Inter standard set high

Over the next few weeks uefa.com will be charting the history of all clubs through to next season's UEFA Champions League from the third qualifying round onwards. Here we look at Italian league runners-up Internazionale FC.

Great tradition
The game's top prizes might have eluded Internazionale FC in recent seasons, but there is no doubting the Milan club's tradition of success.

Trophy haul
Formed by disgruntled and cosmopolitan members of AC Milan in 1908, Inter had to wait only two years for their first league title, and since then they have built a fine collection of silverware. As well as winning 13 league crowns and three Italian Cups, Inter have been European champions twice and claimed three UEFA Cups.

Meazza magic
Although they lifted a second league title in 1920, the club's first era of dominance followed the creation of a national championship, Serie A, in 1929/30. With legendary striker Giuseppe Meazza leading the line, Inter were champions three times and cup winners once - all this despite having to change their name to Ambrosiana-Inter to suit the Fascist rhetoric of the day.

Never relegated
During those years, Inter's main rivals were Juventus FC, and even now any fixture between the clubs is known as the 'derby d'Italia'. To the eternal chagrin of Milan, Inter and Juve are also the only Italian teams never to have been relegated.

Champions again
Inter recovered their old appellation after the Second World War, and in 1953 and 54 were champions again with coach Alfredo Foni on the bench and Swedish international Lennart Skoglund in attack.

'La Grande Inter'
After Angelo Moratti became president, and Helenio Herrera arrived as coach, more glory beckoned for the Nerazzurri in the 1960s. 'La Grande Inter' won the Scudetto in 1962/63 before claiming their first European honour the next season with a 3-1 victory against Real Madrid CF in the European Champion Clubs' Cup final in Vienna.

Treble season
However, the club's greatest achievement came in 1964/65 when Sandro Mazzola, Jair and company became the only Italian side to land a treble of league, cup and European Cup. SL Benfica were beaten 1-0 in the Champions' Cup final at San Siro, and Inter then went and reclaimed the European/South American Cup they had won the previous year.

Further honours
Despite further championship triumphs - in 1966, 1971 and 1980 - and Coppa Italia victories in 1978 and 1982, European success then proved hard to come by. Indeed, it was not until the 1990s that the continent was again conquered with Inter winning three UEFA Cups - in 1991 against AS Roma, 1994 against SV Austria Salzburg, and 1998 against S.S. Lazio.

The last Scudetto
Yet for all the investment of the Moratti family in players like Ronaldo and Christian Vieri, Inter have consistently fallen short in the league since they won their 13th and last Scudetto in 1989. That was the team of Giuseppe Bergomi and Lothar Matthäus; their successors have been runners-up three times, most recently in 2002/03 when they also were also losing semi-finalists in the UEFA Champions League.