This page traces every crest AC Milan has worn, from the 1899 cricket club badge to the shield on the shirt today, with each era’s colors as one-click hex values.
Milan was founded by Englishmen, and Herbert Kilpin picked red so his players would look like devils, black so opponents would fear them.
The shield everyone knows took shape in 1998, after a 1980s spell when the crest was a devil silhouette.
Today it runs on red and black: #FB090B #000000. For RGB, CMYK and Pantone, see the current AC Milan color codes.
A.C. Milan logo history timeline
A.C. Milan logo 1899-1916
Earliest badge of the 'Milan Foot-Ball and Cricket Club': a shield/roundel divided vertically, with a red cross (Milan's civic cross, from the Comune di Milano's flag) on one half and red-and-black vertical stripes on the other half. Sources disagree on exact shape (square vs. circle) but agree on the cross-plus-stripes composition.
A.C. Milan logo 1916-1937
Badge shifted to a circular/oval medallion with an ornate decorative frame, later adding 'MFC' lettering at top and the founding year '1899' at the bottom of the oval.
A.C. Milan logo 1937-1961
A minimalist redesign with a clean thick red outline, later (1946) adding a laurel wreath around a white oval. In 1939 Fascist-era authorities forced the Italianization of the club's name to 'Associazione Calcio Milano', a naming change rather than a documented crest redesign.
Why it changed: 1939 renaming was imposed by Fascist-era authorities requiring Italianization of foreign-sounding club names.
A.C. Milan logo 1961-1980
Introduction of the Red Devil ('diavolo') mascot into badge variants: first seated on a white oval over the red/black striped flag (1961-1964), then through several shield-shaped variants (1964-1969) with 'Milan' lettering, before a refined devil design (1969-1972) persisted into the late 1970s; the devil is chiefly club culture/mascot imagery rather than a single fixed official crest.
A.C. Milan logo 1979
A gold star was added above the club badge after AC Milan won its 10th Scudetto in 1979, per the Italian football convention of one star per 10 league titles.
Why it changed: Awarded for reaching a 10th league title.
A.C. Milan logo 1980-1986/87
A stylized smiling red devil rendered like a flame, paired with the gold star, used as the club's primary logo in this period.
A.C. Milan logo 1986/87-1998
Under Silvio Berlusconi's ownership (from 1986), the club returned to the traditional cross-and-stripes design, with 'ACM' replacing 'Milan' lettering from 1994-95 and color-scheme adjustments (yellow-to-black outline, a brief orange-and-black variant in 1995-97) before a definitive badge appeared on match jerseys in 1995-96.
Why it changed: A 'return to roots' redesign under new ownership, moving away from the devil-flame emblem back to the cross/stripes badge.
A.C. Milan logo 1998-2021
Modern redesigned badge: an oval combining the club's red-and-black stripes on one side with the Comune di Milano's red-cross-on-white flag on the other, 'ACM' lettering at top and the founding year '1899' at the bottom, framed in a red oval with black outline.
Why it changed: A cleaner, standardized modern redesign; exact stated trigger not documented beyond general club modernization.
A.C. Milan logo 2021-present
Minor refinement of the 1998 badge: bolder black borders on the inner imagery and a thinner outer oval border; overall composition (cross, stripes, ACM, 1899) unchanged.
Why it changed: Visual refinement/modernization; no ownership-change trigger (e.g. RedBird Capital's 2022 takeover) was documented in sources opened.
A.C. Milan logo colors by era
| Era | Colors |
|---|---|
| 1899-1916 | Red #DA342F*Black #000000White #FFFFFF |
| 1916-1937 | Red #533D2B*Black #000000 |
| 1937-1961 | Red #FB090BWhite #FFFFFF |
| 1961-1980 | Red #B82625Black #000000White #FFFFFF |
| 1979 | Gold #D6A594* |
| 1980-1986/87 | Red #E42423Gold #FBDA14 |
| 1986/87-1998 | Red #E40A1EBlack #000000Orange #E40A1E* |
| 1998-2021 | Red #FB090BBlack #000000White #FFFFFF |
| 2021-present | Red #FB090BBlack #000000 |
Things worth knowing
- The red cross on AC Milan's crest is Milan's civic cross (the arms of the Comune di Milano, linked to the medieval Carroccio and Sant'Ambrogio), not the Visconti 'biscione' serpent, which is a separate, non-official symbol of Milan more broadly.
- The devil ('diavolo') has appeared in various club badge/logo variants across the 1960s-1980s but is chiefly club culture/mascot imagery; the current 1998-derived crest does not include a devil.
- The star above the badge was added in 1979 after AC Milan's 10th Scudetto, following the standard Italian football convention of one star per 10 league titles.
- Founder Herbert Kilpin chose the red-and-black ('rossoneri') colors to symbolize 'the players' fiery ardour (red) and the opponents' fear to challenge the team (black)'; a separate account on acmilan.com frames the original cross's red/white as symbolizing unity between nobility (red) and the common people (white).
Values marked * were measured from the logo artwork of that period. Brand color standards did not exist for most of these eras, so no official hex value was ever published for them. Treat them as an accurate reading of the artwork rather than as an official brand value. Unmarked values are the club’s own published colors.
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A.C._Milan
- https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Associazione_Calcio_Milan
- https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colori_e_simboli_dell%27Associazione_Calcio_Milan
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:AC_Milan_logos
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stemma_del_Milan_1899.svg
- https://1000logos.net/a-c-milan-logo/
- https://www.acmilan.com/en/club/ac-milan-logo
