Why I’m a Milan fan!

Welcome to the refreshed AC Milan Offside! To celebrate the new look and feel of our sports communities, we’re sharing stories of how and why we became fans of our favorite teams. If you’d like to share your story, head over to the FanPosts to write your own post. Each FanPost will be entered into a drawing to win a $500 Fanatics gift card. We’re collecting all of the stories here and featuring the best ones across our network as well. Come Fan With Us!

When you’re a young boy from a small town in Italy where soccer is the only sport people know, but there is not a competitive team in that area, "choosing" your favorite club might be a bit complicated.

You know that kids tend to change their mind quickly, depending on which is the winning team at the moment so this was my approach to the big world of soccer too. In effect, Reggiana, which is the team of my provincial capital, didn’t spend much time in the Serie A during their history and I didn’t want to be the only one in my school supporting a losing team. Also, I spent a lot of time watching the TV and that’s how I fell in love with football.

Milan celebrating their 15th Scudetto in 1996.

I was just a 5 year old, but I still remember that my dad was watching the TV on a Sunday afternoon and I saw a lot of people celebrating on the field. I had never seen a match before probably so I didn’t understand what was happening at the moment and asked my dad to explain it. He told me that AC Milan just were celebrating their 15th Scudetto and that it was one of the strongest teams ever. I immediately fell in love with those guys wearing red and black shirts who were running up and down the field and raising their trophy: they looked strong and they looked happy too.

So this is how it all began: I started learning the names of the players, follow the results of the team and even watch highlights since games were not nationally televised. My love for the Rossoneri kept growing even if they spent a couple of years losing badly, especially thanks to my dad who also is a Milan fan, but then I was lucky enough to see all the trophies they raised, especially in the last decade.

I must admit that I’ve been really lucky to be in front of the TV on that Sunday afternoon in 1996 since I had the opportunity to celebrate many times during my life and maybe even more than other fans will do in theirs.

Alé alé Rossoneri alé!

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