Italian Football Curiosities

Italian Team Names

One question that always comes up in Italy is why AC Milan are named, even in Italy, using the Englsih version of the City's name (Milan) rather than the Italian version (Milano). It dates back to the original creation of the club by a group of Englishmen back in 1899, when they formed the Milan Cricket and Football Club. The club used this name until Mussolini intervened in 1939 and forced all football teams to drop any foreign words and use only Italian. So the club then became known as Associazione Calcio Milano (Milan Football Club). However, after the war finished, and with the fascists booted out, the owners decided to give a nod back to it's English roots and renamed the club Associazione Calcio Milan (AC Milan). When talking about the club it's worth noting that you don't need to say AC, plain old Milan will do, saying AC Milan all the time would be like constantly saying "Liverpool FC". Likewise, Italians may refer to Inter or Internazionale but they wouldn't say Inter Milan, which is widely used in England, as this would be like referring to Chelsea as Chelsea London. There official title is FC Internazionale Milano.