Internazionale Info

by DeJesus5 Mon May 19, 2008 5:07 pm

F.C. Internazionale Milano

Internazionale Info 128px-InternazionaleBadge

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 at 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.

History

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 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 1922 Inter were in Group B of the Serie A and came in dead last 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 salvation tournament. Inter and La Gazzetta dello Sport's editor (Colombo) solicited the FIGC to allow Inter to participate in Serie A the following year as a year in Serie B would have been detrimental financially. The FIGC saved Inter weeks prior to the season starting and allowed them to remain in Serie A in 1923. [4]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.[5] 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, 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-emerged under a name close to their original one; Internazionale FC Milano, which they have kept ever since.

Stadium

Internazionale Info San_Siro3

The Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, more commonly called the San Siro, is a football stadium in Milan, Italy. It is the home stadium for two of the three most successful Italian Football League clubs: A.C. Milan and F.C. Internazionale, and one of the most famous football stadiums in the world. Although it has been officially renamed in honour of Giuseppe Meazza, the Inter and Milan player of the 1930s and 1940s, it is still commonly called the San Siro. With the spectators being so close to the pitch, the stands being so steep and with a large roof, it is considered to have one of the best atmospheres of any stadium in the world.

The stadium construction started in 1925 in the Milanese district of San Siro, which gave its original name. The idea to build a stadium in the same district of the horse racing track, belongs to the man who then was the president of A.C. Milan, Piero Pirelli. The architects designed a stadium only for football (there is no athletics track in it). The inauguration was on 19 September 1926, when 35,000 spectators saw Inter defeat Milan 6-3. Originally the ground was home and property of AC Milan, later Internazionale became tenants and the two have shared the ground ever since. Although Giuseppe Meazza played for both Internazionale and AC Milan, he enjoyed more success at Inter and is more favoured by the Inter faithful; as a result, Milan fans favour the term San Siro for the ground.

As well as being used by Milan and Inter, the Italian national side also plays occasional games there and it has also been used for the 2000/01, 1969/1970 and 1964/65 Champions League/European Cup finals. The stadium was also used for UEFA Cup finals when played over home and away legs but has never featured since the competition changed to a single final structure in 1997/98.

The stadium underwent further renovations for the 1990 World Cup with $60m being spent, bringing the stadium up to UEFA 5-star standard. As part of the renovations, the stadium became all seated, with an extra tier being added to 3 sides of the stadium. This entailed the building of 11 concrete towers around the outside of the stadium. Four of these concrete towers located at the corner to support a new roof which has distinctive protruding red girders.

Honours

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:
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

Supercoppa Italiana:
Champions (3): 1988–89; 2005–06; 2006–07
Runners-up (2): 2000–01; 2007–08

European titles
UEFA Champions League (former European Cup):
Champions (2): 1963–64; 1964–65
Runners-up (2): 1966–67; 1971–72

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

Mitropa Cup:
Runners-up (1): 1932–33

World-wide titles
Intercontinental Cup: [19]
Champions (2): 1964; 1965