- World News. Silvio Berlusconi's cause of death: What did the 86-year-old former Italian prime minister die of?
- World News. Silvio Berlusconi Net Worth: How rich was the former AC Milan president?
The former Italian prime minister and former owner of AC Milan and Monza, Silvio Berlusconi, has died.
He was also the founder of Fininvest and, for many decades, the most powerful man in Italy.
For two years he had been suffering from chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia which, at 86 years of age, has proved fatal.
The life and times of Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi was the longest-serving president in the history of AC Milan, holding the position for 20 years. During his tenure, the club reached its highest heights and established itself as the best team in the world.
In 31 years of owning the Rossoneri, they won 29 trophies, a story that began with the first league championship in the 1987/88 season and ended with the 2016 Italian Supercoppa.
Along the way, they won eight Scudetti (1987/88, 1991/92, 1992/93, 1993/94, 1995/96, 1998/99, 2003/04, 2010/11), one Coppa Italia (2002/03), seven Italian Supercoppa (1988, 1992, 1993, 1994, 2004, 2011, 2016), five European Cups (1988/89, 1989/90, 1993/94, 2002/03, 2006/07), five UEFA Super Cups (1989, 1990, 1994 , 2003, 2007), two Intercontinental Cups (1989, 1990) and one Club World Cup (2007).
Since 2018, he had decided to come back and 'rescue' Monza from obscurity in football. He did it accompanied by his historic right-hand man, Adriano Galliani, a native of Monza.
After spending three million euros to buy the Lombard club when it was in Serie C, he has settled it in Serie A by investing almost 200m euros since his arrival. This season, the first in its history in the top division of Italian football, they have even come close to the European places.
Berlusconi and his arrival at AC Milan
Silvio Berlusconi bought AC Milan in 1986. His story is that as a child he used to go to the stadium accompanied by his father Luigi, although some sources claim that before taking over the Rossoneri he wanted to buy Inter.
He modernised AC Milan, a club that had fallen away after winning their first two European Cups.
Milanello (the Rossoneri'Sports Centre) became a world reference point and nutritionists and psychologists arrived on AC Milan's coaching staff, something unheard of at the time.
Berlusconi knew how to take advantage of football to increase his reputation. He won as much as he could win, triumphed as much as he could triumph and became as famous as he could be. He took advantage of this fame to enter politics.
The day Berlusconi met Sacchi
AC Milan's history changed the day Berlusconi met Arrigo Sacchi. It was in the 1986/87 Coppa Italia, in an innocent Parma vs AC Milan match.
"He spoke to the president, Ernesto Ceresini, and asked him about me and told me 'I'm going to follow you for the whole championship'," Sacchi recalled.
After Sacchi became coach of AC Milan, the team changed football.
They were physically devastating, forcing the game to change, and they won two consecutive European Cups, destroying the Real Madrid of the Quinta del Buitre along the way.
It was brief, yes, but intense. One of those teams that will remain, forever, on the list of the best teams in history.
"Silvio Berlusconi was a generous man, he tried to change this difficult country, made up of individualists," Sacchi told ANSA after hearing the news of Berlusconi's death.
"Was he too? No, he thought of the whole and saw far.
"When he signed me I told him 'Either you're crazy or you're a genius'.
"Seeing the results, you give me the answer."
Berlusconi's return to Calcio
Officially bankrupt for the last time in 2015 but heading for another bankruptcy, Berlusconi and Galliani came to Monza's rescue in 2018. Fininvest, the conglomerate that runs the Milanese, put 3m euros on the table to acquire the club.
Monza is a town known for its Formula 1 circuit, not for its football team. And even more so given that this team was in Serie C at the time, the third tier of Italian football.
But it was Berlusconi's way of getting back into the media limelight. Not surprisingly, shortly afterwards he also returned to politics.
"I want to win the Scudetto", he even said.
The fact is that Berlusconi loosened his wallet and Monza spent more than any of the other 59 teams in Serie C. They dominated and were promoted to Serie B and, several years later, they would do the same thing but on their way to Serie A. It was their debut in the top flight of Calcio.
Now, with Berlusconi's money but under the command of Galliani and with Raffaelle Palladino on the bench, they are dreaming again.
They have had a record season for a newly promoted club and have come close to eighth place. The future looks bright for the Lombardy side.
Away from football and politics, Berlusconi's life and career was marred by sex scandals, as well as allegations of corruption and a tax fraud conviction.
He is Italy's longest-serving prime minister in the post-Second World War period and was the founder of the right-wing Forza Italia party which forms part of the coalition for the current government, led by Giorgia Meloni.