serie A record and is the 3rd longest unbeaten run in top flight European football. It comes in behind
Steaua Bucharest's record of 104 unbeaten games and
Glasgow Celtic who went 68 games unbeaten.
Currently, AC Milan has the most
FIFA recognised international club titles in the world after beating the club with the second most,
Boca Juniors at the
FIFA Club World Cup in 2007. Milan is also the number one team in Europe in line with UEFA Co-Efficient ranking system. This allows Milan to be in the number one spot for all European draws, which allows Milan to avoid other highly rated European teams in UEFA competitions.
Colours and badge
Throughout the entire history of the club, they've been represented by the colours red and black. The colours were chosen to represent the players' fiery ardour (red) and the opponents' fear to challenge the team (black). Due to Milan's striped red and black shirts, they've gained the nickname
rossoneri. White shorts and black socks are worn as part of the home kit.
Milan's away strip has always been completely white. The latter is considered by both the fans and the club as their "lucky" strip in Champions League finals, due to the fact that Milan won six finals out of eight in an all white strip (losing only to
Ajax in 1995 and
Liverpool in 2005), while they only won one out of three in their home strip. The third kit changes yearly and is black with red trim for the current season, but it's rarely used.
For many years, Milan's badge was just that of the
flag of Milan; which was originally the flag of
Saint Ambrose. Another nickname derived from the club's colours is "
the Devil". An image of a red devil was used as AC Milan's logo at one point with a
Golden Star for Sport Excellence located next to it; the star was awarded to the club when they won 10 league titles. Currently, the badge represents the club colours and the flag of the
Comune di Milano, with the acronym
ACM at the top and the foundation year (1899) at the bottom.
Stadium
stadium is the 82,955 seat
San Siro, officially known as
Stadio Giuseppe Meazza after the former player who represented both Milan and
Internazionale. The name
San Siro is taken from the district where it's located. The stadium is shared with Inter, the other major football club in
Milan. The stadium is well known for its fantastic atmosphere due to the closeness of the stands to the pitch. There is the frequent use of flares by the fans which often cause trouble.
On
19 December 2005, AC Milan vice-president and executive director
Adriano Galliani announced that the team is seriously working to move out from
San Siro. He said that Milan's new stadium will be largely based on the
Veltins-Arena and following the standards of football stadiums in the United States, Germany and Spain. It will likely be a stadium for football purposes only (with no athletics track). The new stadium is supposed to be named after a sponsor. It remains to see if this plan will proceed or if this is just a ploy to force the owners (Comune di Milano) to sell the stadium to Milan for a nominal fee so as to proceed with extensive renovations. Rumours have also surfaced of
Inter's intention to also build a new stadium which may also affect this decision.
Supporters and rivalries
Milan is one of the most supported football club in Italy, according to an August 2007 research by Italian newspaper
La Repubblica. Historically, Milan was supported by the city's
working-class and
trade unionists, a section of whom were migrants from
Southern Italy. On the other hand, crosstown rivals
Internazionale were mainly supported by the more prosperous and typically Milanese
middle-class.
One of the oldest
ultras groups in all of Italian football,
Fossa dei Leoni, originated in Milan. Currently the main ultras group is
Brigate Rossonere and has been since the mid-1970s. Politically, Milan ultras have never had any particular preference, but the media have traditionally associated them with the
left-wing, until recent times under Berlusconi's presidency where they're considered somewhat
right-wing.
Genoa fans consider Milan a hated rival after Genoa fan Vincenzo Spagnolo was tragically stabbed to death by a Milan supporter in January of 1995. Milan's main rivalry, though, is with intracity neighbor Inter; both clubs meet in the widely-anticipated
Derby della Madonnina twice every Serie A season. The name of the derby refers to the
Blessed Virgin Mary, whose statue atop the
Milan Cathedral is one of the city's main attractions. The match usually creates a lively atmosphere, with numerous (often humorous or offensive) banners unfolded before the match.
Flares are commonly present, but they also led to the abandonment of the second leg of the
2004-05 Champions League quarterfinal matchup between Milan and Inter on April 12, 2005, after a flare thrown from the crowd by an Inter supporter struck Milan keeper
Dida on the shoulder.
Honours
Milan is one of the most successful clubs in Italy, having won a total of 27 trophies, and the most winning team in world for
international competition won with a record of 14 European trophies and 4 World titles. Milan have earned the distinction of being allowed to wear a
star on their shirt representing the fact that they've won more than 10
scudetti. Added to this Milan are allowed to wear the
UEFA Badge of Honour on their shirt during
Champions League matches as they've won more than 5 European Cups.
National titles
Serie A /
Italian Football Championship: » *
(17): 1901;
1906;
1907;
1950–51;
1954–55;
1956–57;
1958–59;
1961–62;
1967–68;
1978–79;
1987–88;
1991–92;
1992–93;
1993–94;
1995–96;
1998–99;
2003–04
Serie B: » *
(2): 1980–81; 1982–83
Coppa Italia: » *
(5): 1966–67; 1971-72; 1972–73; 1976–77;
2002–03
Supercoppa Italiana: » *
(5): 1988; 1992; 1993; 1994; 2004
European titles
UEFA Champions League (former European Cup) » *
(7): 1962–63;
1968–69;
1988–89;
1989–90;
1993–94;
2002–03;
2006–07
UEFA Super Cup » *
(5): 1989; 1990;
1994;
2003;
2007
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup » *
(2): 1967–68;
1972–73
World titles
FIFA Club World Cup » *
(1): 2007
Intercontinental Cup » *
(3): 1969; 1989; 1990
Unofficial titles
Latin Cup » *
(2): 1951, 1956
Mitropa Cup » *
(1): 1981–82
AC Milan as a company
According to
The Football Money League published by consultants
Deloitte, in the season 2005–06, Milan was the fifth highest earning football club in the world with an
estimated revenue of €238.7 million. Currently the club are also ranked as the 5th
richest football club in the world by
Forbes magazine, making them the richest in Italian football.
The
Austrian on-line betting company
bwin.com are currently Milan's main shirt sponsors after signing a 4 year deal at the start of the 2006–07 season. Previous to this deal, the
German car manufacturer,
Opel had sponsored Milan for 12 seasons. For most of them,
Opel was displayed on the front of the shirt, but in the 2004–05 and the 2005–06 seasons respectively,
Meriva and
Zafira (two cars from their range) were displayed.
The current shirts are supplied by
German sportswear manufacturer
Adidas, whose deal runs to the end of the 2007–08 season. The deal makes Adidas the official manufacturer of all kits, training equipment and replica outfits. Prior to Adidas, the
Italian sports company,
Lotto produced Milan's sportswear.
On the 14th of January, 2008, AC Milan and Adidas renewed the sponsorship contract till 30th of June, 2017. According to the new contract, Adidas will be responsible for 3 separate areas of sponsorship : the sponsorship on the shirt, the merchandising and the distribution of all non-football related Milan products.
Further Information
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