Franco Baresi dies aged 66, AC Milan icon and symbol of a golden era

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·1 August 2026

Franco Baresi dies aged 66, AC Milan icon and symbol of a golden era

Franco Baresi has died aged 66, AC Milan announced on Friday.

Widely hailed as one of the game’s most distinguished servants, the Italian centre-back, famed for his class and reading of the play, will forever be linked with AC Milan.

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He carried the Olympic flame at the Milan-Cortina opening ceremony on six February 2026, a moment that had offered reassurance over his condition.

Baresi had undergone surgery for a lung nodule in August 2025. In the months after, he was seen increasingly often in the stands at San Siro for the club’s matches.

After that February high point and a brief spell of calm, the illness returned.

Source: L'Équipe