The club was founded on 9 March 1908 as Football Club Internazionale, following a "schism" from the Milan Cricket and Football Club (now A.C. Milan). The name of the club derives from the wish of its founding members to accept foreign players as well as Italians. GRANDE INTER
In 1960, manager Helenio Herrera joined Internazionale from Barcelona, bringing with him his midfield general Luis Suarez, who won the European Footballer of the Year in the same year for his role in Barcelona's La Liga/Fairs Cup double. He would transform Internazionale into one of the greatest teams in Europe. He modified a 5�3�2 tactic known as the Verrou (door bolt) to include larger flexibility for counterattacks. The Catenaccio system was invented by an Austrian coach named Karl Rappan. Rappan's original system was implemented with 4 fixed defenders, playing a strict man-to-man marking system, plus a playmaker in the middle of the field who plays the ball together with two midfield wings. Herrera would modify it by adding a fifth defenders, the sweeper or libero behind the two centre backs. The sweeper or libero who acted as the free man would deal with any attackers who went through the two centre backs. Internazionale finished 3rd in Serie A his first season, 2nd the next year and first in his 3rd season. And then followed a back-to-back European Cup victory in 1964 and 1965. Herrera earned the title IL MAGO ("the Wizard"). The code of Herrera's team was the fullbacksTarcisio Burgnich and Giacinto Facchetti, Armando Picchi the sweeper, Suarez the playmaker, Jair the winger, Mario Corso the left midfielder, and Sandro Mazzola who played the inside-right. In 1964, Internazionale reached the European Cup Final by beating Borussia Dortmund in the semifinal and FK Partizan in the quarterfinal. In the Final, they met Real Madrid, a team that had reached seven out of the nine finals to date. Mazzola scored two goals in a 3�1 victory, and then the team won the Intercontinental Cup against Independiente. A year later, Inter repeated the feat by beating two-time winner S.L. Benfica in the final held at home, from a Jair goal, and then again beat Independiente in the Intercontinental Cup. In 1967, with Jair gone and Suarez injured, Inter lost the European Cup Final 2�1 to Celtic. The same year, the club changed its name to Football Club Internazionale Milano.

AFTER HELENIO HERRERA ERA
Following the golden era of the 1960s, Inter managed to win their eleventh league title in 1971 and their twelfth in 1980. Inter were defeated for the second time in five years in the final of the European Cup, going down 0�2 to Johan Cruijff's Ajax Amsterdam in 1972. During the 1970s and the 1980s, Inter also added two to its Coppa Italia itally, in 1977�78 and 1981�82. Led by the German duo of Andreas Brehme and Lothar Matthaus, and Argentine Ramon Diaz, Inter captured the 1989 Serie A championship. Fellow German Jurgen Klinsmann and the Italian Supercup were added the following season but to little avail as Inter were unable to defend their title.