Football Club Internazionale Milano (commonly referred to, incorrectly, as Inter (Milan) is an Italianfootball club, playing in the Serie A (first division).
The club was founded on 9 March1908 following a split from the Milan Cricket and Football Club, now known as AC Milan. A group of Italians and Swiss 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 original nickname of the team in the Milano dialect was "La Beneamata", the well-loved.
Recent statistical report confirmed that Inter F.C. is the second most supported team in Italy, after Juventus Torino, but before Milan A.C., Napoli, Roma, Torino, Fiorentina, Palermo and Lazio.
The club won its very first championship in 1910 and its second in 1920. The Captain and the Coach of the first "scudetto" was the Virgilio Fossati, born in Milano and brother of Giuseppe Fossati (who won the 2nd Inter "scudetto"). Unfortunately Virgilio Fossati died during the First World War on the Eastern Front.
During the turbulent period between the First and Second World Wars, Internazionale was forced to change its name to Ambrosiana-Inter in order to accommodate the requests of Benito Mussolini's hardline regime. However, Inter was still used to winning ways and captured its third league championship in the new Italian first division in 1930. Following that, a fourth league title was won in 1938, Inter's first Coppa Italia (Italian Cup) was won in 1940 and a fifth league championship followed in 1940. From 1942 onwards, the name Ambrosiana-Inter was dropped in favour of the original Internazionale Milano.
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. During this magnificent period, the club won 3 league championships in 1963, 1965 & 1966. The most famous moments during this decade also include Inter's 2 back-to-back European Cup wins. In 1963, Inter won the first of those European Cups, playing against the famous Spanish club Real Madrid. The next season, playing in their own stadium, the San Siro, Inter won their second European Cup against Portuguese outfit Benfica.
In the 60's and in the 70's Inter lost 2 other finals of Champions Cup, the first against the Celtic Glasgow (1967: 2-1) and the second against the great Ajax Amsterdam of Crujiff and Neeskens (1972: 2-0)
Following the golden 1960s, Inter managed to win their 11th league title in 1971 and their 12th in 1980. During the years of the 1970s & 1980s, Inter also added to their Coppa Italia tally, winning their second and third cups in 1978 and 1982 respectively. Inter won their last league championship in 1989, bringing their total tally of scudetti (Italian badges) to 13. They sit third in the all-time list of most wins of the league championship, behind Juventus (27) and AC Milan (17).
Internazionale has also won the UEFA Cup on 3 occasions. The first was in the 1990/91 season in a two-legged match with AS Roma. In 1993/94, Inter did it again, this time against Austrian side Casino Salzburg. In a record third UEFA Cup victory, Inter beat SS Lazio in a one-match final played in the Parc des Princes, Paris.
The stadium which Inter plays in is called Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, San Siro. It was previously simply known as San Siro, but a new name was adoped following the renovation of the stadium for the 1990 World Cup that was held in Italy. Giuseppe Meazza was a famous player for FC Internazionale in the 1930s and also played for AC Milan for a brief period of time. As a player, he won 2 World Cups for Italy (in 1934 and 1938) and, alongside Giovanni Ferrari, remains one of only two Italian players to have ever won the World Cup on 2 occasions. As a result, he is revered amongst the Interisti (Inter fans) and was honored by having one of the most famous football stadiums in the world named after him. The stadium seats 85,700 and plays host to both FC Internazionale and Milan.
FC Internazionale holds a proud record of never having been relegated to the Serie B (2nd division) in its entire existence. The fans hold this in high regard as Inter are only one of two clubs (the other being Juventus) that have been ever-present in the Serie A. Juventus were nominally relegated in 1911 and 1913 but remained at the first level in Piemonte Regional League in 1911, and in the Lombardia Regional League in the 1913; in addition, they didn't finish the championship in 1908.
The current honorary president and owner of Internazionale is Massimo Moratti . His father, Angelo Moratti was the president of Inter during the golden era of the 1960s. Massimo, trying to emulate his father's great success, has spent a great deal of money to bring some of the world's best players to the club.
