Associazione Calcio Milan commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 and 1982–83 seasons, in the top flight of Italian football, known as Serie A since 1929–30.
AC Milan's 18 FIFA and UEFA trophies is the fourth highest out of any club (joint with Boca Juniors), and the most out of any Italian club. Milan has won a joint record three Intercontinental Cups and one FIFA Club World Cup, seven European Cup/Champions League titles (Italian record), the UEFA Super Cup a joint record five times and the Cup Winners' Cup twice. With 19 league titles, Milan is tied as the second most successful club in Serie A with local rivals Inter Milan (also with 19 league titles), behind Juventus (36 league titles). They have also won the Coppa Italia five times, and the Supercoppa Italiana seven.
Milan's home games are played at San Siro, also known as the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza. The stadium, which was built by Milan's second chairman Piero Pirelli in 1926 and is shared since 1947 with city rivals Internazionale, is the largest in Italian football, with a total capacity of 75,923. They have a long-standing rivalry with Inter, with whom they contest the Derby della Madonnina; it is one of the most followed derbies in football.
The club is one of the wealthiest in Italian and world football. It was a founding member of the now-defunct G-14 group of Europe's leading football clubs as well as its replacement, the European Club Association.
AC Milan was founded as Milan Foot-Ball and Cricket Club in 1899 by English expatriate Herbert Kilpin. The club claims 16 December of that year as their foundation date, but historical evidence seems to suggest that the club was actually founded a few days earlier, most likely on 13 December. However, with the club's charter being lost, the exact date remains open to debate. In honour of its English origins, the club has retained the English spelling of the city's name, as opposed to the Italian spelling Milano, which it was forced to bear under the fascist regime. Milan won its first Italian championship in 1901, interrupting a three-year hegemony of Genoa, and a further two in succession in 1906 and 1907. The club proved successful in the first decade of its existence, with several important trophies won, including, among others, the Medaglia del Re three times, the Palla Dapples 23 times and the FGNI tournament five times, a competition organized by the Italian Gymnastics Federation but not officially recognized by the Italian Football Federation. In 1908, Milan 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, Milan did not manage to win a single domestic title until 1950–51,with some exceptions represented by the 1915-16 Coppa Federale and the 1917-18 Coppa Mauro, two tournaments played during the First World War which, especially the former, received a lot of attention and proved to be highly competitive, despite them not being officially recognized by the Italian federation.
Return to victory and international affirmation (1950-1970)
he 1950s saw the club return to the top of Italian football, headed by the famous Gre-No-Li Swedish trio Gunnar Gren, Gunnar Nordahl and Nils Liedholm. This was one of the club's most successful periods domestically, with the Scudetto going to Milan in 1951, 1955, 1957 and 1959. This decade witnessed also the first European successes of Milan, with the triumphs in the 1951 and 1956 Latin Cup. Milan was also the first Italian club to take part to the newly born European Cup in the 1955-56 season, and reached the final two years later, when they were defeated by Real Madrid. The 1960s began with the debut of Milan's legend Gianni Rivera in 1960: he will remain with the club for the rest of his career for the following 19 seasons. In 1961, Nereo Rocco was appointed as new coach of the club, which under his leadership won immediately a scudetto in 1961-62, followed, in the next season, by Milan's first European Cup triumph, achieved after beating Benfica in the final. This success was repeated in 1969, with a 4–1 win over Ajax in the final, which was followed by the Intercontinental Cup title the same year. During this period Milan also won its first Coppa Italia, with victory over Padova in the 1967 final, and two European Cup Winners' Cups: in 1967–68 and 1972–73.
10th Scudetto and decline (1970-1986)
Domestically, the 1970s were characterized by the pursue of the 10th Serie A title, which grants the winner the Scudetto star. For three years in a row, in 1971, 1972 and 1973, Milan ended up second in the league, after some memorable duels with Inter and Juventus. Finally, the achievement was reached in 1979. The same year saw the retirement of Gianni Rivera and the debut of Franco Baresi, at his first full season with the club. After this success, the team went into a period of decline. The club in 1980 was involved in the Totonero scandal and as punishment was relegated to Serie B for the first time in its history. The scandal was centred around a betting syndicate paying players and officials to fix the outcome of matches. Milan achieved promotion back to Serie A at the first attempt, winning the 1980–81 Serie B title, but were again relegated a year later as the team ended its 1981–82 campaign in third-last place. In 1983, Milan won the Serie B title for the second time in three seasons to return to Serie A,[10] where they achieved a sixth-place finish in 1983–84.
Berlusconi's ownership and international glory (1986-2012)
On 20 February 1986, entrepreneur Silvio Berlusconi (who owns Fininvest and Mediaset) acquired the club and saved it from bankruptcy after investing vast amounts of money, appointing rising manager Arrigo Sacchi at the helm of the Rossoneri and signing Dutch internationals Ruud Gullit, Marco van Basten and Frank Rijkaard. The Dutch trio added an attacking impetus to the team, and complemented the club's Italian internationals Paolo Maldini, Franco Baresi, Alessandro Costacurta and Roberto Donadoni. Under Sacchi, Milan won its first Scudetto in nine years in the 1987–88 season. The following year, the club won its first European Cup in two decades, beating Romanian club Steaua București 4–0 in the final. Milan retained their title with a 1–0 win over Benfica a year later and was the last team to win back-to-back European Cups until Real Madrid's win in 2017. The Milan team of 1988–1990, nicknamed the "Immortals" in the Italian media, has been voted the best club side of all time in a global poll of experts conducted by World Soccer magazine. After Sacchi left Milan in 1991, he was replaced by the club's former player Fabio Capello whose team won three consecutive Serie A titles between 1992 and 1994, a spell which included a 58-match unbeaten run in Serie A (which learned the team the label "the Invincibles"), and back-to-back UEFA Champions League final appearances in 1993, 1994 and 1995. A year after losing 1–0 to Marseille in the 1993 Champions League final, Capello's team reached its peak in one of Milan's most memorable matches of all time, the famous 4–0 win over Barcelona in the 1994 Champions League final. Capello's side went on to win the 1995–96 league title before he left to manage Real Madrid in 1996. In 1998–99, after a two-year period of decline, Milan lifted its 16th championship in the club's centenary season. Milan's next period of success came under another former player, Carlo Ancelotti. After his appointment in November 2001, Ancelotti took Milan to the 2003 Champions League final, where they defeated Juventus on penalties to win the club's sixth European Cup. The team then won the Scudetto in 2003–04 before reaching the 2005 Champions League final, where they were beaten by Liverpool on penalties despite leading 3–0 at half-time. Two years later, the two teams met again in the 2007 Champions League final, with Milan winning 2–1 to lift the title for a seventh time. The team then won its first FIFA Club World Cup in December 2007. In 2009, after becoming Milan's second longest serving manager with 420 matches overseen,Ancelotti left the club to take over as manager at Chelsea. During this period, the club was involved in the Calciopoli scandal, where five teams were accused of fixing matches by selecting favourable referees. A police inquiry excluded any involvement of Milan managers, but the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) unilaterally decided that it had sufficient evidence to charge Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani. As a result, Milan was initially punished with a 15-point deduction and was banned from the 2006–07 UEFA Champions League. An appeal saw that penalty reduced to eight points, which allowed the club to retain its Champions League participation. Following the aftermath of Calciopoli, local rivals Internazionale dominated Serie A, winning four Scudetti. However, with the help a strong squad boasting players such as Zlatan Ibrahimović, Robinho and Alexandre Pato joining many of the veterans of the club's mid-decade European successes, Milan recaptured the Scudetto in the 2010–11 Serie A season, their first since the 2003–04 season, and 18th overall.
Changes in ownership and decline (2012-2019)
However, after the Scudetto the club declined in performance. Milan failed to qualify to European competitions for a few years, and the only trophy won was the 2016 Supercoppa Italiana, achieved under Vincenzo Montella's coaching after defeating Juventus in the penalty shoot-out. On 5 August 2016, a new preliminary agreement was signed with the Chinese investment management company Sino-Europe Sports Investment Management Changxing Co., to which Fininvest sold a 99.93% stake of Milan for about €520 million, plus the refurbishment of the club financial debt of €220 million. On 13 April 2017, the deal was completed and Rossoneri Sport Investment Lux became the new direct parent company of the club. In order to finalise the deal, American hedge fund Elliott Management Corporation provided Li with a loan of €303 million (€180 million to complete the payment to Fininvest and €123 million issued directly to the club). On 10 July 2018, Li failed to keep up with his loan repayment plan, neglecting to deposit a €32 million instalment on time in order to refinance the €303 million loan debt owed to the American hedge fund. As a result, In July 2018, chairman Li Yonghong's investment vehicle Rossoneri Champion Inv. Lux. was removed as the shareholder of Rossoneri Sport Inv. Lux., the direct parent company of the club, making the investment vehicle majority controlled by Elliott Management Corporation the sole shareholder of Rossoneri Sport Inv. Lux. On 27 November 2017, Montella was sacked due to poor results and replaced by former player Gennaro Gattuso. Milan qualified for the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League group stage after finishing 6th in the 2017–18 Serie A season, but were banned by UEFA from European competition due to violations of Financial Fair Play regulations for failure to break-even. Milan appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and was overturned on 20 July 2018. In Gattuso's first full season in charge, Milan exceeded expectations and spent much of the campaign in the top 4. Despite winning their final 4 games, Milan missed out on the Champions League by one point. After Milan's failure to qualify for the Champions League, Gattuso resigned as manager. On 19 June 2019, Milan hired former Sampdoria manager Marco Giampaolo on a 2-year contract. On 28 June 2019, Milan was excluded from the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League for violating Financial Fair Play regulations for the years 2014–2017 and 2015–2018.
Recent history (2019-present)
After just 4 months in charge, Giampaolo was sacked after losing 4 of his first 7 games which was exacerbated by poor performances and a lack of supporter confidence. Stefano Pioli was hired as his replacement. After the restart of the Serie A campaign due to the COVID-19 outbreak, Milan went on a 10 match unbeaten streak, winning 7 in the process including matches against Juventus, Lazio and Roma. This streak led to Milan abandoning their plans of hiring Ralf Rangnick as their new manager and sporting director, and instead extended Pioli's contract for a further 2 years. Following a stellar start in the 2020–21 Serie A, which was a continuation of the second half of the previous season, Milan under Pioli in his first full season were led to a second-place finish in the league which was the highest finish for the team since the 2011–12 Serie A. This result allowed Milan to qualify for the 2021–22 UEFA Champions League for the following season, which would become their first appearance in the UEFA Champions League in seven years since their last appearance in the 2013–14 UEFA Champions League. Milan secured their 19th Italian championship title on the last round of the 2021–22 season, with a club-record tally of 86 points. It was their first league title since the 2010–11 season. In the Serie A Awards, Rafael Leão was named as the league's Most valuable player, Mike Maignan as the best goalkeeper and Pioli as coach of the season. On 1 June 2022, RedBird Capital Partners agreed to acquire A.C. Milan at $1.3 billion, meanwhile Elliott Management Corporation would keep a minority stake.
Red and black are the colours which have represented the club throughout its entire history. They were chosen to represent the players' fiery ardor (red) and the opponents' fear to challenge the team (black). Rossoneri, the team's widely used nickname, literally means "the red & blacks" in Italian, in reference to the colours of the stripes on its jersey. Another nickname derived from the club's colours is the Devil. An image of a red devil was used as Milan's logo at one point with a Golden Star for Sport Excellence located next to it. As is customary in Italian football, the star above the logo was awarded to the club after winning 10 league titles, in 1979. For many years, Milan's badge was simply the Flag of Milan, which was originally the flag of Saint Ambrose. The modern badge used today 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. White shorts and black socks are usually worn as part of the home strip. Milan's away strip has always been completely white. It is considered by both the fans and the club to be a lucky strip in Champions League finals, due to the fact that Milan has won six finals out of eight in an all white strip (losing only to Ajax in 1995 and Liverpool in 2005), and only won one out of three in the home strip. The third strip, which is rarely used, changes yearly, being mostly black with red trimmings in recent seasons. "I can't think of many shirts out there that are as recognisable as Milan's. – Our kits go beyond just the sphere of football." — In an interview with SoccerBible, Milan player Gianluca Lapadula complimented the iconic design of Rossoneri
First logo of the "Milan Foot-Ball and Cricket Club", used from 1899 to 1916.
Milan logo used between 1936 and 1945.
Milan logo used between 1946 and 1979, with few variations over the years.
Diavoletto logo, used from 1979 to 1986, and again as secondary logo since 2018.
Milan logo used between 1986 and 1998.
Milan logo used since 1998.
Milan is one of the most successful clubs in Italy, having won a total of 31 domestic honours, in addition international successes. Milan has earned the right to place a star on its jersey in recognition of the fact that it has won at least ten scudetti. In addition, the club is permanently allowed to display a multiple-winner badge on its shirt as it has won more than five European Cups.
On 13 April 2017 Milan became a subsidiary of Rossoneri Sport Investment Luxembourg, which acquired 99.92973% shares of AC Milan S.p.A. from Fininvest. Li Yonghong became the new chairman and Marco Fassone was confirmed as CEO. The other members of the board of directors were Roberto Cappelli, David Han Li, Lu Bo, Marco Patuano, Paolo Scaroni and Xu Renshuo.However, Li Yonghong's investment vehicle was removed as the shareholder of Rossoneri Sport Investment Luxembourg on 10 July after defaulted in a pledge to Elliott Management Corporation, which lent a large sum of money to Li in 2017 to finalise the acquisition. Other partners of Elliott were Arena Investors and Blue Skye, according to news reports.
Elliott nominated new board of directors for both Rossoneri Sport Investment Luxembourg and Milan, with Paolo Scaroni as the new chairman (Italian: presidente) of the board of Milan and interim CEO. The four previous Chinese member of the board and former CEO Marco Fassone were all dismissed.
AC Milan headquarter in Milan
According to The Football Money League published by consultants Deloitte, in the 2005–06 season, Milan was the fifth-highest earning football club in the world with an estimated revenue of €233.7 million. However, it fell to eighth in 2011–12 season, tenth in 2012–13 and twelfth in 2013–14 season. The club is also ranked as the eighth-wealthiest football club in the world by Forbes magazine as of 2014, making it the wealthiest in Italian football, just surpassing ninth-ranked Juventus by a narrow margin.
Entrance to the AC Milan training facility Centro sportivo Milanello
Emirates is the current main sponsor for Milan's shirt starting from the 2010–11 season and through to the 2019–20 season. This follows a four-year relationship with Austrian online betting company bwin.com as sponsor.
Previously, German car manufacturer Opel had sponsored Milan for 12 seasons. For most of those 12 years, "Opel" was displayed on the front of the shirt, but in the 2003–04 and the 2005–06 seasons respectively, "Meriva" and "Zafira" (two cars from the company's range) were displayed.
The current shirts are supplied by Puma. Previously it was supplied by German sportswear manufacturer Adidas, whose deal was scheduled to run until 2023. The deal made Adidas the official manufacturer of all kits, training equipment and replica outfits. However, an early termination of the deal was announced in October 2017, effective on 30 June 2018. Prior to Adidas, the Italian sports company Lotto produced Milan's sportswear.
AC Milan Group made an aggregate net loss in recent years, which was one of the largest among the Italian clubs, notably: 2005, net loss of €4.5 million (separate account); 2006, a net income of €11.9 million (mainly contributed by the sales of Andriy Shevchenko); 2007, a net loss of €32 million; 2008, a net loss of €77 million; 2009, a net loss of €19 million (the decreased net loss was mainly contributed by the sales of Kaká); 2010, a net loss of €65 million; in 2011, a net loss of €67.334 million, in 2012, a net loss of €6.857 million (contributed by the sales of Thiago Silva and Zlatan Ibrahimović), and in 2013, a net loss of €15.7 million (with some contribution by the sales of Kevin-Prince Boateng and Alexandre Pato and other players, as well as decrease in wage bill.)
As a consequence of the aggregate 2.5-year financial result in the reporting periods ending at 31 December 2015, 31 December 2016 and 30 June 2017 (a FFP-adjusted net loss of €146 million, €121 million in excess of the acceptable deviation in the regulation, Milan was initially banned from European competitions due to breach in UEFA Financial Fair Play Regulations. However, the European ban was lifted by an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.Milan was allowed to achieve the break even condition on or before 30 June 2021.
Kingdom of England
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