Inter Milan

Football Club Internazionale Milano, often called Inter Milan or simply Inter, is a famous Italian football club based in Milan, Lombardy. It was created on 9 March 1908 after a split from the Milan Foot-Ball and Cricket Club, which is now AC Milan. Since it began, Inter has always played in the top division of Italian football, Serie A, and has never been moved down to Serie B.

Inter shares a huge stadium called the San Siro with its rival, AC Milan. The matches between these two teams are called the Derby della Madonnina and are very exciting and popular all over the world.

Over the years, Inter has won many important trophies, including 21 league titles, ten Coppa Italia cups, and eight Supercoppa Italiana trophies. The club has also won the European Cup/Champions League three times. In 2010, Inter achieved a special feat by winning the league title, the Coppa Italia, and the Champions League all in one season. Today, Inter is owned by the American asset management company Oaktree Capital Management and continues to be one of the most successful and supported clubs in football.

History

Foundation and early years (1908–1960)

The club was founded on 9 March 1908 as Football Club Internazionale, when a group of players left the Milan Cricket and Football Club (now AC Milan) to form a new club because they wanted to accept more foreign players. The name of the club derives from the wish of its founding members to accept foreign players as well as Italians. The club won its first championship in 1910 and its second in 1920.

Inter won its third championship titles in 1930 with the Hungarian coach Arpad Weisz in the first ever edition of Serie A, and the fourth in 1938 with former player Armando Castellazzi as a 33 years old coach. Inter also got their first Coppa Italia (Italian Cup) in 1938–39. Inter's main star and the captain of the team in this period was Giuseppe Meazza, one of the greatest Italian players of all time with two World Cups won with the National team.

Grande Inter (1960–1967)

In 1960, manager Helenio Herrera joined Inter from Barcelona and in his first season as a coach in Milan, Inter finished third in the Serie A. Herrera transformed Inter into one of the leading teams in Europe that would win three Serie A titles in four years, two European Cups and two Intercontinental Cups in a row.

Inter reached the European Cup Final in 1964 by beating Borussia Dortmund in the semi-final and Partizan in the quarter-final. In the final in Vienna, they met Real Madrid, and won 3–1, becoming also the first ever team to win the tournament without losing a single game.

Subsequent achievements (1967–1991)

Following the golden era of the 1960s, Inter managed to win their eleventh league title in 1970–71 under the coach Giovanni Invernizzi. Inter reached for the second time in five years the European Cup final in 1972 after having defeated Borussia Mönchengladbach, Standard Liège and Celtic in the semi-final. The final held in Rotterdam saw the victory for 2–0 of Johan Cruyff's Ajax that won the trophy for the second consecutive season.

Inter won their twelfth scudetto in 1979–80, the last one won in the history of Serie A by a team composed entirely of Italian players, and also added two to its Coppa Italia tally, in 1977–78 and in 1981–82, both under coach Eugenio Bersellini.

Mixed fortunes (1991–2004)

The 1990s were disappointing years in terms of victories, while their great rivals, Milan and Juventus, achieved successes mainly at a domestic level in Serie A, and also winning the renamed UEFA Champions League once each. Inter enjoyed little success in the domestic league standings, their worst coming in 1993–94 when they finished in thirteenth position, just one point above the relegation zone. Nevertheless, they achieved prestigious European success, with three UEFA Cup victories out of four finals, in 1991, 1994 and 1998.

Comeback and unprecedented treble (2004–2011)

On 8 July 2004, Inter appointed former Lazio manager Roberto Mancini as its new head coach. In his first season, the team collected 72 points from 18 wins, 18 draws and only two losses, as well as winning the Coppa Italia against Roma, and later the Supercoppa Italiana in Turin against Juventus.

Inter were awarded the 2005–06 Serie A championship retrospectively, after title-winning Juventus was relegated for match fixing. During the following season, Inter with new players like Maicon, Maxwell, Patrick Vieira, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and the return of Crespo from Chelsea, went on a record-breaking run of 17 consecutive victories in Serie A.

Inter won the 2009–10 Champions League, defeating in round of 16 one of the favourites, Ancelotti's Chelsea, winning both legs, the latter with the first win in Stamford Bridge with a goal from Samuel Eto'o. Then, they beat CSKA Moscow and reigning champions, the Barcelona of Pep Guardiola in the semi-final, with the second leg at the Camp Nou played with ten men for most of the match; they then beat Bayern Munich 2–0 in the final in Madrid, with two goals from Diego Milito. Inter also won the 2009–10 Serie A title by two points over Roma, the fifth title in a row, and the 2010 Coppa Italia by defeating the same side 1–0 in the final. This made Inter the first and only Italian team to win the treble.

Changes in ownership (2011–2019)

To fulfill UEFA Financial Fair Play Regulations and to make the club more economically sustainable, Inter spent less on transfer fees and salaries in the early 2010s. From 2011, the payroll was decreased by a third in two years, veterans on higher salaries were replaced with younger players.

On 1 August 2012, the club announced that Moratti was to sell a minority stake of the club to a Chinese consortium led by Kenneth Huang. On 15 October 2013, an Indonesian consortium (International Sports Capital HK) led by Erick Thohir, Handy Soetedjo and Rosan Roeslani, signed an agreement to acquire 70% of Inter shares from Internazionale Holding S.r.l.

On 6 June 2016, Suning Holdings Group acquired a majority stake of Inter from Thohir's consortium International Sports Capital S.p.A., and later acquired Moratti's remaining shares in Internazionale Holding S.r.l.

Renewed successes (2019–present)

On 31 May 2019, Inter appointed former Juventus and Italian manager Antonio Conte as their new coach, signing a three-year deal. That same year, Inter acquired Romelu Lukaku from Manchester United for €74 million, becoming the most expensive player in club history.

In the 2019–20 season, Inter finished as runner-up in Serie A, in a championship suspended on March and concluded in the summer due to COVID-19 related limitations. Inter improved the team with signings of new players, among others, in January 2020 Christian Eriksen from Tottenham Hotspur for €27.5 million and in July 2020 Achraf Hakimi from Real Madrid for €43 million.

Inter started the subsequent season with five consecutive wins, including a 5 to 1 victory over Milan, the largest in the Milan derby since 2009. In January 2024, Inter won its third consecutive and eighth overall Supercoppa Italiana, tying the record set by Milan in the 1990s for consecutive wins by defeating Lazio 3–0 in the semi-finals and Napoli 1–0 in the final, with a late goal by Martínez. On 22 April 2024, Inter secured their 20th Serie A title and the second Star by defeating Milan 2–1 at the San Siro, recording a record sixth consecutive Derby della Madonnina win. The team finished a dominant season with 94 points, 19 over second-place Milan, scoring a league-high 89 goals, and the strongest defence, with 22 goals conceded: this +67 differential was the best in Serie A since the 1950–1951 season.

Colours and badge

One of the founders of Inter Milan, a painter named Giorgio Muggiani, created the club's first logo in 1908. The logo featured the letters "FCIM" in the middle of circles. Over the years, the main parts of the logo have stayed the same, but small details have changed. Since the 1999–2000 season, the logo has shown the club's name and the year it was founded.

Inter Milan has always worn black and blue striped shirts, which earn them the nickname Nerazzurri. These colours were chosen to represent the night sky, as the club was founded at night on March 9, 1908. Blue was picked by Giorgio Muggiani because it is the opposite colour of red, which their rivals, Milan Cricket and Football Club, wear.

For a short time during the 1928–29 season, Inter had to change their colours because of rules set by the government. They wore the colours of Milan's flag, a red cross on white. But they returned to black and blue after World War II. In 2008, for their 100th birthday, they added a red cross to their away shirts, a symbol of their city.

The grass snake, called Biscione, is a symbol for Inter and the city of Milan. It appears on the city's coat of arms and has been used on Inter's away shirts, like in the 2010–11 season.

Stadium

Main article: San Siro

See also: Arena Civica

Inter Milan's home is the San Siro stadium, which can hold 75,923 fans. It is also called Stadio Giuseppe Meazza after a famous player, but most people just call it San Siro, after the area where it is located. San Siro has been used by both Inter and AC Milan since 1947.

The stadium was first used in 1926 and has been updated many times, including for big tournaments like the 2016 UEFA Champions League Final and the UEFA Nations League final. It was built for football and is known for having a great atmosphere because the fans sit close to the field.

New Milano Stadium

Since 2012, there have been ideas for a new stadium for Inter. In 2019, Inter and AC Milan agreed to build a new shared stadium near San Siro. In 2021, the mayor of Milan allowed this plan, and the old San Siro might be partly torn down after the 2026 Olympic Games. In 2022, they also considered building the new stadium in a different part of the Greater Milan area.

Supporters and rivalries

Main articles: Derby della Madonnina and Derby d'Italia

Inter has many fans in Italy, coming second only to Juventus. In the early days, Inter fans in Milan were usually from the middle class, while Milan fans were often from the working class. Over time, fans of both teams have developed strong feelings toward each other.

Inter's most dedicated fans sit in the Curva Nord, the north curve of the San Siro stadium. They show their support with big banners and flags. In 2024, they even worked with a music duo on some songs!

Inter has some big rivalries. The most famous is the Derby della Madonnina with Milan, a match that has been happening since Inter started in 1908. Another big rivalry is with Juventus, known as the Derby d'Italia. There are also rivalries with teams like Roma, Atalanta, and Napoli. Fans of Inter are called Interisti or Nerazzurri.

Honours

Inter Milan has won many important prizes over the years. They have won the top Italian league, Serie A, twenty-one times. They have also won the Coppa Italia ten times and the Supercoppa Italiana eight times.

From 2006 to 2010, Inter won five league titles in a row. They have also won the big European prize, the UEFA Champions League, three times. Inter has never been dropped out of the top Italian league since it began in 1909. They are the only Italian team to have won a prize in every ten-year period since they started in 1908.

Club statistics and records

Main article: List of Inter Milan records and statistics

Javier Zanetti has played the most games for Inter, with 858 appearances. Giuseppe Meazza is the club's top scorer, with 284 goals in 408 games. Helenio Herrera was Inter's longest-serving and most successful coach, leading the team for nine years and winning many titles. José Mourinho, who joined in 2008, achieved a special feat by winning the Serie A, Coppa Italia, and UEFA Champions League all in one year in 2010.

Players

First-team squad

As of 19 March 2026

Note: Flags show which country's team a player can join, as set by FIFA eligibility rules. Some players can belong to more than one country outside of FIFA rules.

Inter Milan U23 and Youth Sector

As of 4 February 2026

Note: Flags show which country's team a player can join, as set by FIFA eligibility rules. Some players can belong to more than one country outside of FIFA rules.

Out on loan

As of 2 February 2026

Note: Flags show which country's team a player can join, as set by FIFA eligibility rules. Some players can belong to more than one country outside of FIFA rules.

Women team

Notable players

For a list of every Inter player with 100 or more appearances, see List of Inter Milan players.

For a list of every Inter player who has been called up by Italy, see Inter Milan and the Italian national football team.

Retired numbers

Main article: Retired numbers in football

Giacinto Facchetti's #3 and Javier Zanetti's #4 are the two numbers retired by Inter

3 – Giacinto Facchetti, left back, played for his entire career at Inter from 1960 to 1978. The number was retired on 8 September 2006.

4 – Javier Zanetti, wing-back/full-back, played 858 games for Inter between 1995 and his retirement in the summer of 2014. In June 2014, club chairman Erick Thohir confirmed that Zanetti's number 4 was to be retired out of respect.

Technical staff

As of 14 June 2025^[update]

Chairmen and managers

Chairmen history

Main article: List of Inter Milan chairmen

Here is a list of leaders of Inter Milan from 1908 until today.

Managerial history

Main article: List of Inter Milan managers

Here is a list of coaches of Inter Milan from 1909 until today.

Corporate

Inter Milan has changed owners many times over the years. In 1995, Massimo Moratti took charge and spent a lot of money to bring in great players like Ronaldo. Later, in 2016, a Chinese company bought most of the club.

In 2024, a US investment firm took over after the previous owners could not pay their debts.

Kit suppliers and shirt sponsors