Foundation and early years (1899–1950) , the club's first captain and one of its founding members AC Milan was founded as Milan Foot-Ball and
Cricket Club in 1899 by English expatriate
Herbert Kilpin. but historical evidence seems to suggest that the club was actually founded a few days after, most likely on 18 December. However, with the club's charter being lost, the exact date remains open to debate. In honour of its English origins, the club has retained the English spelling of the city's name, as opposed to the Italian spelling Milano, which it was forced to bear under the
fascist regime. Milan won its first Italian championship in
1901, interrupting a three-year hegemony of
Genoa, and a further two in succession in
1906 and
1907. the
Palla Dapples 23 times and the
FGNI tournament five times, a competition organized by the
Italian Gymnastics Federation but not officially recognized by the
Italian Football Federation. In 1908, Milan experienced a split caused by internal disagreements over the signing of foreign players, which led to the forming of another Milan-based team,
F.C. Internazionale. Following these events, Milan did not manage to win a single domestic title until
1950–51, and the 1917–18
Coppa Mauro, two tournaments played during the
First World War which, especially the former, received a lot of attention and proved to be highly competitive, despite them not being officially recognized by the Italian federation.
Return to victory and international affirmation (1950–1970) The 1950s saw the club return to the top of Italian football, headed by the famous
Gre-No-Li Swedish trio
Gunnar Gren,
Gunnar Nordahl and
Nils Liedholm. This was one of the club's most successful periods domestically, with the
Scudetto going to Milan in
1951,
1955,
1957 and
1959. he would remain with the club for the rest of his career for the following 19 seasons. In 1961,
Nereo Rocco was appointed as new coach of the club, which under his leadership won immediately a scudetto in
1961–62, followed, in the next season, by Milan's first European Cup triumph, achieved after beating
Benfica in the
final. This success was repeated in
1969, with a 4–1 win over
Ajax in
the final, which was followed by the
Intercontinental Cup title the same year. The scandal was centred around a betting syndicate paying players and officials to fix the outcome of matches. The Milan team of 1988–1990, nicknamed the "Immortals" in the Italian media, has been voted the best club side of all time in a global poll of experts conducted by
World Soccer magazine. (left) holds the
UEFA Champions League trophy along with manager
Fabio Capello, following Milan's victory in the
1993–94 edition of the tournament. After Sacchi left Milan in 1991, he was replaced by the club's former player
Fabio Capello whose team won three consecutive
Serie A titles between
1992 and
1994, a spell which included a 58-match unbeaten run in Serie A (which earned the team the label "the Invincibles"), and back-to-back
UEFA Champions League final appearances in
1993,
1994 and
1995. A year after losing 1–0 to
Marseille in the
1993 Champions League final, Capello's team reached its peak in one of Milan's most memorable matches of all time, the famous 4–0 win over
Barcelona in the
1994 Champions League final. The team then won the Scudetto in
2003–04 before reaching the
2005 Champions League final, where they were beaten by
Liverpool on penalties despite leading 3–0 at half-time. The team then won its first
FIFA Club World Cup in December 2007. In 2009, after becoming Milan's second longest serving manager with 420 matches overseen, A police inquiry excluded any involvement of Milan managers; the
Italian Football Federation (FIGC) unilaterally decided that it had sufficient evidence to charge Milan vice-president
Adriano Galliani. As a result, Milan was initially punished with a 15-point deduction and was banned from the
2006–07 UEFA Champions League. An appeal saw that penalty reduced to eight points, which allowed the club to retain its Champions League participation. Following the aftermath of Calciopoli,
local rivals Internazionale dominated Serie A, winning four
Scudetti. However, with the help a strong squad boasting players such as
Zlatan Ibrahimović,
Robinho and
Alexandre Pato joining many of the veterans of the club's mid-decade European successes, Milan recaptured the Scudetto in the
2010–11 Serie A season, their first since the
2003–04 season and 18th overall.
Changes in ownership and decline (2012–2019) (number 3),
Kaká (number 22) and
Zlatan Ibrahimović (number 11) in the
San Siro museum After their 18th Scudetto, the club declined in performance. Milan failed to qualify to European competitions for a few years, and the only trophy won was the
2016 Supercoppa Italiana, achieved under
Vincenzo Montella's coaching after defeating Juventus in the penalty shoot-out. On 5 August 2016, a new preliminary agreement was signed with the Chinese investment management company Sino-Europe Sports Investment Management Changxing Co., to which Fininvest sold a 99.93% stake of Milan for about €520 million, plus the refurbishment of the club financial debt of €220 million. On 13 April 2017, the deal was completed and Rossoneri Sport Investment Lux became the new direct parent company of the club. In order to finalise the deal, American hedge fund
Elliott Management Corporation provided Li with a loan of €303 million (€180 million to complete the payment to Fininvest and €123 million issued directly to the club). On 10 July 2018, Li failed to keep up with his loan repayment plan, neglecting to deposit a €32 million instalment on time in order to refinance the €303 million loan debt owed to the American hedge fund. As a result, In July 2018, chairman
Li Yonghong's investment vehicle Rossoneri Champion Inv. Lux. was removed as the shareholder of Rossoneri Sport Inv. Lux., the direct parent company of the club, making the investment vehicle majority controlled by Elliott Management Corporation the sole shareholder of Rossoneri Sport Inv. Lux. On 27 November 2017, Montella was sacked due to poor results and replaced by former player
Gennaro Gattuso. Milan qualified for the
2018–19 UEFA Europa League group stage after finishing 6th in the
2017–18 Serie A season, but were banned by UEFA from European competition due to violations of
Financial Fair Play regulations for failure to break-even. Milan appealed to the
Court of Arbitration for Sport and the decision was overturned on 20 July 2018. In Gattuso's first full season in charge, Milan exceeded expectations and spent much of the campaign in the top 4. Despite winning their final 4 games, Milan missed out on the Champions League by one point. After Milan's failure to qualify for the Champions League, Gattuso resigned as manager. On 19 June 2019, Milan hired former Sampdoria manager
Marco Giampaolo on a 2-year contract. On 28 June 2019, Milan was excluded from the
2019–20 UEFA Europa League for violating Financial Fair Play regulations for the years 2014–2017 and 2015–2018.
Recent history (2019–present) win in
Piazza del Duomo,
Milan After four months in charge, Giampaolo was sacked after losing four of his first seven games, which was exacerbated by poor performances and a lack of supporter confidence.
Stefano Pioli was hired as his replacement. After the restart of the Serie A campaign due to the
COVID-19 outbreak, Milan went on a 10 match unbeaten streak, winning 7 in the process including matches against Juventus, Lazio and Roma. This streak led to Milan abandoning their plans of hiring
Ralf Rangnick as their new manager and sporting director, and instead extended Pioli's contract for a further 2 years. Following a stellar start in the
2020–21 Serie A, which was a continuation of the second half of the previous season, Milan under Pioli in his first full season were led to a second-place finish in the league which was the highest finish for the team since the
2011–12 Serie A. This result allowed Milan to qualify for the
2021–22 UEFA Champions League for the following season, which would become their first appearance in the
UEFA Champions League in seven years since their last appearance in the
2013–14 UEFA Champions League. Milan secured their 19th Italian championship title on the last round of the
2021–22 season, with a
club-record tally of 86 points. It was their first league title since the
2010–11 season. In the
Serie A Awards,
Rafael Leão was named as the league's
most valuable player,
Mike Maignan as the best goalkeeper, and Pioli as coach of the season. On 1 June 2022, RedBird Capital Partners agreed to acquire AC Milan at $1.3 billion, meanwhile Elliott Management Corporation would keep a minority stake. After five seasons with Milan, Pioli stepped down at the end of
2023–24 season and
Paulo Fonseca was named as his replacement. Halfway through the
2024–25 season, Fonesca was sacked and replaced by
Sérgio Conceição. Despite winning the
2024–25 Supercoppa Italiana, the team finished in 8th place and failed to qualify for European competition for the first time since 2016. ==Colours and badge==