F.C. INTERNAZIONALE MILANO

'Football Club Internazionale Milano' is an Italian football club based in Milan, Lombardy, which plays in Serie A. The club was founded March 9, 1908. In Italy it is commonly known as 'Inter' or ''Internazionale'', but it is often shortened to 'Inter Milan' in English-speaking countries.
Internazionale have been one of the most successful clubs in the history of Italian football, having won 15 Scudetti, 5 Coppa Italia, and 3 Italian Super Cups (as of April 22, 2007). Inter has also won 2 European Cups (Champions League), 3 UEFA Cups, and has been World Champions two times. Inter are the only team in Italy to have competed in the top tier throughout the club's history.
The club wears blue and black stripes, which gives the origin of their Nerazzurri nickname. Inter enjoy one of the biggest fan bases in Italy, along with its two main rivals, AC Milan and Juventus.
According to The Football Money League published by consultants Deloitte, in season 2005-06 Inter were the 7th highest earning football club in the world with an estimated revenue of €206.6 million.
Inter are member of the G-14 organisation of leading European football clubs.

History

The club was founded on March 9, 1908 as 'Internazionale FBC Milano', following a "schism" from the Milan Cricket and Football Club. A group of Italians and Swiss (Giorgio Muggiani, a painter who also designed the club's logo, Bossard, Lana, Bertoloni, De Olma, Enrico Hintermann, Arturo Hintermann, Carlo Hintermann, Pietro Dell'Oro, Ugo and Hans Rietmann, Voelkel, Maner, Wipf, and Carlo Ardussi) were unhappy about the domination of Italians in the AC Milan team, and broke away from them, leading to the creation of Internazionale. From the beginning, the club was open to foreign players and thus lived up to her founding name.
The club won its very first ''Scudetto'' (championship) in 1910 and its second in 1920. The captain and coach of the first ''Scudetto'' was Virgilio Fossati, who was killed in World War I. In 1928, during the Fascist era, the club was forced to merge with the Milanese Unione Sportiva and was renamed 'Ambrosiana SS Milano'^[1] two years later it was altered to 'AS Ambrosiana Milano'. They wore white shirts around this time with a red cross emblazoned on it. This shirt design was inspired by the flag and coat of arms of the city of Milan (which is derived from the flag of the patron saint of Milan, St. Ambrose and dates back to the 4th century AD). By 1933 the name was changed again, this time to 'AS Ambrosiana Inter Milano'.
Their first Coppa Italia (Italian Cup) was won in 1938-39, led by the great legend Giuseppe Meazza, for whom the San Siro stadium is officially named, and a fifth league championship followed in 1940, despite an injury to Meazza. After the end of World War II, the club re-emmerged under a name close to their original one; 'Internazionale FC Milano', they have kept this ever since.

''La Grande Inter''

Following the war, Inter won its sixth championship in 1953 and the seventh in 1954. Following these titles, Inter was to enter the best years of its history, affectionately known as the era of ''La Grande Inter'' (The Great Inter). During this magnificent period, with Helenio Herrera as head coach, the club won 3 league championships in 1963, 1965 and 1966. The most famous moments during this decade also include Inter's 2 back-to-back European Cup wins. In 1964, Inter won the first of those tournaments, playing against the famous Spanish club Real Madrid. The next season, playing in their home stadium, the San Siro, they defeated two-time former champion, Benfica.
Following the golden era of the 1960s, Inter managed to win their eleventh league title in 1971 and their twelfth in 1980. Inter were defeated for the second time in five years in the final of the European Cup, going down 0-2 to Johan Cruijff's Ajax Amsterdam in 1972. During the 1970s and the 1980s, Inter also added two to its Coppa Italia tally, in 1977-78 and 1981-82.
Led by the German trio of Andreas Brehme, Jürgen Klinsmann and Lothar Matthäus, Inter captured the 1989 Serie A championship and the Italian Supercup to open the following season.

Dark times

The 1990s was a period of disappointment. Whilst their great rivals AC Milan and Juventus were achieving success both domestically and in Europe, Inter were left behind, with some mediocre positions in the standings, their worst coming in 1994 when they finished just 1 point from relegation. Inter's fortunes started to improve in the 1990s. Inter achieved some European success with 3 UEFA Cup victories in 1991, 1994 and 1998.
With Massimo Moratti's takeover from Ernesto Pellegrini in 1995 Inter were promised more success with many high profile signings like Ronaldo, Christian Vieri and Hernan Crespo, with Inter twice breaking the world's record transfer fee in this period. However the 1990s remained a decade of disappointment and is the only decade in Inter's history in which they did not win a single Italian Serie A Championship. They were only 45 minutes away from capturing the Scudetto on May 5, 2002 when they needed to maintain a one goal advantage over Lazio at Rome's Olimpico stadium when Inter collapsed and let in three second-half Lazio goals that enabled Juventus to pip their bitter rivals to the championship. The 2003 Champions League was met with more disappointment. Being tied 1-1 with AC Milan, only for AC Milan to advance on the away goals rule.

Resurrection

On June 15 2005, Inter won the Coppa Italia, defeating AS Roma in the two-legged final 3-0 on aggregate (1-0 win in Milan and 2-0 win in Rome) and followed that up on 20 August 2005, by winning the Supercoppa Italiana after an extra-time 1-0 victory against original 04-05 Serie A champions Juventus (before being stripped of this title). This Super Cup win was Inter's first since 1989, coincidentally the same year since Inter last won the Scudetto before 2006. On 11 May 2006, Inter retained their Coppa Italia trophy by once again, defeating AS Roma with a 4-1 aggregate victory (A 1-1 scoreline in Rome and a 3-1 win at the Giuseppe Meazza, San Siro).
Inter were awarded the 2005-06 Serie A championship as they were the highest placed side in the season's final league table after points were stripped from Juventus and AC Milan - both sides involved in the match fixing scandal that year. On 14 July 2006, The Italian Federal Appeal Commission found Serie A clubs Juventus, Lazio, Fiorentina, Reggina and AC Milan guilty of match-fixing and charged the 5 clubs with their respective punishments, (although all charges were later reduced in some capacity). So with the confirmed relegation of Juventus to Serie B (for the first ever time in their history) and the 8-point deduction for city rivals AC Milan, Inter became favorites to retain their Serie A title for the upcoming 2006-07 Serie A season.
During the season, Inter went on a record-breaking run of 17 consecutive victories in Serie A, starting on September 25 2006 with a 4-1 home victory over Livorno, and ending on February 28 2007, after a 1-1 draw at home to Udinese. The 5-2 away win at Catania on February 25 2007 broke the original record of 15 matches held by both Bayern Munich & Real Madrid from the "Big 5" (the top flight leagues in England, Italy, Spain, France & Germany). The run lasted for almost 5 months and holds among the best in European league football, with just Benfica (29 wins), Celtic (25 wins) and PSV Eindhoven (22 wins) bettering the run. Inter's form dipped a little as they scored 0-0 and 2-2 draws against relegation-battlers Reggina and slumping Palermo (respectively), the latter game featuring a second-half comeback after Palermo went up 2-0 at halftime. They could not keep their invincible form near the end of the season as well, as they lost their first game of the domestic season to Roma in the San Siro 3-1 thanks to two late Roma goals. Inter had enjoyed an unbeaten Serie A run for just under a year.
On April 22, 2007 Inter were crowned Serie A champions for the 2nd consecutive season after defeating Siena 2-1 at Stadio Artemio Franchi. Italian World Cup winning defender Marco Materazzi scored both goals in the 18th and 60th minute, with the latter being a penalty. This is the first time Inter have won the Scudetto, on merit alone, since 1989. In addition, within hours after clinching their 2nd consecutive league title, the club confirmed head coach Roberto Mancini had signed a 4-year extension to his current contract, with an option to extend it for a further 12 months, which, if extended, would expire at the end of the 2011-12 campaign.^[2]
Inter president Massimo Moratti claimed that this contractual agreement was made "some time ago".^[3]

Other historical information

Inter has never been relegated from the Italian top flight in their entire history, which dates back all the way to 1908; a fact Nerazzurri fans hold in high regard. By comparison, AC Milan has been relegated twice despite winning two more ''scudetti.'' As of 2007, following Juventus' relegation to Serie B for the 2006-07 season following the "Calciopoli" scandal Inter remain the only Italian club that holds this honour, and its century in the top flight (counting the upcoming season) is one of the longest unbroken runs of any club in the world.
The current president and owner of Inter is Massimo Moratti. His father, Angelo Moratti, was the president of Inter during the club's golden era of the 1960s. Massimo, trying to emulate his father's great success, has spent an enormous amount of money in his time at the club to sign some of the world's best players in past and present generations, in an effort to win the ''scudetto'' for the first time since 1989. Due to Inter's failure to win major silverware during his premiership, there was frequent criticism of Moratti by Interista.

Rivalry

Inter has several principal rivalries, most obviously arch-rivals AC Milan. The rivalry is especially heated due to the fact that Inter broke off from AC Milan. Inter was seen as the club of the bourgeoisie (nicknamed ''bauscia'', a Milanese term meaning "braggart"), whereas AC Milan was the working-class' team (nicknamed ''casciavit'', meaning in the Milanese dialect "screwdrivers", with both reference to the workers that using these instruments, and to "awkwards") and was, and still is, mostly supported by migrants from Southern Italy.
During the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, Inter was the more successful club, being World Champions twice in the sixties. However in recent times Silvio Berlusconi's Milan has been the more dominant team. This rivalry has been compounded by AC Milan acquiring a few Inter players in recent years with mixed results. Milan paid Inter a relatively cheap price for players such as Clarence Seedorf and Andrea Pirlo, whom it managed to turn into world-class performers. However, in the summer of 2005 Milan snatched from Inter then world-class Italian international Christian Vieri, who had failed to find success at Inter. This season, Inter have claimed the bragging rights, winning both competitive fixtures between the two; 4-3 and 2-1.
Another Inter rival, Juventus, were the only other club to have never been relegated, which changed with the match-fixing scandal of 2006 as Juve were relegated to Serie B. Matches with Juventus are generally referred to by the Italian press as ''Derby d'Italia'' (The great Italian derby) because of the fact that, before 2006, this was the only fixture that appeared in every Serie A season.

Current squad

''As of 8 September, 2007''^[4]

Non-playing staff

Retired numbers

Main articles: Retired numbers in football (soccer), retired numbers

★ 3 Giacinto Facchetti, left fullback, 1960-1978 ''(posthumous honor)''

Noted players

The following list features only:
# Individual club record owners
# Individual prize winners in a domestic, continental or worldwide basis, and FIFA World Cup winners during their stay at the club
# Players with at least 160 first team appearances with the club
# Players who scored at least 45 goals for the club
Players in ''italics'' are currently part of the first team squad. The flags refer to the international team(s) represented by each player.

★ Camillo Achilli ★ ''Adriano'' ★ Emilio Agradi ★ Luigi Allemandi ★ Alessandro Altobelli ★ Antonio Valentín Angelillo ★ Gino Armano ★ Giuseppe Baresi ★ Evaristo Beccalossi ★ Gianfranco Bedin ★ Dennis Bergkamp ★ Giuseppe Bergomi ★ Nicola Berti ★ Mario Bertini ★ Alessandro Bianchi ★ Mauro Bicicli ★ Graziano Bini ★ Roberto Boninsegna ★ Ivano Bordon ★ Andreas Brehme ★ Tarcisio Burgnich ★ Aldo Campatelli ★ Piero Campelli ★ Enrico Candiani ★ Nazzareno Canuti ★ Armando Castellazzi ★ Carlo Ceresoli ★ Aldo Cevenini ★ Luigi Cevenini ★ Fulvio Collovati	★ Leopoldo Conti ★ ''Iván Córdoba'' ★ Mario Corso ★ ''Julio Ricardo Cruz'' ★ Valentino Degani ★ Attilio Demaría ★ Luigi Di Biagio ★ Angelo Domenghini ★ Giacinto Facchetti ★ Osvaldo Fattori ★ Adriano Fedele ★ Giovanni Ferrari ★ Pietro Ferraris ★ Riccardo Ferri ★ Eddie Firmani ★ Livio Fongaro ★ Davide Fontolan ★ Angelo Franzosi ★ Annibale Frossi ★ Giorgio Ghezzi ★ Giovanni Giacomazzi ★ Attilio Giovannini ★ Mario Giubertoni ★ Aristide Guarneri ★ Jair da Costa ★ Jürgen Klinsmann ★ Ugo Locatelli ★ Benito Lorenzi ★ Andrea Mandorlini ★ Giampiero Marini	★ Obafemi Martins ★ Enea Masiero ★ ''Marco Materazzi'' ★ Gianfranco Matteoli ★ Lothar Matthäus ★ Sandro Mazzola ★ Giuseppe Meazza ★ Carlo Muraro ★ István Nyers ★ Gabriele Oriali ★ Gianluca Pagliuca ★ Giancarlo Pasinato ★ Armando Picchi ★ Silvio Pietroboni ★ Álvaro Recoba ★ Enrico Rivolta ★ Ronaldo ★ Giuliano Sarti ★ Pietro Serantoni ★ Aldo Serena ★ Lennart Skoglund ★ Rubén Sosa ★ Luis Suárez ★ ''Francesco Toldo'' ★ Christian Vieri ★ Lido Vieri ★ Faas Wilkes ★ ''Javier Zanetti'' ★ Walter Zenga \|} Club presidents		★ 1908 Giovanni Paramithiotti ★ 1909 Ettore Strauss ★ 1910 Carlo De Medici ★ 1912 Emilio Hirzel ★ 1914 Luigi Ansbacher ★ 1914 Giuseppe Visconti Di Modrone ★ 1919 Giorgio Hulss ★ 1920 Francesco Mauro ★ 1923 Enrico Olivetti ★ 1926 Senatore Borletti ★ 1929 Ernesto Torrusio ★ 1930 Oreste Simonotti ★ 1932 Ferdinando Pozzani ★ 1942 Carlo Masseroni ★ 1955 Angelo Moratti ★ 1968 Ivanoe Fraizzoli ★ 1984 Ernesto Pellegrini ★ 1995 Massimo Moratti ★ 2004 Giacinto Facchetti ★ 2006 Massimo Moratti Head coaches		★ 1909-15 - Virgilio Fossati ★ 1919 - Virgilio Fossati ★ 1920 - Nino Resegotti ★ 1922-24 - Bob Spotiswood ★ 1924-26 - Paulo Schiedler ★ 1926-28 - Arpad Weisz ★ 1928-29 - Jozsef Viola ★ 1929-31 - Arpad Weisz ★ 1931-32 - Istvan Toth ★ 1932-34 - Arpad Weisz ★ 1934-36 - Gyula Feldmann ★ 1936 - Albino Carraro ★ 1936-38 - Armando Castellazzi ★ 1938-40 - Tony Carnelli ★ 1940 - Giuseppe Peruchetti ★ 1941 - Italo Zamberletti ★ 1941-42 - Ivo Fiorentini ★ 1942-43 - Giovanni Ferrari ★ 1945-46 - Carlo Carcano ★ 1946 - Nino Nutrizio ★ 1947-48 - Giuseppe Meazza ★ 1948 - Carlo Carcano ★ 1948 - John Astley	; ★ 1949-50 - Giulio Cappelli ★ 1950-52 - Aldo Olivieri ★ 1952-55 - Alfredo Foni ★ 1955 - Aldo Campatelli ★ 1955-56 - Giuseppe Meazza ★ 1956 - Annibale Frossi ★ 1957 - Luigi Ferrero ★ 1957 - Giuseppe Meazza ★ 1957-58 - Jesse Carver ★ 1958 - Giuseppe Bigogno ★ 1959-60 - Aldo Campatelli ★ 1960 - Camillo Achilli ★ 1960 - Giulio Cappelli ★ 1960-68 - Helenio Herrera ★ 1968-69 - Alfredo Foni ★ 1969-71 - Heriberto Herrera ★ 1971-73 - Giovanni Invernizzi ★ 1973 - Enea Masiero ★ 1973 - Heriberto Herrera ★ 1974 - Enea Masiero ★ 1974-75 - Luis Suárez ★ 1976-77 - Giuseppe Chiappella ★ 1977-82 - Eugenio Bersellini	; ★ 1982-83 - Rino Marchesi ★ 1983-84 - Luigi Radice ★ 1984-86 - Ilario Castagner ★ 1986 - Mario Corso ★ 1986-91 - Giovanni Trapattoni ★ 1991 - Corrado Orrico ★ 1992 - Luis Suárez ★ 1992-94 - Osvaldo Bagnoli ★ 1994 - Giampiero Marini ★ 1994-95 - Ottavio Bianchi ★ 1995 - Luis Suárez ★ 1995-97 - Roy Hodgson ★ 1997 - Luciano Castellini ★ 1997-98 - Luigi Simoni ★ 1999 - Mircea Lucescu ★ 1999 - Luciano Castellini ★ 1999 - Roy Hodgson ★ 1999-01 - Marcello Lippi ★ 2001 - Marco Tardelli ★ 2001-03 - Héctor Raul Cúper ★ 2003 - Corrado Verdelli ★ 2004 - Alberto Zaccheroni ★ 2004-current - Roberto Mancini

Records and statistics

The players in ''italics typeface'' are still active in football.

Most appearances ★ Giuseppe Bergomi 519 ★ Giacinto Facchetti 476 ★ Sandro Mazzola 418 ★ Mario Corso 414 ★ Giuseppe Baresi 392 ★ ''Javier Zanetti'' 391 ★ Giuseppe Meazza 365 ★ Tarcisio Burgnich 359 ★ Walter Zenga 328 ★ Alessandro Altobelli 317		Top scorers ★ Giuseppe Meazza 246 ★ Luigi Cevenini 156 ★ Benito Lorenzi 138 ★ István Nyers 133 ★ Alessandro Altobelli 128 ★ Sandro Mazzola 116 ★ Roberto Boninsegna 113 ★ Ermanno Aebi 106 ★ Christian Vieri 103 ★ Attilio Demaria 76

Most appearances ★ Giuseppe Bergomi 117 ★ ''Javier Zanetti'' 103 ★ Giuseppe Baresi 73 ★ Giacinto Facchetti 73 ★ ''Ivan Ramiro Córdoba'' 73 ★ Walter Zenga 71 ★ Alessandro Altobelli 69 ★ Sandro Mazzola 67 ★ ★ Riccardo Ferri 62 ★ Tarcisio Burgnich 61		Top scorers ★ Alessandro Altobelli 35 ★ Giuseppe Meazza 29 ★ Roberto Boninsegna 22 ★ Sandro Mazzola 20 ★ ''Adriano Leite Ribeiro'' 16 ★ ''Álvaro Recoba'' 13 ★ Jair da Costa 12 ★ Aldo Serena 12 ★ ''Christian Vieri'' 12 ★ ''Obafemi Martins'' 12

Most appearances ★ Giuseppe Bergomi 122 ★ Giuseppe Baresi 94 ★ Giacinto Facchetti 85 ★ Alessandro Altobelli 80 ★ Sandro Mazzola 80 ★ Giampiero Marini 77 ★ Walter Zenga 74 ★ Gabriele Oriali 70 ★ Graziano Bini 66 ★ Riccardo Ferri 66		Top scorers ★ Alessandro Altobelli 46 ★ Roberto Boninsegna 36 ★ Sandro Mazzola 24 ★ Giuseppe Meazza 12 ★ Eddie Firmani 11 ★ Aldo Serena 10 ★ Giacinto Facchetti 10 ★ Mario Corso 9 ★ Karl-Heinz Rummenigge 9 ★ ''Julio Ricardo Cruz'' 9

Most appearances ★ ''Javier Zanetti'' 3 ★ ''Esteban Cambiasso'' 3 ★ ''Dejan Stanković'' 3 ★ ''Iván Córdoba'' 3 ★ ''Marco Materazzi'' 3 ★ ''Adriano Leite Ribeiro'' 2 ★ ''Francesco Toldo'' 2		Top scorers ★ ''Patrick Vieira'' 2 ★ Aldo Serena 1 ★ ''Dejan Stanković'' 1 ★ Enrico Cucchi 1 ★ ''Javier Farinós'' 1 ★ ''Hernán Crespo'' 1 ★ ''Juan Sebastián Verón'' 1 ★ ''Luís Figo'' 1 ★ ''Vampeta'' 1

Honours

★ Italian Championships
:
★ 'Champions (15)': 1909–10, 1919–20, 1929–30, 1937–38, 1939–40, 1952–53, 1953–54, 1962–63, 1964–65, 1965–66, 1970–71, 1979–80, 1988–89, 2005–06, 2006–07

★ European Cup
:
★ 'Champions (2)': 1963–64, 1964–65
:
★ 'Runners-up (2)': 1966–67, 1971–72

★ Intercontinental Cup
:
★ 'Champions (2)': 1964, 1965

★ Coppa Italia
:
★ 'Champions (5)': 1938–39, 1977–78, 1981–82, 2004–05, 2005–06
:
★ 'Runners-up (5)': 1958–59, 1964–65, 1976–77, 1999–00, 2006–07

★ UEFA Cup
:
★ 'Champions (3)': 1990–91, 1993–94, 1997–98
:
★ 'Runners-up (1)': 1996–97

★ Italian Super Cup
:
★ 'Champions (3)': 1988–89, 2005–06, 2006–07
:
★ 'Runners-up (2)': 2000-2001, 2007-08

★ Central Europe Cup (Mitropa Cup)
:
★ 'Runners-up (1)': 1932–33

Inter's Ultras

Inter's supporters are among the most well known around Europe for having some of the oldest ultras around.
The principal supporting group is Boys San, who were founded in 1969 making them the oldest group in Italy alongside Torino's Ultras Granata (1969), Sampdoria's Ultras Tito (1969) and AC Milan's now dissolved group, Fossa dei Leoni, which was founded in 1968.

Major groups

These are the 5 major groups in Inter's Curva Nord (north stand):

★ 'Boys San': Positioned at the centre of the terrace, the group was founded early in 1969. It is widely regarded as the leader of the curva and has a place in the history of the Italian Ultras. Firstly named only Boys, the group then changed its name to Boys San, which stands for Squadre d'Azione Nerazzurre.

★ 'Viking': To the left of Boys San is the Viking Inter group, which was founded in 1984. This group is famous for once having the largest flag in the Curva.

★ 'Irriducibili': To the extreme right of the stand is the banner of Inter's Irriducibili group. This is the most right winged group in the Curva, founded in 1987, it was created when the historic Skins group dissolved.

★ 'Ultras': This group is to the right of the Boys San banner and is one of the oldest groups around, as it was founded in 1975.

★ 'Brianza Alcoolica': The final major group is named Brianza Alcoolica, they were founded in 1985 and have the famous motto, 'You will never drink alone!'.

Other groups

There are also many other groups, varying in importance in the Curva Nord, such as:

★ Milano Nerazzurra

★ Boys Roma

★ Pessimi Elementi

★ Bulldogs

★ Imbastisci

★ Monkeys

★ Gruppo Decisi

★ Asterix Group

★ Squilibrati

★ Fō Dè Cō

★ Banda Bagaj (situated in the opposite stand)

★ D.N.A

★ Pitbulls

★ Monelle (female ultras group)

★ Baùscia