AC Milan
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| Full name | Associazione Calcio Milan SpA | ||
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| Nickname(s) | Rossoneri (Red-Blacks) Il Diavolo (The Devil) | ||
| Founded | December 16, 1899 | ||
| Ground | San Siro (Stadio Giuseppe Meazza), Milan | ||
| Capacity | 85,700 | ||
| Chairman |  Silvio Berlusconi | ||
| Head Coach | Carlo Ancelotti | ||
| League | Serie A | ||
| 2005-06 | Serie A, 2nd (reassigned as 3rd) | ||
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Associazione Calcio Milan is an Italian football club based in Milan. They play in red and black stripes, giving them the nickname Rossoneri ("red-blacks"). The team is known colloquially as Milan, while its city rivals are known in English, simply as Inter. One of the most successful clubs in the world, A.C. Milan has won the prestigious UEFA Champions League (or equivalent) six times, the World Club crown (Intercontinental Cup) 3 times, the Serie A title 17 times (only rivals Juventus F.C. have more Scudetti) and the Coppa Italia (Italian Cup) five times. In total they have won 12 European trophies, sharing the record with Real Madrid. It is also one of the most supported football clubs in the world, and along with Juventus and Inter are one of the most popular teams in Italy.
The club was founded in 1899 by Alfred Edwards, a British expatriate. 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-lahn, even though the English one is the same as in the local dialect and many other dialects of Northern Italy.
Historically, AC Milan was supported by the city's working class and trade unionists many of whom were migrants from the South of Italy. Inter, the other big club from the city was mainly supported by the more prosperous and typically Milanese middle-class. However, in recent years, the clubs have seen a notable reversal in their political positions, since Milan is now owned by media magnate and past conservative Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi, while Inter is now owned by a centre-left oil businessperson, Massimo Moratti. However, AC Milan's fans still tend to be mainly left-wing as opposed to Inter Milan fans who always have been traditionally right-wing. Milan were involved in the 2006 Serie A scandal where five teams were accused of fixing matches by selecting favourable referees. Milan were punished with a 15 point deduction, which was later reduced to 8 points on appeal. In 1980 Milan were involved in the Totonero scandal and were relegated to Serie B as punishment. The scandal was centred on a betting syndicate paying players and officials to fix the outcome of matches.
Colours and badge
AC Milan's official colours have been red and black since its foundation. These colours were chosen to represent the fiery ardour that is part of the team members and the opponents' fear to challenge the team. The badge represents the club colours and the flag of the Comune di Milano (Municipality of Milan), with the acronym ACM at the top and the foundation year (1899) at the bottom.
The home jersey is red and black vertical striped, with white shorts and black socks. The 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 lost both the finals played in their home strip. The third kit changes yearly and is black with red trim for the current season, but it is rarely used. The Goalkeeper kit is either green or yellow shirt, black shorts and black socks.
The Austrian on-line betting company bwin are currently Milan's main jersey sponsors after signing a 4 year deal at the start of the 2006/2007 season. [1] 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 jersey, but in the 2003-04 and the 2005-06 seasons respectively, Meriva and Zafira (two cars from their range) were displayed.
The current jerseys are supplied by German sportswear manufacturer Adidas, whose deal runs to the end of the 2007/2008 season. [2] 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.
Stadium
The team's current stadium is the 82,955 seater San Siro, officially known as Stadio Giuseppe Meazza after the former player who represented both Milan and Internazionale. The name San Siro comes 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. Another feature of the stadium is the use of flares by the fans which can sometimes 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 stadia 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. [3] 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.[4]
The Milanello
Milan’s training ground, Milanello, is located just outside the city of Milan, in the village of Varese (approx. 50 kilometres). It was built over two years from 1961 to 1963, and has been serving as a top-modern training lab ever since.
Silvio Berlusconi took over AC Milan in 1986, and that saw him reorganise and renew the Milanello to meet the standards of professionel football in the 80's. The Milanello, however, never stopped evolving, and to this day it is considered amongst the most hi-tech and efficient training grounds throughout the soccer world. Speculations are, that the wonders of the Milanello lab, make it possible for Milans players to go on and on for ages, with the likes of ageing players like Maldini, Costacurta and Cafu still going strong within the squad.
The Milanello holds 46 rooms with space for 56 beds. President Silvio Berlusconi has his own room. 14 permanent staff members are employed at Milanello.
Milan Derby
Twice every season the Milan Derby or the Derby della Madonnina as it is known in Italian is played between Milan and Inter. These are seen as two of the most important derbies in football and are always highly anticipated events in the Italian sports calendar. Occasionally there have also been derbies in the Champions League, Coppa Italia, Super Coppa Italiana and the Birra Moretti Trophy. Currently, Milan lead Inter with 104 wins to 89 in total respectively. However Inter has a better record in Serie A with 59 wins to Milan's 56. The match usually creates a lively atmosphere within the San Siro with numerous (and often humorous) banners unfolded before the match which are specifically made each year for the match. The use of flares by the clubs ultras is also a frequent sight. However as much as this derby is usually played in a friendly atmosphere, the derby has also had its share of controversy, most notably the Champions League quarter final of 2004/2005 which was abandoned after Milan keeper Dida was struck by a flare thrown from the Inter supporters section. [5]
Current squad
Notable former players
See also Category:A.C. Milan players
Achievements
Milan is one of the most successful clubs in the World, having won a total of 27 trophies in Italy and 15 in international competitions. Milan have earned the distinction of being allowed to wear a star on their jersey representing the fact that they have won more than 10 Scudetto's. Added to this Milan are allowed to wear the UEFA Badge of Honour on their jersey during Champions League matches as they have won more than 5 European Cups.[6]
- Scudetto (Italian championship)
- Serie B (second division)
- Winners (2): 1980-81, 1982-83
- Coppa Italia (Italian Cup)
- Winners (5): 1966-67, 1971-72, 1972-73, 1976-77, 2002-03
- Runners-up (7): 1941-42, 1967-68, 1970-71, 1974-75, 1984-85, 1989-90, 1997-98
- Super Coppa di Lega (Italian Super Cup)
- Winners (5): 1988, 1992, 1993, 1994, 2005
- Runners-up (3): 1996, 1999, 2003
- UEFA Champions League (former European Cup)
- European Super Cup
- Winners (4): 1989, 1990, 1994, 2003
- Runners-up (2): 1973, 1993
- World Club Championship (former Intercontinental Cup)
- Winners (3): 1969, 1989, 1990
- Runners-up (4): 1963, 1993, 1994, 2003
- Mitropa Cup
- Winners (1): 1981-82
- Latin Cup (unofficial)
- Winners (2): 1950-51, 1955-56
- Runners-up (1): 1952-53
Records and statistics
Paolo Maldini presently holds the record for number of appearances for Milan with a total of 593 Serie A games played and 830 games played in total. His record of 593 games is also an all time Serie A record passing Dino Zoff's mark of 570 Serie A games played. Paolo has been quoted that he wants to go on playing for Milan until he reaches his 1000th game.[7]
Milan's all time top goalscorer is the Swede, Gunnar Nordahl who in 268 games managed to score 221 goals.[8] Andrei Shevchenko comes in, in second place with 173 goals in 298 games for the club. The highest scoring present squad member is Filippo Inzaghi who has scored 86 goals in 170 games.
Milan hold the unique record of having gone a whole season without losing a game during the 1991/1992 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 behind Steaua Bucharest record of 104 games unbeaten and Glasgow Celtic who went 68 games unbeaten.[9][10]
Milan are presently rated as the number one team in Europe in line with UEFA Co-Efficient ranking system. This allows Milan to be in the number one pot for all European draws, being first seeds which allows Milan to avoid other highly rated European teams in UEFA competitions.[11]
The number 6 is no longer in use on the back of the kit. When Franco Baresi[12] retired, in respect to his dedication to the club they also retired the number.
Coaches
- For a list of Milan coaches please see Milan Coaches
Carlo Ancelotti is the present coach of Milan and has been at the club since 2001. Before coaching Milan, Ancelotti had an unsuccessful period at Juventus. Ancelotti's arrival at the club heralded an upturn in results for the club. With Carlo in charge, Milan have won Serie A in 2003/2004 and the Champions League in 2002/2003 after a dramatic penalty shoot out win against his former club. Carlo generally prefers to play with either a 4-3-1-2 or a 4-3-2-1 formation, the latter being used to great effect in the 2002/2003 Champions League.
Other successful coaches in Milan's history includes Nereo Rocco, Arrigo Sacchi and Fabio Capello. Under Nereo Rocco, Milan won several Scudetti along with two European Cups and a Cup Winners' Cup in 1968. Silvio Berlusconi's purchase of the club in the early 1980's heralded a new period in the clubs history with Arigo Sacchi being appointed coach. Sacchi won back to back European Cups with a team considered to have been one of the greatest teams in history. As much success with Milan as Sacchi had, a row involving him and Dutch striker, Marco Van Basten was to bring a quick end to his Milan career. Berlusconi decided that either Sacchi or Van Basten had to leave the club and in the end it was Sacchi who was fired.
With the end of the Sacchi era, a new coaching team was implemented with then youth team coach, Fabio Capello installed as head coach. Fabio ruled over another successful period with numerous Scudetti, an unbeaten season in 1991/1992 and the miracle Champions League win over F.C. Barcelona in 1993-94. With Alessandro Costacurta and Franco Baresi suspended, Milan entered the match as underdogs against a fancied Barcelona side under the management of Johan Cruijff. In the most one sided final ever, Milan eased to a 4-0 win and with it, Milan's 5th European Cup.
Presidents history
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See also
Notes
- ^ http://www.casinocitytimes.com/news/article.cfm?contentId=157894
- ^ http://www.sportbusiness.com/news/129666/adidas-sign-ac-milan-and-real-madrid
- ^ http://english.people.com.cn/200510/07/eng20051007_212984.html
- ^ http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=170378
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/4432047.stm
- ^ http://worldsoccer.about.com/od/clubfootball/tp/badgeofhonour.htm
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/4280590.stm
- ^ http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/milan.html
- ^ http://www.fortunecity.com/olympia/wagner/321/historiami.htm
- ^ http://212.58.226.50/sport2/hi/football/africa/4391088.stm
- ^ http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/uefa/data/method3/trank2007.html
- ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco_Baresi
External links
- Official website
- Unofficial fans websites
- Ultras websites
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