A.C. Milan

Two British gentlemen out of Milan, Italy, founded this glorious football team in 1899. The traditional colors of the jersey are red and black, and the logo is the devil. More than for its marketing design, Milan is impressive for its amazing winning history, domestically and especially internationally: 17 Italian titles, seven Champions Leagues (second only to Spanish legend Real Madrid), three Intercontinental cups, one World Cup for clubs, five UEFA Super Cups, and the list goes on. Some of the best players played for this team and some of the best coaches trained it. Let's mention just a few names like Rivera, Meazza, Maldini Senior and Maldini Junior, Franco Baresi, Lidhlom, and Ancelotti (both players and coaches) as well as Fabio Capello and Giovanni Trapattoni, then Gullit and Van Basten and of course Roberto Baggio, Paolo Rossi, and most recently Ronaldo, Kaka', Ronaldinho, Ibrahimovic. In other worlds, the history of soccer.

AC Milan vs Brescia 3-0 All Goals & highlights 4-12-2010

A special recognition goes to Nereo Rocco, the coach who stirred Milan to the international spotlight, and also to Arrigo Sacchi who brought a spectacular game to the team. He is the coach now of probably one of the best teams ever assembled in history; one game above all was the 5-0 to Real Madrid in an amazing European semi-final. That team used to play with grace and style and it will be very hard to find a team that could play like that. The strength of A.C Milan has always been in its desire to merge a great game to a great show. Gianni Rivera, the historical captain, was a true poet with his feet and we all remember his speech in the field announcing his retirement, just after Milan had won his tenth Italian title which meant having a golden star attached to the jersey forever. An achievement that up through today, only three teams were able to reach: Juventus, Inter, and Milan.

 

After decades of great successes, A.C. Milan hit some very hard and dark moments in the beginning of the 1980s when it was relegated to second division for fixing some games. Milan struggled to clean its image and to gain back the sport power it used to have. All of that changed when TV magnate Silvio Berlusconi purchased the team, saving it from bankruptcy. The debut was astonishing; the team was flown in with helicopters and music was played to announce the new squad. Money was spent and Milan started a series of victories that lasted for a couple of decades, and still continues today. As the team grew in popularity, it started to prefer international exposure versus the Italian league. Although it won seven Italian championships under Berlusconi, it was clear that European tournaments were more in A.C. Milan's DNA and that a special effort was made every time the night light turned on in the European games.

RONALDINHO ! AC MILAN - SIENA 4-0 HAT-TRICK all go

A.C. Milan plays in the stadium of San Siro, named after Giuseppe Meazza, and it shares it with its archrival team Inter Milan. Although the teams officially hate each other, in reality they exchange players all the time, creating a very interesting scenario when they play against each other. Often heroes of one squad turn to the other, among the supporters' disbelief. But, that is the nature of soccer. Milan has also a very peculiar tradition: it tends to keep the same people around, promoting them as coaches or managers after they are done playing. Even the players are kept in the field until they are older than many, and are always offered a priority spot regardless of the age. That so far has been paying off, although from time to time it creates some problems when some players get too old and not really capable of high performances.

 

None of this seemed to stop the continuing effort that puts into preserving the Milan brand. As years go by, Milan is still there fighting for the top spot and just when it seems in need of a major restructuring, it surprises the world by winning a championship. After Berlusconi became Prime Minister, he kept the ownership of the team but had to resign from the presidency, although every Sunday he attends the games. Many of his opponents are actually huge Milan fans, creating a particular and interesting situation.

 

And one last point: A.C. Milan is the team with most international titles in the world, although in domestic titles it is second to Juventus.

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