Bournemouth reveal AC Milan inspiration for red-and-black shirts ahead of Europa League meeting
Bournemouth will host AC Milan at the Vitality Stadium later tonight in their UEFA Europa League 2026-27 league phase clash, and the club has revealed that its striped kit was inspired by AC Milan when the design was introduced in 1970.
The Cherries took to social media to explain the origin of the similarity, with club historian Neil Vacher saying that new manager John Bond and chairman Harold Walker believed the colours of 1969 European winners AC Milan would help develop a new attitude. Vacher wrote that Bond admired AC Milan’s glamour and European supremacy in the late 1960s and hoped the lower-league side could emulate that spirit. Club officials introduced a new shirt in 1970 as part of an effort to put some magic back into a demoted team.
The club adopted red and black stripes in 1970 after Bond and Walker drew inspiration from AC Milan. The social post also notes that, with time, red and white became an intrinsic part of the club’s culture and have been the home kit colours for several years. Bournemouth’s striped look returned after periods when all-red kits were used in the mid-1970s and 1980s and reappeared in the 1990s.
Bournemouth modified its name in 1972 from Bournemouth and Boscombe Athletic to AFC Bournemouth to make it sound more continental and to get to the top of alphabetical league tables. The new look coincided with an on-field upturn: Ted MacDougall netted 42 league goals as the Cherries climbed to the Third Division in 1970-71. Away kits have at times been influenced by Inter, most notably in 1990-91 and 2011-12.
The club’s social media entry presented the history as a lengthy post and thread explaining how the two clubs came to share similar colours. The piece stressed that few clubs have shared the kit-colour connection that exists between Bournemouth and AC Milan. The explanation was released ahead of the teams’ meeting at the Vitality Stadium.
The connection has now come full circle, with the Cherries qualifying for the UEFA Europa League. They will host the seven-time European champions at their home ground.
