Associazione Calcio Milan, commonly referred to as A.C. Milan or simply Milan (Italian pronunciation: [ˈmiːlan]), is a professional Italian football club based in Milan, Lombardy, that plays in Serie A. Milan was founded in 1899 by English lace-maker Herbert Kilpin and businessman Alfred Edwards among others. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 and 1982-83 seasons, in the top flight of Italian football, known as Serie A since 1929-30.

They are the most successful club in world football in terms of international trophies along with Boca Juniors, with 18 officially recognized UEFA and FIFA titles. Milan has won four world titles, more than any other club in the world, having won the Intercontinental Cup three times and the FIFA Club World Cup once. Milan also won the European Cup/Champions League on seven occasions, second only to Real Madrid. They also won the UEFA Super Cup a record five times and the Cup Winners' Cup twice. Milan won every major competition in which it has competed, with the exception of the Europa League (in this competition they have lost two semifinals in 1972 and in 2002). Domestically, with 18 league titles Milan is the joint-second most successful club in Serie A behind Juventus (28 titles), along with local rivals Inter. They have also won the Coppa Italia five times, as well as a record six Supercoppa Italiana triumphs.

Milan (Italian: Milano [miˈlaːno] ( listen); Lombard: [miˈlan]; Latin: Mediolanum) is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital of Lombardy as well as of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area is the 5th largest in EU and the largest in Italy with an estimated population of approximately 5 million. The growth of many suburbs and satellite settlements around the city proper, following the Italian economic miracle of 1950s–60s and massive commuting flows, suggest that socioeconomic linkages have expanded well beyond the boundaries of its administrative limits and its agglomeration, creating a region of approximately 9,3 million people. It has been suggested that the Milan metropolitan area is part of the so-called Blue Banana, the area of Europe with the highest population and industrial density. Its health care and education system is considered one of the best of Europe.

Silvio Berlusconi (Italian pronunciation: [ˈsilvjo berluˈskoːni] ( listen); born 29 September 1936) is an Italian politician and media tycoon who served three times as Prime Minister of Italy from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. Berlusconi is also the controlling shareholder of Mediaset and owner of A.C. Milan. He is nicknamed Il Cavaliere (The Knight) for his knighthood to the Order of Merit for Labour, which he received in 1977.

Berlusconi is the longest-serving post-war Prime Minister of Italy, and third longest-serving since Italy's unification, after Benito Mussolini and Giovanni Giolitti, holding three separate terms. Technically, he has been sworn in four times because after a cabinet reshuffle, as happened with Berlusconi in 2005, the new ministry is sworn in and subjected to a vote of confidence. He is the leader of the People of Freedom political movement, a centre-right party he founded in 2009. From November 2009 to November 2011, he was the most senior leader of the G8 countries. In 2012, Forbes magazine ranked him as the 169th richest man in the world with a net worth of US$5.9 billion.

Adel Taarabt (Arabic: عادل تعرابت‎) (born 24 May 1989) is a Moroccan footballer who plays for Queens Park Rangers (QPR) as an Attacking midfielder and can also be used as a winger.

He began his playing career in France at Lens before moving to English Premier League team Tottenham Hotspur in 2007. He was unable to break into the first team at Spurs under either Juande Ramos or Harry Redknapp and moved to QPR, initially on loan, in July 2009 and then permanently in August 2010. He quickly established himself at Loftus Road and was made captain by manager Neil Warnock at the start of the 2010–11 season. He represented France at youth levels but opted to play for his native Morocco at senior level making his debut in February 2009.

Taarabt was born in Taza, Morocco. At a young age, his family moved to a small town called Berre-l'Étang, Bouches-du-Rhône, France. He began his career at Lens in 2004, and played 14 games for RC Lens B in the Championnat de France amateur. He made one first team appearance for Lens during the 2006–07 season.