Stadium

Curva Sud of the San Siro prior to match

For more details on this topic, see San Siro.

The team's current stadium is the 85,700 seat San Siro, officially known as Stadio Giuseppe Meazza after the former player who represented both Milan and Internazionale. The name San Siro is taken from the district where it's located. The stadium is shared with Inter, the other major football club in Milan. The stadium is well known for its fantastic atmosphere due to the closeness of the stands to the pitch. There is the frequent use of flares by the fans which often sometimes cause trouble.

On 19 December 2005, AC Milan vice-president and executive director Adriano Galliani announced that the team is seriously working to move out from San Siro. He said that Milan's new stadium will be largely based on the Veltins-Arena and following the standards of football stadia in the United States, Germany and Spain. It will likely be a stadium for football purposes only (with no athletics track). The new stadium is supposed to be named after a sponsor. ^[3] It remains to see if this plan will proceed or if this is just a ploy to force the owners (Comune di Milano) to sell the stadium to Milan for a nominal fee so as to proceed with extensive renovations. Rumours have also surfaced of Inter's intention to also build a new stadium which may also affect this decision.^[4]

Milanello

Milan’s training ground, Milanello, is located just outside the city of Milan, in the village of Varese (approx. 50 kilometres). It was built over two years from 1961 to 1963, and has been serving as a top-modern training lab ever since.

Silvio Berlusconi took over AC Milan in 1986, and that saw him reorganise and renew Milanello to meet the standards of professional football in the 80's. However, Milanello never stopped evolving, and to this day it is considered amongst the most hi-tech and efficient training grounds throughout the soccer world. Speculations are, that the wonders of the Milan Lab, make it possible for Milan's players to go on and on for ages, with the likes of ageing players like Maldini, Cafu and until recently Alessandro Costacurta still going strong within the squad.

The facility holds 46 rooms with space for 56 beds; President Silvio Berlusconi even has his own quarters. 14 permanent staff members are employed.

Milan Derby

For more details on this topic, see Derby della Madonnina.

A Milan ultras' banner saying "Inter, the true comedy since 1908", accompanied by a caricature of Dante

Twice every season the Milan Derby or the Derby della Madonnina as it is known in Italian is played between Milan and Inter. These are seen as two of the most important derbies in football and are always highly anticipated events in the Italian sports calendar. Occasionally there have also been derbies in the Champions League, Coppa Italia, Super Coppa Italiana and the Birra Moretti Trophy. Currently, Milan lead Inter with 104 wins to 89 in total respectively. However Inter has a better record in Serie A with 59 wins to Milan's 56. The match usually creates a lively atmosphere within the San Siro with numerous (and often humorous) banners unfolded before the match which are specifically made each year for the match. The use of flares by the clubs ultras is also a frequent sight. However as much as this derby is usually played in a friendly atmosphere, the derby has also had its share of controversy, most notably the Champions League quarter final of 2004/2005 which was abandoned after Milan keeper Dida was struck by a flare thrown from the Inter supporters section. ^[5]