HISTORY
- 1908 At the beginning of the century, Milan derbies did not exist. At that time there was only "Milan Cricket and Football Club" (now AC Milan). But on 9 March 1908, a group of rebels form "Football Club Internazionale Milano". The name of the club derives from the wish of its founding members to accept foreign players as well as Italians, hence the name Internazionale. Indeed, the first captain of the side is a Swiss player - Hernst Manktl. The club colours are gold, black and blue, a tradition which has been kept right up to the present day.
- 1910 Inter win the Italian league for the first time. The captain of the championship-winning team is Virgilio Fossati, who several years later dies in World War I. But even without Fossati, Inter win their second title in 1920.
- 1930 During the Fascist era, the club is forced to merge with the Milanese Unione Sportiva and the team wins its third Scudetto under the name of Ambrosiana Inter.
- 1934 Nerazzurri Allemandi, Castellazzi, Demaria and the legendary Giuseppe Meazza win the World Cup with the Italian national team in Rome in 1934. Two years later, Frossi and Locatelli win the gold medal at the Berlin Olympics.
- 1938 Inter players Ferraris II, Ferrari, Locatelli and Meazza are involved in the Azzurri set-up that wins the 1938 World Cup in Paris. The same year, Inter win their fourth Scudetto, while the clubs first Coppa Italia success comes in 1939. Another league title arrives in 1940, while the name Ambrosiana is abandoned in October 1945, after which the club returns to its previous name Inter.
- 1947 Giuseppe Meazza plays the last of his 408 official matches in an Inter shirt. The Inter striker, who attains legend status with his 287 goals for the club, dies in 1979, and a year later the San Siro stadium is named in his honour.
- 1953 The Nerazzurri win their sixth Scudetto in 1953 and repeat the success a year later thanks to four great protagonists Italian Benito "Veleno" Lorenzi, Swede Skoglund Dutchman Wilkes and the stateless Nyers.
- 1963 The "Great Inter" era begins. The club president is Angelo Moratti, the coach is Helenio Herrera and the line-up is unforgettable: Sarti, Burgnich, Facchetti, Bedin, Guarneri, Picchi, Jair, Mazzola, Milani (Domenghini), Suarez, and Corso. The Great Inter side win three Serie A titles (in 1964, 1965 and 1966 the latter is the tenth Scudetto which allows the club to wear one gold star on their shirts), two European Cups (in 1964 against Real Madrid and 1965 against Benfica) and two Intercontinental Cups (in 1964 and 1965, both against Argentine outfit Independiente). In 1964, Suarez wins the European championship with the Spanish national team.
- 1968 Burgnich, Domenghini, Facchetti, Guarneri and Mazzola contribute to the Italian national team's success at the 1968 European championship in Rome. Three years later, the Nerazzurri win their eleventh Scudetto under the guidance of coach Gianni Invernizzi.
- 1982 After the twelfth Serie A title won in 1980, Altobelli, Bergomi, Bordon, Marini and Oriali win the World Cup with Italy in Madrid in 1982.
- 1989 Inter win their thirteenth Scudetto in 1989, garnering a record 58 points from 34 matches (two points awarded for a win). A year later at Italia '90, Inter's German trio of Brehme, Klinsmann and Matthaeus win the World Cup in Rome. The same year, Lothar Matthaeus becomes the first Inter player to be awarded the prestigious European Player of the Year award.
- 1991 On 22 May 1991, exactly 26 years since their last international success, Inter defeat Roma 2-1 on aggregate in the UEFA Cup final. Matthaeus and Berti score for the Nerazzurri in the first leg at the Meazza. Inter defeat Salzburg in the final three years later to win their second UEFA Cup. Matthaeus becomes the first winner of the FIFA World Player award.
- 1998 Ronaldo becomes the second Inter player to win the FIFA World Player award and the second to win the coveted Ballon d'Or. Inter lose out on the Scudetto after a long duel with rivals Juventus, but beat Lazio 3-0 in Paris to lift their third UEFA Cup. Frenchman Djorkaeff beats Brazilian Ronaldo in another prestigious match played in Paris - the 1998 World Cup final.
- 2000 On 12 April, the world is struck by Ronaldo's injury during the Coppa Italia final against Lazio. The "Phenomenon" makes a return to the pitch and scores again in the 2001/02 season. In the meantime, Nerazzurri defender Laurent Blanc is part of the French side that beats Italy in the final of Euro 2000.
- 2001 The season concludes with Inter overtaking AC Milan to finish 5th in the Serie A championship. During the summer, a "Ronaldo Day" is held to celebrate the Phenomenon's return to competitive football. In November, one of Inter's most legendary players, the unforgettable full-back Giacinto Facchetti, becomes vice president of the club. Unfortunately, in December, Inter fan par excellence and vice president of the Beneamata Avv. Giuseppe Prisco passes away two days after his eightieth birthday.
- 2002 Inter go very close to winning their fourteenth Scudetto. Leaders going into the last match of the season and with a one-point advantage over Juventus, they lose 4-2 away to Lazio at Rome's Olimpico stadium. The Scudetto goes to Juventus, while Roma beat Inter into second place. Just as in 1967, the last match of the championship is fatal to the Nerazzurri.
- 2004 Hector Cuper guides Inter to the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League and a historic two-legged 'Euroderby' with AC Milan. The Nerazzurri lose out on the away goals rule.
- 2005 Roberto Mancini's debut season as Inter coach ends with the club's first trophy in seven years - a 3-0 Coppa Italia final victory over Roma thanks to a brace from Adriano at the Olimpico and a Sinisa Mihajlovic free kick at the Giuseppe Meazza. The Nerazzurri, who finish third in the Serie A and reach the Champions League quarter-finals, lose just three matches in 2004/05. In August Inter lift the Italian Super Cup for the second time in their history with a 1-0 victory over Juventus at Turin's Delle Alpi Stadium. Juan Sebastian Veron scores the winning goal.
- 2006 In a repeat of the 2005 Coppa Italia final Inter beat Roma over two legs (1-1 at the Olimpico, 3-1 at the Giuseppe Meazza) to retain the trophy. Julio Cruz scores in both matches, with Cambiasso and Martins the other two Nerazzurri players on target. Two months later Inter are officially awarded their 14th Serie A title by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) after a sports tribunal strips Juventus of the Scudetto in the wake of the match-fixing scandal. In the 2006/07 season curtain raiser in August, Inter come back from three goals down to beat Roma 4-3 in extra time at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza and retain the Italian Super Cup.
- 2007 Marco Materazzi scores twice at Siena's Stadio Franchi on 22 April 2007 as the Nerazzurri wrap up their second consecutive league title with a 2-1 away victory over Siena. Inter secure their 15th Serie A title with five games to spare, with 26 wins, 6 draws and just 1 defeat from 33 games. Robero Mancini becomes the third coach in Inter history to win back-to-back league titles after Alfredo Foni (1952/53 and 1953/54) and Helenio Herrera (1964/65 and 1965/66).
- 2008 Zlatan Ibrahimovic comes off the bench to score twice as Inter win 2-0 at Parma on the final day of the Serie A campaign and seal a third consecutive Scudetto in the club's centenary season. Just two months after the spectacular 100th anniversary celebrations and hours after the win in Parma, Inter fans pack the Giuseppe Meazza again as the Nerazzurri are awarded their 16th league title.
- 2009 Inter win a fourth consecutive Serie A title without kicking a ball after AC Milan lose 2-1 against Udinese in a Saturday fixture. Mourinho's men celebrate the title the following day in front of the home fans with a 3-0 victory over Siena. The Nerazzurri's bid to win a fifth Italian Super Cup ends in defeat at the Bird's Nest Stadium in Beijing as Inter are beaten 2-1 by Lazio.
- 2010/2011 Inter's 2009/10 campaign is the most successful in the club's history as José Mourinho's side make a clean sweep of domestic and European honours. Diego Milito scores against Roma to win us the Coppa Italia, nets again against Siena to wrap up the Serie A title, and bags a brace against Bayern Munich in Madrid to add the Champions League and complete an unprecedented treble - no Italian team had ever won the Scudetto, Coppa Italia and European Champions Cup in the same season. In June, Spanish tactician Rafael Benitez is named the new coach of Inter. From Milan to Abu Dhabi and another triumph for the boys in black and blue - this time in the FIFA Club World Cup 2010. In 1965 we had Facchetti and Suarez, Mazzola and Corso - who scored two goals including the winner in the three-match final against Independiente. In 2010, Julio Cesar and Maicon, Cambiasso, Motta and Milito. The scorers in the final against Mazembe played at the Zayed Sports City Stadium on 18 December 2010 were Pandev, Eto'o and Biabiany; three days earlier, in the semi-final, goals by Stankovic, Zanetti and the Prince helped the Nerazzurri to beat Seongnam. Different names, same result: the Nerazzurri rose to stand on top of the world again after 45 years, from Angelo Moratti's Great Inter side to his son Massimo's team, winners of 5 trophies in 2010. Inter won the Club World Cup hands down, exploiting their opponents' weaknesses with the class of their champions shining through. A night that had long been craved for by president, players and fans alike, ending a legendary year on a high before turning the page into 2011 and a new era with Leonardo, following Rafa Benitez's departure. The Club World Cup is in the hands of captain Zanetti, a man who never tires of raising trophies to the sky and celebrating Inter's supremacy. The world is at his feet, and the winners' tears of joy represent the consecration of a dream. The rest of the season was a heroic charge. Between that night as champions of the world and another night in Rome, when the Coppa Italia was raised aloft by the captain once more on the 150th anniversary of Italian unification, Leonardo took the reins of the team, believing in Inter's Treble winners and setting a new record for consecutive home wins. May is a magical month, Rome a magical city. Palermo went there looking for a historic victory; Inter, as the big favourites, were obliged to win. So on the evening of the national cup final Italy saw its two extremes, north and south, meet halfway in the capital. With two fantastic sets of fans. 150 years of Italian unification couldn't have been represented any better. Eto'o's tidy finish following Sneijder's cross opened the scoring on 26 minutes and Inter doubled their lead in the 76th minute as the same players combined again, Wesley and Samuel sending the Nerazzurri fans wild with delight. A tense finale was set up after Palermo pulled one back through Munoz (88 minutes) but victory was sealed in added time when Milito turned in Inter's third. Leonardo won his first trophy in his first final as a coach, while the Nerazzurri added a seventh Coppa Italia to the trophy cabinet, making it fifteen trophies in seven years.
