Foundation and early years

Associazione Calcio Milan was founded December 16, 1899 by Alfred Edwards and Herbert Kilpin (from Nottingham, England) as the Milan Cricket and Football Club. Edwards, a former British vice-consul in Milan and well-known personality of the Milanese high society, was the club's first elected president. Initially the team included a cricket section, managed by Edward Berra, and a football section managed by David Allison.

The official colours chosen were red and black. Immediately the team gained relevant notability under Herbert Kilpin's guide. The first trophy to be won was the Medaglia del Re (King's Medal) on January 1900, and the team later won three national leagues, in 1901, 1906 and 1907. The triumph of 1901 was particularly relevant because it ended the consecutive series of wins of Genoa, which had been the only team to have won prior to 1901.

In 1908, issues over the signing of foreign players led to a split of the team's "progressive" faction, who formed F.C. Internazionale Milano.

In 1916, Milan won the Federal Cup, a national trophy which had replaced the Italian league, suspended because of World War I. This cup was never recognized as an Italian title.

In 1919, the team changed its name to Milan Football Club. After their first triumphs, Milan was unable to continue with their former high-level success, obtaining only a number of half-table placements, even if always playing in the top Italian division.

In 1938 the fascist regime imposed a new italianized name, Associazione Calcio Milano, for the team. However, that name was abandoned immediately after the World War II, but maintaining the initial part: the team was called Associazione Calcio Milan, which is the current official name.

1950s

In the post-war period, AC Milan was among the three top Italian teams, and won the Scudetto in 1951 - the first time since 1907. Il Grande Milan included the famous Gre-No-Li, a trio of Swedish players composed by Gunnar Gren, Gunnar Nordahl and Nils Liedholm who were Olympic winners. That team also fielded quality players such as Lorenzo Buffon, Cesare Maldini and Carlo Annovazzi.

Perhaps the most resounding victory of this period was the 7-1 defeat of Juventus in Turin on February 5 1950, with Gunnar Nordahl bagging a hat-trick.

After the 1951 Scudetto, AC Milan won another three Serie A seasons, in 1955, 1957 and 1959, and two Latin Cups, in 1951 and 1956. In the end, AC Milan always placed among the top three teams from 1947/1948 to 1956/1957.

1960s: Nereo Rocco

AC Milan returned to win a football league in 1961/1962. Its manager was Nereo Rocco, an innovative football coach, known as inventor of the catenaccio tactic. The team included a young Gianni Rivera and José Altafini. The following season, thanks also to Altafini's goals, Milan won their first European Cup (later known as UEFA Champion League) by defeating Benfica 2-1. This was also the first time an Italian team won the European Cup.

Despite that, during the 1960s Milan won less trophies, mainly because of the heavy concurrence of Helenio Herrera's Inter. Its next Scudetto arrived only in 1967/1968, thanks to the goals of Pierino Prati, the Serie A topscorer in that season, as well as the Cup Winners' Cup, won against Hamburger SV thanks to the two goals of Kurt Hamrin. The next season AC Milan won its second European Cup (4-1 to AFC Ajax), and in 1969 won its first Intercontinental Cup, after having defeated Estudiantes de La Plata of Argentina in two dramatic legs (3-0, 1-2).

The 10th scudetto and the first Serie B

In the 1970s, AC Milan won three Italian Cups and its second Cup Winners' Cup; however, the real goal of the Rossoneri was the tenth Scudetto, which would have awarded the first stella ("star") to the team. In 1972 they reached the semi-final of the UEFA Cup losing to eventual cup winners Tottenham Hotspur. A strong 1972/1973 season provided their first opportunity for the tenth Scudetto, but ultimately proved a failure after a humiliating defeat against Hellas Verona F.C. on the last day of the season.

AC Milan had to wait until 1978/1979 to win their tenth Scudetto, primarily being led by Gianni Rivera who retired from football after this final triumph.

However, the worst was yet to come for the Rossoneri: after the 1979/1980 season, AC Milan was relegated to Serie B by the Football Federation, together with S.S. Lazio, because of a betting scandal. In 1980-81, Milan easily won the Serie B, and returned to Serie A, where it would suffer its worst season ever, in 1981/1982, being relegated once again.

Berlusconi presidency

Dream Team

After several different financial troubles had caused bad times and a lack of success, AC Milan was bought on February 20, 1986 by Silvio Berlusconi, a Milanese enterpreneur. Berlusconi brought in a rising coach, Arrigo Sacchi, and three Dutch players, Marco van Basten, Frank Rijkaard and Ruud Gullit, to return the team to glory. He also signed some Italian stars: Roberto Donadoni, Carlo Ancelotti and Giovanni Galli.

Sacchi won the 1987-88 scudetto after a great recovery over Diego Maradona's S.S.C. Napoli. In 1988-1989, AC Milan won its third European Cup, defeating Steaua Bucuresti 4-0 in the final, and its second Intercontinental cup against National de Medellin (1-0, goal in the last minute of extra time). The team repeated their triumph the following season, against Benfica (1-0), and earned its second Intercontinental Cup in a row and third overall beating Olimpia Asunción in 1990. Their European winning line-up was: Giovanni Galli; Mauro Tassotti, Alessandro Costacurta, Franco Baresi, Paolo Maldini; Angelo Colombo, Frank Rijkaard, Carlo Ancelotti, Roberto Donadoni; Ruud Gullit, Marco van Basten.

With Sacchi leaving Milan to coach the Italy national football team, Fabio Capello was hired and under him, the Rossoneri came to be known as Gli Invicibili ("The Invincibles") or the Dream Team. With an unprecedented 58-match run with no defeats the Invincibili team had the likes of Franco Baresi, Alessandro Costacurta and Paolo Maldini commanding one of the best defences in history, with Marcel Desailly and Roberto Donadoni in midfield and Dejan Savićević, Zvonimir Boban, and Daniele Massaro playing in attack.

In addition to three consecutive scudetti (from 1992 to 1994, including the feat of not losing a single match in the 1991/1992 season), AC Milan reached the Champions League final for three consecutive years: in 1993 they were defeated by Olympique de Marseille; this match was disputed by a match-fixing scandal in the French league involving Marseille's then club president. In 1994 it was FC Barcelona who experienced the taste of defeat, after a famous 4-0 win at the hands of the Rossoneri; and in the 1995 finals, Milan were again defeated, this time by Ajax Amsterdam. Then, in 1995-96, led by famous world-class players such as Roberto Baggio, Marco Simone and George Weah, AC Milan gained their fifteenth Italian Championship. Milan's primary line-up under Capello (1996): Sebastiano Rossi; Christian Panucci, Alessandro Costacurta, Franco Baresi, Paolo Maldini; Roberto Donadoni, Demetrio Albertini, Marcel Desailly; Zvonimir Boban; George Weah, Roberto Baggio.

Source : Wikipedia.org