AC Milan Youth Sector

The AC Milan Youth Sector (Settore giovanile dell'Associazione Calcio Milan) is the club’s system for developing young players, with separate boys’ and girls’ teams organized by age. Since September 2023, Vincenzo Vergine has been its head, taking over from Angelo Carbone.

The Primavera (under-19) squad is the top men’s youth team. It competes in the top-tier Campionato Primavera 1 and the Coppa Italia Primavera, and can also enter the UEFA Youth League if the first team qualifies for the Champions League or if the Primavera itself earns a spot through its domestic league. Milan’s Primavera has won the league championship once, in 1964–65 (the third edition of the competition), and the national cup twice, in 1984–85 and 2009–10. The Primavera trains at Milanello alongside the senior team and plays most home games at the Vismara Sports Centre in Milan, which also serves as the training base for all other youth teams.

The Youth Sector has produced many of the club’s greatest players, including its top three appearance-makers: Paolo Maldini, Franco Baresi, and Alessandro Costacurta. In recent years, it has also developed several players who became regulars in Serie A. The Vismara Sports Centre, a 57-acre facility in the Gratosoglio district of Milan, houses the training grounds for all age-group teams, except the Primavera, which trains at Milanello.

The youth setup includes boys’ teams from Under-8 to Under-18, and girls’ teams from Under-10 to Women’s Primavera (Under-19). Specific age groups for boys are: Under-18, Allievi Nazionali U17, Allievi Nazionali U16, Giovanissimi Nazionali U15, Giovanissimi Regionali A U14, Giovanissimi Regionali B U13, Esordienti A U12, Esordienti B U11, Pulcini U10, Pulcini U9, and Primi Calci U8. For girls: Women’s Primavera (Under-19), Allieve Nazionali U17, Giovanissime U15, Esordienti U13, Esordienti U11, and Pulcine U10. Shirt numbers for the Under-18, Under-17, and Under-16 teams are assigned match-by-match, though numbers for Primavera matches are fixed.

Notable players who came through the youth system and later played for a full national team include: Sebastián Gamarra, Ricardo Ferreira, Stefan Simić, Catilina Aubameyang, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Willy Aubameyang, Milos Kerkez, Ignazio Abate, Demetrio Albertini, Luciano Alfieri, Carlo Annovazzi, Luca Antonelli, Davide Astori, Franco Baresi, Davide Bartesaghi, Sergio Battistini, Raoul Bellanova, Marco Borriello, Marco Brescianini, Cristian Brocchi, Davide Calabria, Francesco Camarda, Andrea Caracciolo, Valerio Cassani, Francesco Coco, Fulvio Collovati, Alessandro Costacurta, Bryan Cristante, Patrick Cutrone, Matteo Darmian, Virginio De Paoli, Mattia De Sciglio, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Alberico Evani, Pasquale Foggia, Alfio Fontana, Massimo Gobbi, Manuel Locatelli, Giovanni Lodetti, Massimo Maccarone, Aldo Maldera, Daniel Maldini, Paolo Maldini, Alessandro Matri, Fabrizio Miccoli, Massimo Oddo, Gianluca Pessotto, Andrea Petagna, Tommaso Pobega, Sergio Porrini, Luigi Radice, Sandro Salvadore, Giovanni Stroppa, Omero Tognon, Francesco Toldo, Giovanni Trapattoni, Mario Trebbi, Simone Verdi, Alexander Merkel, Hachim Mastour, Ikechukwu Kalu, Nnamdi Oduamadi, Jørgen Strand Larsen, Hugo Cuenca, Michał Miśkiewicz, Tiago Djaló, Andrei Coubiș, Mohamed Sarr, Jan-Carlo Simić, and Rodney Strasser. Players currently at Milan or on loan are in bold.

The Primavera’s honours include one Campionato Primavera 1 title (1964–65), two Coppa Italia Primavera wins (1984–85, 2009–10), nine Torneo di Viareggio victories (1949, 1952, 1953, 1957, 1959, 1960, 1999, 2001, 2014), and two Blue Stars/FIFA Youth Cup titles (1958, 1977). Other youth teams have won: the Campionato Berretti seven times (1971–72, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1984–85, 1989–90, 1993–94, 2008–09); the Campionato Allievi Nazionali five times (1994–95, 1995–96, 2002–03, 2006–07, 2010–11); and the Campionato Giovanissimi Nazionali three times (1991–92, 2009–10, 2021–22).

The Primavera’s managerial history includes: Francesco Zagatti (1965–1970), Carlo Scarpato (1970–1971), Carlo Annovazzi (1977–1978), Paolo Ferrario (1978–1980), Italo Galbiati (1980–1982), Fabio Capello (1982–1986), Italo Galbiati (1986–1987), Andrea Valdinoci (1987–1991), Carlo Garavaglia (1991–1992), Luigi Radice & Maurizio Viscidi (1992–1993), Maurizio Viscidi (1993–1994), Giorgio Morini (1994–1995), Walter De Vecchi (1995–1996), Simone Boldini (1996–1997), Mauro Tassotti (1997–2002), Franco Baresi (2002–2006), Filippo Galli (2006–2008), Alberigo Evani (2008–2009), Giovanni Stroppa (2009–2011), Aldo Dolcetti (2011–2013), Filippo Inzaghi (2013–2014), Cristian Brocchi (2014–2016), Stefano Nava (2016–2017), Gennaro Gattuso (2017), Alessandro Lupi (2017–2018), Federico Giunti (2018–2022), Christian Terni (2022), Ignazio Abate (2022–2024), Federico Guidi (2024–2025), and Giovanni Renna (2025–present).