In 1899, an Englishman established a football club in the city of Milan. It was originally known as the Milan Football and Cricket Club, but that name changed to Associazione Calcio Milan, or AC Milan for short.
Little did that man know that his club would go on to achieve this incredible list of achievements –
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- 19 Italian top-flight league championships
- five Italian Cups
- six Italian Super Cups
- seven European Cup/UEFA Champions League titles
- two UEFA Cup Winners’ Cups
- five UEFA Super Cups
- three Intercontinental Cups
- one FIFA Club World Cup
AC Milan, in full – Associazione Calcio Milan, also called Rossoneri (Italian: “Red and Blacks”), Italian professional football club based in Milan. AC Milan are nicknamed the Rossoneri (“Red and Blacks”) because of the team’s distinctive red-and-black striped jerseys. The winner of 19 Serie A league titles, the club is also one of the world’s most successful teams in international club competitions.
For @TheoHernandez ❤️🖤 "We will be a team of devils. Our colours will be red like fire and black to invoke fear in our oppenents" Herbert Kilpin#ForzaMilan #ChampionsLeague @MilanClubDublin @MilanClubBoston @MilanClubPhilly @omomani pic.twitter.com/Ya5LiAlNXl
— Jason Hancock (@jasonmhancock) April 18, 2023
There is no doubt that AC Milan is one of the most famous and largest football clubs in the world. Few people know that the club’s founder was born in Nottingham. As a butcher’s son in his late twenties, Herbert Kilpin emigrated to work in the Italian textile industry. To remember home, Kilpin and five friends formed a football team after heavy drinking in a Milanese tavern.
It was the birth of AC Milan. In addition to being the club’s star player, Kilpin was also its coach and captain. In fact, he designed the famous kit for the team. According to him, “We are devils. We wear red to enflame our opponents and black to intimidate them!”
The Milan Football and Cricket Club was formed in December 1899 with an Englishman, Alfred Ormonde Edwards, as its first president. The club survived a split in 1908, with some players forming what would become AC Milan’s fiercest rival, Inter Milan. AC Milan played at five different stadiums before moving to the San Siro in 1926.
That stadium, heavily redeveloped for the 1990 FIFA World Cup tournament, now holds more than 80,000 spectators. Since 1946 AC Milan have shared the ground with Inter. The stadium was renamed the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium in 1980 in honour of the great Italian forward who played briefly for AC Milan but spent most of his career with Inter.
Milan is famous for its iconic red and black stripes jersey. The primary colours have been red and black ever since their inception in 1899. Even their renowned nickname ‘Rossoneri’ means “the red & blacks” in the Italian language.
The club became ‘Associazione Calcio Milan‘ (AC Milan) in 1938 after its name was shortened to ‘Milan Football Club‘ in 1919. Its red-and-black stripes remained unchanged during all of the club’s incarnations.