Internazionale

From TheBestLinks.com

Football Club Internazionale Milano (commonly known as Inter Milan) is an Italian football club, playing in the Serie A (first division).

The club was founded on 9 March 1908 following a split from the Milan Cricket and Football Club, now known as AC Milan. A group of Italians and Swiss were unhappy about the domination of Italians in AC Milan 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.

FC Internazionale Milano Logo

The club won its very first championship in 1910 and its second in 1920. During the turbulent war periods, Internazionale was forced to change its name to Ambrosiana-Inter in order to accommodate Benito Mussolini's hardline regime. However, Inter was still used to winning ways and captured its third league championship in the new Italian first division in 1930. Following that, a fourth league title was won in 1938, Inter's first Coppa Italia (Italian Cup) was won in 1940 and a fifth league championship followed in 1940. From 1942 onwards, the name Ambrosiana-Inter was dropped in favor of the original Internazionale Milano.

Following the post-war period, Inter won its sixth championship in 1943 and the seventh in 1954. Following these titles, Inter was to enter the best years of its history, affectionately known as the era of La Grande Inter. During this magnificent period, the club won 3 league championships in 1963, 1965 & 1966. The most famous moments during this decade also include Inter's 2 back-to-back European Cup wins. In 1963, Inter won the first of those European Cups, playing against the famous Spanish club Real Madrid. The next season, playing in their own stadium, the San Siro, Inter won their second European Cup against Portuguese outfit Benfica.

Following the golden 1960s, Inter managed to win their 11th league title in 1971 and their 12th in 1980. During the years of the 1970s & 1980s, Inter also added to their Coppa Italia tally, winning their second and third cups in 1978 and 1982 respectively. Inter won their last league championship in 1989, bringing their total tally of scudetti (Italian badges) to 13. They sit third in the all-time list of most wins of the league championship, behind Juventus (27) and AC Milan (17).

Javier Zanetti - Inter captain

FC Internazionale has also won the UEFA Cup on 3 occasions. The first was in the 1990/1991 season in a two-legged match with AS Roma. In 1993/1994, Inter did it again, this time against Austrian side Casino Salzburg. In a record third UEFA Cup victory, Inter beat SS Lazio in a one-match final played in the Parc des Princes, Paris.

The stadium which Inter plays in is called Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, San Siro. It was previously simply known as San Siro, but a new name was adoped following the renovation of the stadium for the FIFA World Cup 1990 that was held in Italy. Giuseppe Meazza was a famous player for FC Internazionale in the 1930s and also played for AC Milan for a brief period of time. As a player, he won 2 World Cups for Italy (in 1934 and 1938) and alongside, Silvio Piola, remains one of only two Italian players to have ever won the World Cup on 2 occasions. As a result, he is revered amongst the Interisti (Inter fans) and was honored by having one of the most famous football stadiums in the world named after him. The stadium seats 85,700 and plays host to both FC Internazionale and AC Milan.

FC Internazionale holds a proud record of never having been relegated to the Serie B (2nd division) in its entire existence. The fans hold this in high regard as Inter are only one of two clubs (the other being Juventus) that have been ever-present in the Serie A.

Famous players in its long and illustrious past include Giuseppe Meazza, Benito Lorenzi, Sandro Mazzola, Giacinto Facchetti, Luis Suarez, Giorgio Ghezzi, Alessandro Altobelli, Evaristo Beccalossi, Giuseppe Baresi, Giuseppe Bergomi, Walter Zenga, Lothar Matth�us, Roberto Baggio, Ronaldo, Christian Vieri, Javier Zanetti, and Emre Bel�zoğlu.

The current honorary president of Inter is Massimo Moratti. His father, Angelo Moratti was the president of Inter during the golden era of the 1960s. Massimo, trying to emulate his father's great success, has spent a great deal of money to bring some of the world's best players to the club.

Team Honours

Italian Championships 13 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

European Cup 2 1963/64 1964/65

Italian Cup 3 1938/39 1977/78 1981/82

UEFA Cup 3 1990/91 1993/94 1997/98

Intercontinental Cup 2 1964 1965

Supercoppa Italiana 1 1988/89

External link

Official Website (http://www.inter.it) (in Italian, English, Japanese, Spanish, and Thai)
Forza Inter Forums (http://www.forza-inter.com/forums/)
Only Inter Website (http://only-inter.fateback.com/default.htm)