AC Milan

Associazione Calcio Milan, better known as AC Milan, is a Italian football club based in the city of Milan. They are considered European giants and have won 7 European Cups and 18 Italian Serie A titles and in European and world competitions have won 18 officially recognized international titles, more than any other club in the world.

AC Milan were established on December 1899 as the Milan Cricket and Football Club by British expatriates Alfred Edwards and Herbert Kilpin. The club won theri first Italian championship in 1901 and won the championship again in 1906 and 1907.

After 1907 though AC Milan couldn’t manage to gain much success although their stadium Giuseppe Meazza was constructed in 1926. The Fascist regime then forced the club to alter their name in 1939 but after World War II, the club took its current name AC Milan.

AC Milan won the Italian Serie A in 1951 and then went on a series of success both in Italy and in Europe. Milan won the European Cup in 1963 under the leadership of Nero Rocco. They would win the European Cup again in 1969 when Milan legend Gianni Rivera almost single handedly led the club.

AC Milan were involved in the 1980 Totonero scandal and were relegated to the Italian Serie B due to this bribery scandal for the 1980-1981 season. Although they immediately bounced back, Milan went down immediately to the Serie B as they finished in the relegation zone in the 1981-1982 season.

In 1986 Silvio Berlusconi tookover the club and from then on AC Milan started escalating. Berlusconi appointed Arrigo Sacchi as his club’s coach in 1987 and from then on Milan started to win and win big.

Sacchi won the European Cup in 1989 and 1990 with Milan and after he left the club in 1991 Fabio Capello came into the equation and the Don led Milan’s Dream Team. He won four Serie A titles in five years in the mid 1990s and also won the Euroepan Cup once.

After a somewhat lean period, Carlo Ancelotti became the new coach in November 2001 and led Milan to the UEFA Champions League conquest in 2003 and the scudetto in 2004. Milan would again win the Champions League in 2007.

The club’s all time goalscorer is Swede Gunnar Nordahl who scored 221 goals in 268 games. The club’s all times second highest topscorer is Andriy Shevchenko.

AC Milan play their home matches at the 85,700-seater San Siro stadium in Milan. The stadium is also named as the Giuseppe Meazza stadium after the Italian legend Giuseppe Meazza of the 1930s and the 1940s who played for both AC Milan and Inter Milan.

AC Milan bear the nickname Rossoneri (Red-blacks). They are also sometimes known as il Diavolo(the Devil).

Milan’s most notable honours to date include:

• 18 Scudetto Serie A Championships

• 14 Serie A runners up
• 2 Serie B Championships
• 5 Coppa Italia
• 5 Super Coppa di Lega
• 7 UEFA Champions League (4 runners up)
• 2 Cup Winners’ Cup
• 3 World Club Championships