AC Milano Dates and Historyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

- Head Office: Milan Associazione Calcio, Via F. Turate 3, 20121 Milano

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December 18th, 1899 is the first of a long series of dates in A.C.Milan's glorious history: on that cold day at the turn of the century, in Via Berchet in Milan downtown, the Englishman Alfred Edwards and a group of friends founded the "MILAN CRICKET AND FOOTBALL CLUB" becoming its first president. Two years later, in 1901, Milan won its first championship by beating Genoa in the final and repeated this success five years later after a hard struggle with Juventus. The Rossoneri won their third title in 1907 and then went into decline which was to last for over forty years. Milan (which had by then become A.C. Milan) renewed its lustre in 1951 with its fourth champioship signed by "Gre-No-Li", the acronym of the three Swedish players - Gren, Nordhal and Liedholm - who were the moving force behind the team. The championship was won by a single point after a fight to the finish with the other Milan team, Internazionale. The 1955 championship win was also a great struggle, contested to the last by Udinese but at the end AC Milan won their fifth title. Besides Nordhal, the champion could also count on Schiaffino, the star from Uruguay, whose brilliance was instrumental in winning the sixth championship two years later in a team where Liedholm has been moved back to the role of sweeper. The decade ended with AC Milan once again at the top of Italian football: thanks to the goals scored by the Brazilian centre-forward Altafini, World-Cup winner the previous year in Sweden, the Rossoneri became champions for the seventh time. The eighth title was won in 1962 and one of the stars was a budding talent, Gianni Rivera, who was to make a name for himself, as did his manager, Nereo Rocco, who AC Milan fans will never forget for his technical skills but also, and especially, for his great humanity. After this title, at the forth attempt the European Champion Club's Cup was won and raised on high in London's Wembley Stadium by captain Maldini after the 2 - 1 victory over the portuguese team Benfica on May 22nd, 1963. It took another five years for AC Milan to return to the top in Italy and in Europe: Rocco and Rivera were still there but together with Prati, Cudicini and Hamrin. In 1968 the ninth championship was won, as was the first Cup Winner's Cup, conquered against Hamburg in Rotterdam. 1969 saw worldwide acclaim, with the second European Champion Club's Cup on 28th of May (in Madrid, 4 - 1 against Ajax) and the Intercontinental Cup in the double final against Estudiantes from Argentina. A jump of four years and the second Cup Winner's Cup arrives, at Salonicco, won by 1 - 0 in the final against Leeds United on 16th of May, 1973. 1979 is the year of the star, the symbol awarded in Italy for winning ten national championships, with Nils Liedholm, now the manager, as the main protagonist. It was Rivera's last season and the first for a rising young star, Franco Baresi. After five years during which AC Milan wrote the saddest pages in its history - two relegations in the Second Division (Serie B) and a serious crisis in the club - Silvio Berlusconi took over the presidency in March 1986. His arrival, together with that of his Fininvest Group, instilled an innovative and, above all, winning mentality into the club at all levels. After acquiring new reinforcements, President Berlusconi entrusted Arrigo Sacchi with a very strong team, containing the two Dutch stars, Ruud Gullit and Marco Van Basten, and many Italian talents. And there is the title - the eleventh - at the first attempt, after a very long chase behind Maradona's Napoli, crowned by 3 -2 win at Napoli San Paolo Stadium: it was May 10, 1988 and this date marked the start of the Rossoneri's great triumphal march. In 1989, reinforced by the addition of another Dutchman, Frank Rijkaard, AC Milan won his third European Champion Club's Cup; the path towards the final is rich in great wins, one above all at the San Siro stadium when AC Milan led by Sacchi gives a "football lesson" to Real Madrid beating it 5-0. On May 24, 1989 in the final against Steaua Bucarest (4-0) another great victory offered by Gullit and Van Basten to the 90,000 AC Milan supporters being there. In the same year the second Intercontinental Cup (in Tokyo on December 17, 1989, 1 - 0 against Nacional Medellin of Colombia ) and the Italian Supercup against Sampdoria, the match played in Bologna on 29th of November, 1990. Great successes, resouding triumphs which were repeated in the following year. Sacchi's AC Milan was unbeatable outside Italy and won its fourth European Champion Club's Cup (1 - 0 against Benfica in Wien on May 23, 1990), its second European Supercup (home and away against Sampdoria) and third Intercontinental Cup (3 - 0 against Olimpia Asuncion of Paraguay, on December 9, 1990). After a year of transition and the subsequent change of manager with Fabio Capello replacing Arrigo Sacchi, another great season started. 1992 is the year of the twelfth title after a wonderful championship with AC Milan always with AC Milan always in the lead without ever loosing a match. This record continued the following season and ended after 58 unbeaten matches, leading AC Milan to the thirteenth title (1992/93) after having been the leader from the first day to the last of the season. The two-year period was also marked by tow consecutive wins of the Italian League Supercup, against Parma and Turin respectively. Capello' s team also achieved another important record, winning ten consecutive matches in Champion's League before loosing the final in Bayer München against Olympique Marseille. The 1993/94 season then started with a strong winning spirit. Sebastiano Rossi, perfectly assisted by his mates of the defence, creates an almost impassable line. The Rossoneri made a very good start in the championship by leaving its followers well behind. The goalkeeper becomes the main protagonist by establishing a new record for invincibility: 929 minutes, thus surpassing the myth of Dino Zoff. AC Milan then travelled towards history: first in the championship and again in the European Champion Clubs'Cup final, the fourth in the Berlusconi era. After winning the third consecutive Italian champion title, the Rossoneri prepared themselves to fight Barcelona for one of the most desired continental triumphs. On May 18, 1994 it is the apotheosis: in Athens Capello and his team gave their best: AC Milan- Barcelona 4-0. The Rossoneri enter the field without the disqualified Baresi and Costacurta to face a super-favourite Barcelona. But AC Milan in Athens was too strong and concentrated; Massaro opened the way assisted by Savicevic, at the end of an acrobatic slalom in the area, then Donadoni served again the forward who thus scored two goals. Filippo Galli prevented Romario from doing anything, Albertini and his mates were absolute masters of the midfield, Massaro and Savicevic disrupted the Spanish defence. The triumph was then marked by Savicevic who scored the third goal from over thirty meters away by astonishing the unguilty Zubizarreta. The Cup was then arisen high by the captain Tassotti after the fourth goal scored by Desailly. The combination Championship-Champion Clubs'Cup definitely made AC Milan enter the football history. In the following season (1994/95) AC Milan started unfortunately with a defeat in the Intercontinental Cup on December 1, 1994 in Tokyo (Velez Sarfiel-AC Milan 2-0) and continued with the win of the European Supercup against Arsenal (0 - 0 in London and 2 - 0 in the San Siro Stadium) to come to the nth final of the European Champion Clubs' Cup, the fifth in seven years! On May 24, 1995, at the Prater in Wien, AC Milan was beaten by the very strong Dutch team of Ajax at the end of an extremely balanced match decided only six minutes before the end of the match by a goal scored by Patrick Kluivert, now AC Milan player. The revenge is immediate: AC Milan wins indeed the fifteenth championship in its history in the 1995/96 season; another winning season with one defeat in the Uefa Cup quarter-finals against Bordeaux. At the end of the championship, Fabio Capello, trainer with many triumphs, left the AC Milan bench to go to Real Madrid. He was initially replaced by Oscar Washington Tabarez, but the 1996/97 season proved soon to be difficult, and the South-American trainer, after a start rich with fluctuating results, resigns just before the AC Milan- Rosenborg match, which was decisive for the path in Champions League. The club in an attempt to stir up the team, decides to call Arrigo Sacchi, father of several AC Milan triumphs. Unfortunately not even the Trainer from Fusignano succeeds in reversing the trend of an unfortunate period. AC Milan finished the championship at the 11th place. The new AC Milan is ready to start anew, the legend goes on....

Biggest victory away from home:

Genoa-Milan 0-8
(54-55 championship)

Greatest number of victories away from home in an 18 team championship:

11 (63-64 championship)

Best goaler in the story of the Club

Gunnard Nordalh, 210 goals

Player with more matches in Serie A

Franco Baresi, 532 matches

Player with more matches in continental cups

Gianni Rivera, 72 matches

Best goaler in the story of the Club in continental cups

Altafini, 20 goals

Longest string of victories

11, from the 17th to the 27th day (89-90 championship)

Longest string of victories away from home

8, (92-93 championship)

 Longest string of no-loss games

58, from the 34th day of the 90-91 championship to the 23rd day of the 92-93 championship

Longest string of no-loss games away from home

38 (from 91-92 to 93-94)

The only team to win a championship with no-losses

91-92 championship

Smallest number of losses away from home :

no losses (1987-88 16 team championship, 1991-92 and 1992-93 18 team championship)

Greatest number of goals scored in a 20 team championship:

118 (1949-50)

Lowest number of goals received in an 18 team championship

15 (1993-94)

Goalee record:

929 consecutive unbeaten minutes, Sebastiano Rossi (1993-94)