The History of A.C. Milan Football Club

A.C. Milan Club History

1899-1929
Milan Foot-Ball and Cricket Club was officially formed on December 16th 1899, but the first time Milan’s name appeared publicly was on Monday 18th in an article by the Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper. The Club had its first headquarters in the Fiaschetteria Toscana in Via Berchet in Milan and the President Alfred Ormonde Edwards entered the team into the Italian Football Federation the following January. During its first official season the team played just one game against Torino and despite the defeat Milan got their first Trophy, the “King’s Medal”, given by King Umberto I. In 1900/01 Milan won their first national title and their second King’s Medal (the Trophy was also won in the following season). Over the years Kiplin’s team had widespread success and Milan became the most popular team in Lombardia and won the prestigious “Palla Dapples” for three successive seasons (1904/05 - 1905/06 – 1906/07), even if it didn’t obtain great results in the Championship: the second Scudetto only came in the 1905/06 season and the third Scudetto was won the following season. The main player was Van Hege, a great top scorer with 1.1 goals per match. In the 1914/15 season the Championship was stopped before the end of the season because of the First World War, and it started again only in 1919. After several changes regarding the management of the Club, Pietro Pirelli was appointed as the new President: he held this role for almost twenty years, during which the San Siro Stadium was inaugurated.

1929-1949
Between the two World Wars the team didn’t obtain important results. In 1936 the name of the Club changed to Milan Associazione Sportiva and in 1940, after several changes in the top management, Umberto Trabattoni was appointed President and he left the Club in 1954. The team had highs and lows and rarely reached the first four places of the League. The Championship stopped because of the Second World War and started again in 1946/47: in this season Milan reached the fourth position after the great Torino, Juventus and Modena. In the two following seasons the rossoneri reached the second and the third place (the great Torino won both championships): this was the signal of the rebirth.

1949-1955
The arrival of Nordhal, top goal scorer of the 1949/50 season with 35 goals, marked the beginning of a new era. Milan was strengthened by the arrival of the great goalkeeper Buffon, and another two Swedes joined the team to make up the famous “Gre-No-Li” (Gren – Nordahl – Liedholm). In the 1950/51 season, Milan won its fourth Scudetto and the Coppa Latina as well. In 1952/53, 1953/54 and 1954/55 Nordhal, captain of the team, was the leading goal scorer and led the team to their fifth Scudetto. In 1954 Juan Alberto Schiaffino, nicknamed “Pepe”, was bought from Penarol and became one of the main protagonists of the following years.

1955-1960
In the season 1955/56 Milan played the very first match of the first edition of the European Cup: they were defeated in the semi-final by Real Madrid, who finally won the Cup. However, in the same season Milan won the Coppa Latina for the second time, defeating Athletic Bilbao (3-1) in the final match. In 1956/57 the new coach Gipo Viani won the Scudetto, but the real surprise was Gastone Bean, who scored 17 goals. A year later Josè Altafini joined the team: he won the public consent for his skills and speed, and together with the “old” captain Liedholm, Cesare Maldini and “Pepe” Schiaffino, won the Scudetto at the end of an exciting head to head with Fiorentina. The last season played by Schiaffino, one of the greatest champions in football history, wasn’t particularly successful for the rossoneri, but Milan had its revenge defeating Inter in the spring derby, winning the match 5-3 (Altafini scored four of Milan’s five goals).

1960-1970
While the previous years had been marked by the supremacy of foreign players (Gre-No-Li, Schiaffino-Altafini), in the following years, between 1960 and 1970, Italian players, who would later reach international fame, were the main characters of the rossoneri history. Some Olympic players, such as Trapattoni, Trebbi, Alfieri and Noletti joined the team, together with a young boy named Gianni Rivera who played his first game when he was only 17 against Alessandria, his previous team (Milan won 5-3). The rossoneri were protagonists in the Championship but the last two defeats against Bari and Fiorentina gave Milan the second place. When Nils Liedholm left football and at the same time “Paròn” Nereo Rocco arrived as the new coach, a new era, marked by national and international successes, started. The first trophy was the Scudetto, but the most exciting success was the first European Cup. The final against Benfica, played at Wembley on 22nd May 1963, was a fascinating match: Milan raised the cup after defeating Benfica 2-1 (Altafini scored two goals and Eusebio scored for Benfica). The image of Cesare Maldini who raised the cup together with Nereo Rocco is still imprinted in the memory of all the supporters. However Milan lost the decisive match (1-0) played at Maracanà Stadium against Santos in the final of the Europeran-South American Cup after a troubled final. At the end of the season the Chairman Andrea Rizzoli left the Club after nine years of great successes: 4 Scudetti, 1 Latin Cup and the prestigious European Cup. He is remembered not only for his sports achievements, but also for the training centre of Milanello that is still a very important asset of the Club. After a few disappointing seasons, in 1967/68 rossoneri got their ninth Scudetto and the prestige of the Club grew with the victory of the European Cup Winners’ Cup, the first in Milan’s history. In the European Cup final of the following season, the Rivera-Prati axis and the “black spider”, the goalkeeper Cudicini, led Milan to victory (4-1) against Cruijff’s Ajax. Finally Milan also achieved the European-South American Cup despite the defeat (2-0) in the return match played at the Bombonera Stadium against Estudiantes. Milan won the trophy thanks to the score (3-0) of the first match played at San Siro. The Rossoneri also won their first Cup Winners’ Cup in the 1967/68 season. Gianni Rivera, with his inborn and incomparable quality, showed beautiful actions that helped him to win the most prestigious recognition for a football player in 1969, the Golden Ball, because “Gianni Rivera is the only player who gives football a poetry sense”.

1970-1985
This period was one of the darkest in the history of the Club and it left few gratifications: the most important was the winning of the “Star” (given for 10 league titles) in 1979. During those years Milan also won three Italian Cups and their second European Cup Winners’ Cup. In the line up, led by Liedholm there was a young football player who would later become one of the undisputed protagonists in Milan’s history and one of the strongest defenders in Italian football, Franco Baresi. His first game with the rossoneri was played on April 23rd, Verona – Milan 1-2. Those years were also characterised by many changes on the bench and in the Club management. Gianni Rivera, one of the main protagonists in the achievement of the “Star”, left football forever, but he became the Vice-President of the Club. The early ’80s weren’t so positive but they saw the debut of Paolo Maldini, the heir to Franco Baresi, the historical captain. The young Paolo played his first official match on January 20th 1985 (Udinese- Milan

1-1).1985-2006
Nils Liedholm came back on the bench, but this change didn’t improve Milan’s results and a top management turning point was clearly necessary. Finally, on March 24th 1986 Silvio Berlusconi was nominated the 21st President of Milan. He brought a great enthusiasm with an innovative market-oriented management. Despite underperforming in the Championship, Milan reached the goal of taking part in the European competitions winning the play-off against Sampdoria thanks to a goal scored by Daniele Massaro. 1987/88 was the season of the revival with the coach Arrigo Sacchi, master of the “zone play”, the total play, of pressing and speed. The team was also strengthened by the arrival of Van Basten and Gullit, together with Ancelotti and Colombo as well as Alessandro Costacurta, who came directly from Milan’s youth team. The beginning of the season was great: the extraordinary affection of the supporters was rewarded with an unforgettable season. Despite some adverse decisions from the sports judge (for example the 2-0 defeat against Roma was decided by arbitration), the team reacted with a masterpiece at San Paolo Stadium against Maradona’s Napoli: on May 18th 1988 Milan won its 11th Scudetto, the first of the Berlusconi era, defeating Napoli 3-2. In the following season the third Dutch player, Frank Rijkaard, joined the team: this was the second trio made up by players from the same country after the previous Gre-No-li trio. This led to successes and victories, indeed Milan established itself in Italy, in Europe and in the world. In 1988/89 Milan ruled over Europe winning the European Cup competition against Vitocha, Red Star, Werder Brema and Real Madrid reaching the final against Steaua Bucarest. More than one-hundred thousand Rossoneri supporters arrived in Barcellona, the most impressive exodus in football history. The coach Arrigo Sacchi contributed to win one Scudetto, two European Cups, two European-South American Cups, two European Supercups and one League Supercup. In 1992/93 Fabio Capello, who was previously a rossonero football player, substituted Arrigo Sacchi and Milan ruled especially in Italy winning four Scudetti (three consecutively), three League Supercups, one European Cup (won in the unforgettable final against the favourite Crujiff’s Barcellona) and one European Supercup. 1986-1996 was the most prolific period as regards the Rossoneri’s trophies and the so called “Immortal” and “Invincible” teams showed excellent performances and played exciting matches. But the late ‘90s weren’t as positive as the early ‘90s: Milan wasn’t as prestigious as it had been in the past both in Italy and in Europe. Some coaches alternated on the bench (Tabarez, then Sacchi and Capello again): with the arrival of Zaccheroni in 1999 Milan won its sixteenth Scudetto in the same season as the Club’s Centenary celebrations. In 2001 Ancelotti came back to A.C. Milan as a coach and a new period of successes started. The first was on May 28th, 2003 when the Rossoneri won the UEFA Champions League in an unforgettable Italian Final against Juventus. AC Milan also won the European Supercup and a national trophy, too: the Italian Cup. In the 2003/2004 season the Rossoneri won the 17th Scudetto and the League Supercup. In the last seasons A.C. Milan has been one of the protagonists both in Italy and abroad, supported by a great number of fans and a centenarian tradition rich in emotions and successes.

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