Milan is a city in Italy, in Milan there are two professional soccer teams that play at the same level. First there’s Inter Milan which is characterized by the blue badge and there is also AC Milan which is characterized by the famous red, white, and black badge. AC Milan is in my opinion the more famous of the two teams but Inter Milan is also a very strong team with millions of supporters world wide.
Inter Milan was founded in March of 1908, at this time the team was made up of mainly Italian players, but the teams name, Inter Milan, came from the fact that the players and management of the team did not want to exclude foreign players from playing on their team. I think that this is a very progressive thing for 1908 and for sports in general.
AC Milan was founded in 1899 so it is a little older than Inter. The club was in part founded by the English which is why the name is Milan and not Milano which is the city’s name in Italian. During the facist regime of World War Two the club was forced to use the name Milano in spite of democratic powers. The reason for their distinct red coloring was to strike fear in the hearts of their opponents.
Both of the teams have had great success in both international and domestic competition. Both teams are tied for second in the amount of league titles won, each have 19. However, AC Milan has more international league titles; having won 7 Champions League titles whereas Inter only have 3.
Naturally there is a grandiose rivalry between these teams as they are both in the same city. In Milan there are diehard fans of each team and I am sure that there is occasional violence between fans.
In terms of players both teams have and have had great talent. Starting with AC Milan, they have had great defensive players like Maldini who also contributed to the 2002 Italian victory in the World Cup. Inter Milan has also had its fair share of superstars with the like of defender Zanetti and forward Samuel Eto’o. Currently though Inter Milan have forward Lautaro Martinez who played a pivotal role in Argentina’s recent 2023 World Cup victory.
To conclude, Europe has a rich footballing history and it is something that the large majority of the U.S. population have no clue about. Football is such a large part of the culture in Europe that one can say that it is part of their commonplaces. I hope that in reading this blog the reader learns something new and expands their cultural knowledge.