This is the history of Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan outside of Italy, a professional Italian football club based in Milan, Lombardy.
Foundation and early years The club was founded on March 9th 1908 as Foot-Ball Club Internazionale following a schism within Milan Cricket and Football Club (44 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 with the preponderance of Italians in the Milan team and broke away from it, leading to the creation of Internazionale. The name of the club derives from the wish of its founding members to accept foreign players without limits as well as Italians.
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.
Ambrosiana-Inter
In 1922, Inter were in Group B of the CCI First Division and came in last after picking up only 11 points in the season. Inter remained in the top league after winning two salvation play-offs.
In 1928, during the Fascist era, the club was forced to merge with the Unione Sportiva Milanese and was renamed Società Sportiva Ambrosiana. For the 1928–29 season, they wore white shirts with a red cross emblazoned on it: this design was inspired by the flag and coat of arms of the city of Milan, which in turn derives from the flag of the patron saint of Milan, St. Ambrose, and dates back to the fourth century. In 1929, incoming president Oreste Simonotti decided to change the club's name to Associazione Sportiva Ambrosiana and restored the original black-and-blue striped jerseys. Supporters, however, continued to call the team Inter, and in 1931 (after the reconstitution of U.S. Milanese), new president Pozzani caved in to shareholder pressure and changed the name to Associazione Sportiva Ambrosiana-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 their original name: Internazionale. Following the war, Inter won its sixth championship in 1953 and the seventh in 1954 - both of the titles were won with Attilio Giovannini as captain.
Grande Inter
In 1960, Helenio Herrera joined Internazionale from Barcelona, bringing with him his midfield general Luis Suárez, who won the European Footballer of the Year that same year for his role in Barça's La Liga/Fairs Cup double. He would transform Internazionale into one of the greatest teams in Europe. He modified a 5–3–2 tactic known as the Verrou (door bolt) to include larger flexibility for counterattacks. The catenaccio system was invented by an Austrian coach named Karl Rappan. Rappan's original system was implemented with four fixed defenders playing a strict man-to-man marking system, plus a playmaker in the middle of the field who would work the ball together with two midfield wings. Herrera would sometimes modify the formation by adding a fifth defender, the sweeper or libero behind the two centre backs; the sweeper would act as the free man and deal with any attackers who penetrated the two centre backs' line.
Internazionale finished third in Serie A in Herrera's first season, second the following year and first in his third season, followed by back-to-back European Cup victories in 1964 and 1965. For his team's performances, Herrera would earn the title ll Mago, (the magician). His first-squad was made up by fullbacks Tarcisio Burgnich and Giacinto Facchetti; sweeper Armando Picchi; playmaker Luis Suárez; right winger Jair; left winger Mario Corso; and Sandro Mazzola, who played the inside-right.
The 1963–64 European Cup campaign would see Internazionale defeat German club Borussia Dortmund in the semi-final and Partizan in the quarter-final. In the final, they met Real Madrid, a team that had reached seven out of the nine finals to date. Real Madrid consisted of the ageing stars of the 1950s and a few emerging players that later went on to win the European Cup in 1966. It was Sandro Mazzola, however, who stole the show by scoring two goals in a 3–1 victory. Internazionale would then go on to claim the Intercontinental Cup over Argentine club Independiente.
One year later, Inter repeated the feat by beating two-time winner Benfica in the Final held at home. Jair was the lone scorer in 1–0 win. Additionally, and for the second-straight year, Internazionale won the Intercontinental Cup over Independiente.
In 1967 Inter reached the European Cup Final for the third time. Star playmaker Luis Suárez would miss the match due to an injury and Sandro Mazzola's penalty was not enough to stop Celtic from winning the title. In 1967, the club would again change its name to Football Club Internazionale Milano.
Subsequent achievements Following the golden era of the 1960s, Inter managed to win their 11th league title in 1971 and their 12th in 1980. Inter were defeated for the second time in five years in the final of the European Cup, going down 0–2 to Johan Cruyff's Ajax in 1972. During the 1970s and 1980s, Inter also added two trophys to its Coppa Italia tally, in 1977–78 and 1981–82.
Led by the German duo of Andreas Brehme and Lothar Matthäus and the Argentine Ramón Díaz, Inter captured the 1988–89 Serie A championship. Fellow German Jürgen Klinsmann and the Italian Supercup were added the following season, though Inter failed to defend their Serie A title, finishing in third place behind champions Napoli and city rivals Milan, respectively.
Mixed fortunes
The 1990s was a period of disappointment for Inter. While their great rivals, Milan and Juventus, were achieving success both domestically and in Europe, Inter were left behind with repeated mediocre results in the domestic league standings, their worst coming in 1993–94 when they finished just one position shy of the relegation zone. Nevertheless, they achieved some European success with three UEFA Cup victories in 1991, 1994 and 1998.
With Massimo Moratti's takeover from Ernesto Pellegrini in 1995, Inter were promised more success with many high-profile signings like Ronaldo and Christian Vieri, with Inter twice breaking the world record transfer fee in this period (£19.5 million for Ronaldo from Barcelona in summer 1997 and £31 million for Vieri from Lazio in the summer of 1999). The 1990s, however, remained a decade of disappointment, it being the only decade in Inter's history in which they did not win a single Serie A title.
Moratti later became a target of the fans, especially when he sacked the fan-favourite coach Luigi Simoni after only a few games into the 1998–99 season after having just received Italian manager of the year award 1998 the day before his termination. In 1998–99, Inter reached Champions Leagues Quarter-finals but failed to qualify for any European competitions for the first time in nearly ten years, finishing in a disappointing eighth place.
In the 1999–2000 season, Moratti made several major changes, once again investing in high-profile players. A major coup for Inter was the appointment of former Juventus manager Marcello Lippi. Moreover, Inter were seen by the majority of the fans and press to have finally put together a winning formula. Other signings included Italian and French legends Angelo Peruzzi and Laurent Blanc, respectively, together with other former Juventus players Christian Vieri and Vladimir Jugović. Inter were also seen to have an advantage in this season as they had no European distractions. Despite this, they failed to win the elusive Scudetto; they managed to come close to their first domestic success since 1989 when they reached the Coppa Italia final only to be defeated by Lazio, who also claimed the Scudetto.
The following season another disaster struck. Inter impressed in the SItalian SuperCup match against Lazio and took the lead through new signings Robbie Keane and Hakan Şükür, though they ultimately lost 4–3. Despite the loss, the squad was looking impressive for the start of the season. What followed, however, was another embarrassment, as they were eliminated in the preliminary round of the Champions League by Swedish club Helsingborg. Álvaro Recoba was given the opportunity to equal the tie with a last-minute penalty, but Helsingborg goalkeeper Sven Andersson made the save. Inter then found themselves back at square one, as manager Marcello Lippi was sacked just one game into the season following Inter's first-ever Serie A defeat to Reggina. Throughout this period, Inter also suffered the mocking of neighbours Milan, who were having success both domestically and in Europe and who would levy several defeats on Inter, including a 6–0 thrashing in 2000–01. Marco Tardelli, chosen to replace Lippi, failed to improve Inter's results, and is remembered by Inter fans as the manager that lost 6–0 in the Derby della Madonnina to Milan. Other Inter personnel that suffered during the club's struggles were Christian Vieri and Fabio Cannavaro, both of whom had their restaurants in Milan vandalised after defeats to the Rossoneri.
In 2002, not only did Inter manage to make it to the UEFA Cup semi-finals, they were also just 45 minutes away from capturing the Scudetto. Maintaining just a one-goal advantage over Lazio at Rome's Stadio Olimpico in the last match of the season would see-off second- and third-placed Juventus and Roma, respectively. As a result of the game's implications, some Lazio fans were actually openly supporting Inter during the match, as an Inter victory would prevent Lazio's bitter city rivals Roma from winning the championship. Inter were 1–2 up after only 24 minutes, but Lazio equalised during first-half injury time and scored two more goals in the second half to clinch the victory. Juventus ultimately won the Scudetto after their 0–2 victory away to Udinese.
The 2002–03 Serie A campaign saw Inter finish in a respectable second and also managed to make it to the 2002–03 Champions League semi-finals against rivals Milan. Being tied 1–1 with Milan, Inter lost on the away goals rule. Although they fell short in both competitions, Inter were progressing. Moratti's impatience got the better of him, as Hernán Crespo was sold after just one season and manager Héctor Cuper was fired after just a few games in charge of the team. Alberto Zaccheroni stepped in, a lifelong Inter fan but also the man who was in charge of Lazio's 4–2 victory over Inter in 2002. Zaccheroni brought nothing new to the side, apart from two fantastic wins over Juventus 1–3 in Turin and 3–2 at the San Siro, though the season was again nothing special. They were embarrassingly eliminated from the Champions League in the first round, finishing third in their group by goal differential. Furthermore, they only managed to scrape a place in next season's Champions League after finishing fourth by only a point over Parma. Inter's only saving grace in 2003–04 was the arrival of Dejan Stanković and Adriano in January 2004, making up for the departures of Clarence Seedorf and Hernán Crespo respectively.
Resurrection and treble