Silvio Berlusconi greatly impacted Italian politics, culture and football, making history as Milan and Monza owner.
Berlusconi died at the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan on Monday, June 12, 2023, aged 86.
He was the President of Serie A side Monza which he had bought in 2018 when the Brianzoli were in Serie C. Under the guidance of Berlusconi and Adriano Galliani, his historic right-hand man, Monza gained Serie A promotion for the first time in history in 2021-22 and ended their first-ever campaign in Italy’s top flight with 52 points this term.
His football journey started with Milan in the ’80s and the Italian entrepreneur went on to become the most successful president in the history of the Rossoneri. He bought Milan on February 20, 1986, remaining at the helm until April 2017.
Milan won eight Serie A titles, five Champions League/European Cups, one Coppa Italia, seven Supercoppa, two Intercontinental Cups, one Clubs’ World Cup and five UEFA Supercups. Overall, Milan lifted 29 trophies during the 31 years of his presidency.
His first signing was Roberto Donadoni in the summer of 1986, but Milan’s golden era started the following season when Berlusconi hired Arrigo Sacchi, who was an almost unknown coach in charge of Parma. Sacchi and Berlusconi’s Grande Milan made history in Italian and European football, becoming one of the most iconic teams ever in the history of the game.
The signing of Dutch trio Frank Rijkaard, Ruud Gullit and Marco Van Basten massively contributed to Milan’s fortunes in the early stages of the Berlusconi era alongside Academy graduates Franco Baresi, Paolo Maldini and Alessandro Costacurta, to name a few.
Many other stars would join Berlusconi’s Milan in the following two decades from Dejan Savicevic to Jean-Pierre Papin, to Zvonimir Boban, Marcel Desailly, George Weah, Roberto Baggio, Andriy Shevchenko and Kaka and many others.
Sacchi, Fabio Capello, Oscar Tabarez, Alberto Zaccheroni, Cesare Maldini, Fatih Terim, Carlo Ancelotti, Leonardo, Massimiliano Allegri, Clarence Seedorf, Filippo Inzaghi, Sinisa Mihajlovic, Cristian Brocchi and Vincenzo Montella were Milan’s coaches during the Berlusconi era which ended in 2017 when controversial Chinese entrepreneur Li Yonghong bought the club for €740m, keeping it for one season and paving the way for Elliott Management’s acquisition.