Football Club Internazionale Milano, more commonly known as Internazionale or Inter, and only as Inter Milan outside Italy, was formed on 9th March 1908 as Foot-Ball Club Internazionale after a split with those at AC Milan. The Milan Cricket and Football Club, as AC were known at the time, was thought to be against foreign players.
AC had English founders, Inter, Italian, hence their name. Virgilio Fossati was named as the club's player-coach in 1909. The club began life playing in Ripa Di Porta Ticinese, but the pitch was in such a poor condition that the local council allowed Inter to use Arena Civica in the city centre for their winter matches.
Inter became Italian champions as the Prima Categoria title was lifted in 1909-10. In 1913, a new stadium on Via Goldoni was built, although the Arena was still used for bigger games because of its larger capacity. Fossati was killed while serving in World War I before joint coaches Nino Resegotti and Francesco Mauro led the team to a second title in 1919-20.
In 1921-22, Inter kept their top-level status after winning two play-off games. The Mussolini Fascist era forced a deeply unpopular merger in 1928 with Unione Sportiva Milanese to be renamed as Società Sportiva Ambrosiana, wearing white shirts with a red cross, with the upcoming President, Oreste Simonotti, deciding to change the name to AS Ambrosiana.
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| Arena Civica |
However, supporters continued to call the team ‘Inter’, and in 1931, new president Pozzani caved to shareholder pressure and changed the name to AS Ambrosiana-Inter. The team was crowned as the first ever Serie A champions in 1929-30 with Giuseppe Meazza the goalscoring hero.
Árpád Weisz was in charge of the team, which used Milan’s San Siro for their decisive title match against Juventus before becoming permanent residents at Arena Civica di Milano. The elegant Meazza was a popular player who won two World Cup medals with the national team and is thought to be one of the greatest players of all time.
He was part of the side as a third national title was secured in 1937-38 with Armando Castellazzi as head coach. The Coppa Italia was won for the first time in 1938-39 with a win against Novara, before a fifth ‘scudetto’ followed in 1939-40 with Umberto Guarnieri ending as top scorer for the team led by Tony Cargnelli.
After the end of World War II, the club re-emerged under a name close to their original one, Internazionale FC Milano. The club also moved across the city to share the council-owned San Siro with Milan in 1947.
Several others held the post of head coach before the arrival of Alfredo Foni, who led the side to Serie A titles in 1952-53 and 1953-54 with help from the goals of István Nyers, Benito Lorenzi, Gino Armano and Lennart Skoglund. A remarkable ten head coach appointments were made, trying to emulate the glory until the arrival of Argentinian Helenio Herrera from FC Barcelona in 1960.
He signed the midfielder and European Footballer of the Year, Luis Suárez, from his old club, as a defensive catenaccio system was installed. The tactics paid dividends as the league title was won for an eighth time in 1962-63.
The regular team containing Giuliano Sarti, Tarcisio Burgnich, Giacinto Facchetti, Armando Picchi, Suárez, Jair, Mario Corso and Sandro Mazzola would prove to be extremely difficult to score against and beat over the following few years, earning the title of ‘Il Grande Inter’.
The European Cup was won in 1963-64 with a 3-1 victory over Real Madrid in Vienna as Mazzola scored twice in addition to Aurelio Milani’s effort. The trophy was retained the following season as a solitary Jair goal was enough to defeat SL Benfica at San Siro. The 1964-65 triumph also coincided with another Serie A championship.
Both European victories led to Inter being crowned as Intercontinental Cup winners twice against Independiente of Argentina. Inter fell short to Celtic in the European Cup final of 1966-67, despite being heavy favourites, and missing Suárez with injury. The club changed their name to Football Club Internazionale Milano.
Alfredo Foni took over as coach for a season before Herrera returned, taking the club to another league title in 1970-71 as Roberto Boninsegna finished as top scorer. Giovanni Invernizzi took over the side as they were defeated 2-0 by Ajax in the 1971-72 European Cup final.
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| My drawn plan of the San Siro and some former Inter kits Click on the image to enlarge it |
League honours were to elude Inter as a series of coaches paid the price for failing to deliver. Eugenio Bersellini offered some stability as he helped his side deliver Coppa Italia success in 1977-78 as Alessandro Altobelli and Graziano Bini goals defeated Napoli 2-1.
Aldo Serena starred as Torino were defeated on aggregate before four more coaches came and went until the appointment of Giovanni Trapattoni in 1986. A trio of German stars, Lothar Matthaus, Andreas Brehme and Jürgen Klinsmann, were signed along with Argentine Ramón Díaz to compete with Milan’s famous three Dutchmen as the city was at the forefront of Italian football.
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| Arena Civica |
‘I Nerazzurri’ lifted the Scudetto in 1988-89 with Serena as top scorer. During the Italia '90 World Cup, West Germany played Holland in the San Siro, with the Milanese fans backing the country whose club players represented.
He, however, led the team to a second UEFA Cup triumph in 1993-94 against Salzburg.
Massimo Moratti bought the club from Ernesto Pellegrini in 1995 and pumped in large sums from the family oil business. Stars such as Ronaldo, Christian Vieri, Hernan Crespo and Laurent Blanc all arrived at the San Siro.
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| Arena Civica |
The new owner chopped and changed coaches regularly. Roy Hodgson was at the helm as Inter finished as beaten finalists to Schalke 04 in the 1996-97 UEFA Cup. Fans' favourite Luigi Simoni was at the helm as a third UEFA Cup was won.
The fans turned on Moratti after Simoni was sacked as they staged many demonstrations, including boycotts of Curva Nord at the San Siro. The consistent hiring and firing of coaches continued with quality men such as Mircea Lucescu, Marcello Lippi, Marco Tardelli, Héctor Cúper and Alberto Zaccheroni unable to satisfy the owner.
Former Sampdoria and Italy star striker Roberto Mancini was appointed in 2004. At last, Inter had got it right. Mancini would lead the team to three consecutive Serie A titles in 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08.
Star players of the period were Julio Cruz, Adriano, Zlatan Ibrahimović, Marco Materazzi, Hernán Crespo, Zanetti, Luís Figo, Patrick Vieira and Dejan Stanković. Remarkably, the lack of success in the Champions League led to the sacking of Mancini, to be replaced by José Mourinho.
The 2009-10 season would be the greatest ever by an Italian club side. A fifth consecutive Scudetto was collected, as well as the Coppa Italia, with a Diego Milito goal seeing off AS Roma at the hosts' Stadio Olimpico. However, Mourinho succeeded where so many others had failed by leading the club to be crowned Champions of Europe for the first time in forty-five years.
Bayern München were beaten 2-0 thanks to two Milito goals in the Madrid final. Mourinho resigned as coach within three days of the success. Former Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez took over but was sacked before the end of his first season at the helm. He was replaced the following day by former Brazilian international and Milan boss Leonardo.
He led the side to a 3-1 win over Palermo to retain the Coppa Italia. Coaches Gian Piero Gasperini, Claudio Ranieri and Andrea Stramaccioni followed the dismissed Leonardo in quick succession. An Indonesian consortium bought a controlling share of the club in October 2013.
Moratti had announced plans to build Inter a new stadium away from San Siro in San Donato to the southeast of the city. However, the new owners confirmed their wish to remain at San Siro, even if Milan were to build an alternative stadium. Walter Mazzarri had a spell as head coach before Mancini returned to the San Siro, with Mauro Icardi scoring the goals.
Suning Holdings Group bought the club in the summer of 2016, appointing Frank de Boer to replace Mancini, who lasted just a few months before Stefano Pioli was brought in to last until the end of the season, with Inter again finishing outside the top four. Luciano Spalletti led the side to fourth place in 2017-18, with the consistent Icardi continuing to score the goals, helped by the creative talents of Marcelo Brozović and Ivan Perišić.
Another fourth place arrived in 2018-19 before Spalletti was replaced by Antonio Conte. Inter and Milan unveiled plans to build a new shared stadium next to San Siro, holding 60,000 fans to replace the original structure in 2019. However, after meeting with the council, who own the stadium, it was proposed to carry out a refurbishment to bring it up to modern requirements.
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| Arena Civica |
Big money was spent on new signings Romelu Lukaku, Valentino Lazaro and Christian Eriksen as the club pushed forward once again. Inter won their nineteenth Scudetto in 2020-21 before Simone Inzaghi replaced Conte, as Inter finished second in the league behind Milan. Consolation came by winning the Coppa Italia.
That came through a 4-2 extra-time win against Juventus. The following 2022-23 campaign saw Inter reach the semi-finals of the Champions League, losing to bitter rivals Milan over two legs. The Coppa was retained as a brace from Lautaro Martínez helped the side defeat Fiorentina 2-1.
His goals. along with those from Hakan Çalhanoğlu and Marcus Thuram, along with the efforts of goalkeeper Yann Sommer, took Inter to the Serie A title once more in 2023-24. The following season saw another Champions League run, where Feyenoord, Bayern München, and FC Barcelona were defeated in the knockout rounds.
An incredible performance from Paris Saint-Germain won the final 5-0 before Cristian Chivu replaced Inzaghi in June 2025. Meanwhile, rumblings continued regarding whether the San Siro would be demolished and a new stadium built, or a renovation would take place.
Internazionale will play in Serie A in the 2025-26 season.
My visits
Thursday 5th July 1990
England had been knocked out of the World Cup on penalties by Germany the previous evening in Turin. I was a broken young man. I’d travelled with my younger brother Nick and travelled by Eurorail card for a couple of weeks.
We were still with a couple of other lads who we’d befriended over our stay. We decided to head to Milan for the day to fill in some time and ponder our next moves. Nick had been to the San Siro the day before with Darren, an AFC Bournemouth fan, just to escape the pressure cooker that was Turin.
They’d got inside and they knew the way, so it seemed a good idea to have a go. We took the Metro out to Lotto and walked down the main road, gawping in awe at our first sight of the incredible structure. Fortunately, a gate was open as the stadium was preparing for a Madonna concert.
We all got in and took photos before being offered some serious loud advice from some riggers out by the stage. We wandered aimlessly around Milan for a few hours. We could well have seen some of the sights around the centre, but I was oblivious to much of it. I just wanted to head home. It had been a great experience, but I was devastated.
AC Milan 3 Parma 1 (Sunday 1st February 2015) Serie A (Att: 24,396)
To read about my visit to the Serie A match at San Siro and see extra images, please click here.
To read about my visit to the Serie A match at San Siro and see extra images, please click here.
Sunday 9th February 2020
My mini Mediterranean weekend tour watching matches in Marseille and Genoa necessitated a couple of journeys by bus, with Milan being the link between the two cities. There was a three-hour wait before the connections. I wasn’t going to waste that time sitting in a bus terminus. As soon as we arrived at Lampugnano, I was off the bus as quickly as possible.
The Flixbus service had been cramped, but I’d had a decent kip and now wanted a stretch. I grabbed a one-day pass and caught the Metro to Lotto. Since my previous visit, the metro network was now extended to the stadium on Line 5. I alighted at San Siro Stadio station on a cold, windy morning just as the area was showing its first sign of life.
It was the day of the Derby della Madonnina, with Inter hosting Milan at 8.45pm; over twelve hours later. A few tourists wandered about, while an occasional steward and stall worker were beginning their days. There had been a possibility of getting a ticket for the match, but I considered that around €100 was too expensive.
Several Brits on the European Football Weekends Facebook group had confirmed that they were attending. Despite my brain mulling over the possibilities, I contented myself that I wanted to explore Genoa properly after the afternoon match down there. Hotels would also be prohibitive at such a late stage in Milan.
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| Arena Civica |
The stadium was firmly locked. There would be no sneaking a look inside like in 1990. It was nice just to see it once again in daylight and see what was going on. You never know if someone was trying to offload a spare on the cheap or if I saw a souvenir that tempted me to open my wallet! There was plenty more I wanted to see with my remaining couple of hours, some of which was football related.
The number 16 tram took me to Wagner, where I continued by Metro to Duomo. I could well have visited the area back in 1990, but my mind was so muddled I honestly couldn’t recall it. Whatever, I was certainly glad that I made the effort this time. The Duomo di Milano and the surrounding buildings were outstanding architecture.
In my mature years, I’d grown to appreciate such things and loved taking photos of buildings and monuments that I found aesthetic. There was plenty of scope in the surrounding area, as I continued down Vias Orefici, Cordusio and Dante along to Castello Sforzesco. I didn’t even know that Milan had a castle and wouldn’t have discovered it without its proximity to Arena Civica.
I had a good walk around some fantastic parkland, taking in some wonderful sights, before heading to Inter's old home. Unfortunately, the arena was closed to the public, at least for a few more weeks. It was now a home to some football, rugby, athletics and concerts, but there was no way in for me to have a proper look, which was a shame.
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| Arena Civica |
To see further San Siro photos, more thoughts on my 1990 visit and a report of my AC Milan match at the stadium, please click here.