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The club was founded in 1899 as the Milan Cricket and Football Club by Alfred Edwards , a British expatriate. In honour of its origins, the club has retained the English spelling of its city's name, instead of changing it to the Italian Milano.
The team's current stadium is the 85,700 seater Giuseppe Meazza, also known as the San Siro. The stadium is shared with Internazionale (also known as "Inter"), the other major football club in Milan. AC Milan supporters use "San Siro" to refer to the stadium because Meazza was a star player for Inter.
Historically, AC Milan (usually referred to as "Mělan" in Italy) was supported by the city's working classes and trade unionists, while Inter was mainly supported by the more prosperous. However, in recent years, the clubs have seen a significant reversal in supporter bases. Milan is now owned by conservative media magnate and current Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, while Inter is now owned by a centre-left businessman.
Famous players have included: Renzo De Vecchi , Cesare Maldini , Karl Heinz Schnellinger , Kurt Hamrin , Sandro Salvadore , Juan Alberto Schiaffino , Jose Altafini , Gunnar Gren, Ruud Gullit, Marco van BastenMarco van Basten (born October 31, 1964) is a Dutch football player (now retired). He played for Ajax Amsterdam and A. Milan in the 1980s. He is regarded as one of the finest strikers of his time. Van Basten was born in Utrecht, the Netherlands. He played, Frank RijkaardFrank Rijkaard (born September 30, 1962 in Amsterdam) is a former Dutch football player. He was named by Pele as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004. He has been the manager of FC Barcelona since 2003. In one of his less glorious, Gunnar NordahlGunnar Nordahl ( October 19, 1921 September 15, 1995) was a Swedish football player, who played most famously for AC Milan. He started out at Degerfors in Sweden before moving to IFK Norrkoping. He won four Swedish championships with Norrkoping and once s, Nils Liedholm , Gianni RiveraGianni Rivera was an Italian football player. He was named by Pele as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004. Rivera, Gianni Rivera, Gianni., Luther BlissettLuther Blissett was a footballer who played for Watford F. Milan and England during the 1980s. He was one of the first black footballers to play for England, and scored a hat-trick on his international debut. Blissett made more than 500 appearances for Wa, Franco BaresiFranco Baresi (born May 8, 1960) was the outstanding central defender of the Italian national football team in four World Cups ( 1982, 1986 1990 and 1994). In World Cup 1994 he missed a penalty in the final. Despite his modest physical appearance, he beca, Giovanni TrapattoniGiovanni Trapattoni (born March 17, 1939) is an Italian football coach. He was born in Cusano Milanino. He had a successful career as a player with AC Milan in the 1960s and early 1970s. He began coaching at the same club, moving on to Juventus Turin in 1, Angelo Sormani , Roberto DonadoniRoberto Donadoni (born September 9, 1963 in Cisano Bergamasco) is an Italian football player. He was a cornerstone of the powerhouse AC Milan teams of the late 1980s and early 1990s and one of the pioneers of Major League Soccer, where he played two seaso, George Weah, Demetrio Albertini , Paolo Di Canio , Marco Simone , Zvonimir Boban, Gianluigi Lentini , Carlo Ancelotti, Paolo Maldini, Alessandro Costacurta, Cafu, Andriy Shevchenko, Hernán Crespo, Filippo Inzaghi, Jean Pierre Papin , Dejan Savicevic , Ray Wilkins , Jimmy Greaves, Jaap Stam, Alessandro Nesta.