newsoccer-station: INTER MILAN

Internazionale

Full name

Football Club Internazionale Milano SpA

Nickname(s)

Nerazzurri (the Black-Blues)
La Beneamata (the Cherished)
Il Biscione (the Big Grass Snake)

Founded

9 March 1908

Ground

Stadio Giuseppe Meazza,
Milan, Italy
(Capacity: 82,955)

Chairman

Head Coach

League

Serie A, 1st





Home colours





Away colours

Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as simply Internazionale, Inter or Inter Milan, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy, founded in 1908. The club are the only side in Italian football to have spent their entire history in the top tier (Serie A). Internazionale, who play in black and blue striped shirts with white shorts (but in the past, often in black shorts), have sixteen Serie A titles to their name; only their rivals Juventus and A.C. Milan have won more. Including the Coppa Italia and the Italian Super Cup, Inter have a total of 25 trophies won in Italy.

Outside of their homeland, the club have also had success in European and World tournaments; they won the European Cup in two successive finals during 1963–64 and 1964–65. They have also won the UEFA Cup three times and the World Club Championship twice. Additionally, Inter was one of founding members of the G-14, a group that formerly represented eighteen of the largest and most prestigious European football clubs.

Inter play their home games at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, also known as San Siro. The ground, which they share with rivals AC Milan, is the largest in Italian football, with a total capacity of 82,955.

The club was founded on March 9, 1908 as Internazionale FBC Milano, following a "schism" from the Milan Cricket and Football Club (43 members). 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, Hugo 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 its 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 1922 Inter were in Group B of the Serie A and came in last place after picking up only 11 points in the season. The last place team of each group was to be automatically relegated. The second last place teams were placed in a pre-relegation 'salvation' tournament. Inter and La Gazzetta dello Sport's editor (Colombo) petitioned the FIGC to allow Inter to participate in Serie A the following year as a year in Serie B would have been financially detrimental. The FIGC saved Inter some weeks prior to the season starting by allowing them to remain in Serie A in 1923. Venezia, who had come in 3rd last in Group B ahead of Inter, were relegated in Inter's place. In 1928, during the Fascist era, the club was forced to merge with the Milanese Unione Sportiva and was renamed Ambrosiana SS 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 in turn is derived from the flag of the patron saint of Milan, St. Ambrose and dates back to the 4th century AD. The new upcoming President Oreste Simonotti decided to change name to A.S. Ambrosiana in 1929. However, supporters continued to call the team "Inter," and in 1931 new president Pozzani caved to shareholder pressure and changed the name to AS Ambrosiania-Inter.

Their first Coppa Italia (Italian Cup) was won in 1938-39, led by the great legend Giuseppe Meazza, after 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-emerged under a name close to their original one, Internazionale FC Milano, which they have kept ever since.

National titles

Serie A:

Champions (16): 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; 2007-08
Runners-up (14): 1932–33; 1933–34; 1934–35; 1940–41; 1945–46; 1948–49; 1950–51; 1961–62; 1963–64; 1966–67; 1969–70; 1992–93; 1997–98; 2002–03

Coppa Italia: