A.C. Milan Betting

The Italian football club now known as Associazione Calcio Milan got their start when the Milan Foot-Ball and Cricket Club was formed in 1899 by English lace-maker Herbert Kilpin. Although the team played just one game during their first season, losing to Torino, Milan lifted their first trophy, the “King’s Medal,” presented to them by King Umberto I.

The Rossoneri (Red & Blacks) quickly established their credibility in the years that followed. Under the tutelage of British expatriate president Alfred Edwards, Milan won a second King’s Medal along with their first national title in 1900-01.

During the first decade of the 20th century, playing as Milan F.C., the club captured their second and third titles, setting them up as the most popular team in the Lombardy region. In 1905-07, they also completed a hat trick of “Palla Dapples”—referring to the silver soccer ball trophy awarded to the winner of Italy’s most prestigious football tournament of that era.

In 1908, however, a set-back occurred that would weaken Milan for nearly half century. Internal disputes over the signing of foreign players cause the club to split, with a group leaving to form a rival team named F.C. Internazionale Milano, or simply Internazionale. Having two local teams spelled out less support and fewer victories for the Rossoneri.

By the mid-1920s, Pietro Pirelli had been appointed as the new President of Milan F.C., a role he held for almost twenty years. One of his first acts was to build proper football grounds for Milan, modeled after those found in England with grandstands close to the pitch.

In 1926, the Rossoneri’s current home, San Siro Stadium, was inaugurated. Over the years, its capacity would be expanded from the initial 35,000 to today’s 80,018. It was also during Pirelli’s tenure that the team changed its name from Milan F.C. to Milan Associazione Sportiva and entered the league known as Serie A, launched in 1929.

From 1940 through 1954, Umberto Trabattoni served as the club’s president. His teams went through highs and lows, typically finishing the season in mid-table and rarely among the top four places. Then, the acquisition of master striker Gunnar Nordahl in 1949 put Milan on the path to success.

In 1950-51, they returned to the spotlight with their fourth league title after 44 years in the wings and capped it by winning their first Latin Cup. With Nordahl as team captain and the league’s top goalscorer from 1952 to 1955, the Rossoneri managed yet another title in 1954-55.

Once the genie was out of the bottle, there was no putting it back. Milan took the Serie A title in 1956-57, 1958-59 and 1961-62. They added their first UEFA Champions League title in 1962-63. Then the second half of the 1960s brought them yet another Serie A trophy, a second UEFA championship, their first UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup and the prestigious Coppa Italia (Italy Cup). Although the 1970s would witness one more Serie A title and a second UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup, the shining glory came in 1969, when the Rossoneri landed the Intercontinental Cup and were recognised as the best footballers in the world.

With the exception of the 1980-81 and 1982-83 seasons, A.C. Milan has spent its entire history in the highest level of Italian football. That brief dark period in club history ended 1986, when Silvio Berlusconi was named Milan’s 21st president.

Under Berlusconi, the club has won the UEFA Champions League title and the UEFA Super Cup five times apiece, to go along with six successes in the Supercoppa Italiana (Italian Super Cup). They also won two Intercontinental Cups back to back in 1989 and 1990. Then, in 2007, the phenomenal leader took Milan all the way to the pinnacle of football achievement by winning the FIFA World Cup.

Meanwhile, in Serie A, Berlusconi’s Rossoneri have topped the leader board eight times, including the 2010-11 just past. As the reigning Italian football champions and the most successful club in world football in terms of international trophies (18), A.C. Milan are always a good bet in any match-up, league or tournament and a dangerous foe to wager against.

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