Milan News
Associazione Calcio Milan, commonly referred to by the abbreviation AC Milan or simply Milan, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. The club was founded in 1899 and has since spent most of its history in the top flight of Italian football.
In European and World competitions AC Milan have won 18 officially recognised international titles, more than any other club in the world. The club have won what is today known as the UEFA Champions League on seven occasions; only Real Madrid have won it more times (9). As far as Italian competitions are concerned, AC Milan is the second most successful club with 17 league titles; only Juventus have won more (27). AC Milan have won Intercontinental Cup/Club World Cup four times, more than any other team in the world.
Other important titles which Milan have won includes the European Super Cup five times, the Cup Winners' Cup twice, however they have never reached the UEFA Cup final (only two semi-finals). In Italy, the Coppa Italia five times as well as five Italian Super Cups. AC Milan is also one of the G-14’s founding members, a group that represented eighteen of the largest and most prestigious European football clubs before its disbandment.
Their home games are played at San Siro, also known as the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza. The ground, which is shared with rivals Internazionale, is the largest in Italian football, with total capacity of 82,955.
Milan News
Milan statistics and records
Paolo Maldini presently holds both records for number of total and Serie A appearances for Milan with a total of 1000 games played in total, and 600 in the Serie A (as of May 14, 2007, not including playoff matches), the latter being also an all-time Serie A record.
Milan's all time top goalscorer is a Swede, Gunnar Nordahl who, in 268 games, managed to score 221 goals. Andriy Shevchenko is in second place with 173 goals in 298 games for the club. The highest scoring present squad member is Filippo Inzaghi who has scored 100 goals in 217 games.
The club hold the unique record of having gone a whole season without losing a game during the 1991–92 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. It comes in behind Steaua Bucharest's record of 104 unbeaten games and Glasgow Celtic who went 68 games unbeaten.
Currently, AC Milan has the most FIFA recognised international club titles in the world after beating Boca Juniors at the FIFA Club World Cup in 2007. Milan is also the number one team in Europe in line with UEFA Co-Efficient ranking system. This allows Milan to be in the number one spot for all European draws, which allows Milan to avoid other highly rated European teams in UEFA competitions.
Milan Supporters and rivalries
Milan is one of the most supported football club in Italy, according to an August 2007 research by Italian newspaper La Repubblica. Historically, Milan was supported by the city's working-class and trade unionists, a section of whom were migrants from Southern Italy. On the other hand, crosstown rivals Internazionale were mainly supported by the more prosperous and typically Milanese middle-class.
One of the oldest ultras groups in all of Italian football, Fossa dei Leoni, originated in Milan. Currently the main ultras group is Brigate Rossonere and has been since the mid-1970s. Politically, Milan ultras have never had any particular preference, but the media have traditionally associated them with the left-wing, until recent times under Berlusconi's presidency where they are considered somewhat right-wing.
Genoa fans consider Milan a hated rival after Genoa fan Vincenzo Spagnolo was tragically stabbed to death by a Milan supporter in January of 1995.Milan's main rivalry, though, is with intracity neighbor Inter; both clubs meet in the widely-anticipated Derby della Madonnina twice every Serie A season. The name of the derby refers to the Blessed Virgin Mary, whose statue atop the Milan Cathedral is one of the city's main attractions. The match usually creates a lively atmosphere, with numerous (often humorous or offensive) banners unfolded before the match. Flares are commonly present, but they also led to the abandonment of the second leg of the 2004-05 Champions League quarterfinal matchup between Milan and Inter on April 12, 2005, after a flare thrown from the crowd by an Inter supporter struck Milan keeper Dida on the shoulder.
