Franco Baresi Is Not Dead: Milan’s Firm Clarification

Franco Baresi is not dead. News of the sudden death of the legendary captain of AC Milan and the Italian national team had spread like a bolt from the blue on Wednesday evening. The Rossoneri club set the record straight with a strongly worded statement posted on social media. The statement does, however, confirm that the Travagliato native is indeed going through a difficult time. His death, in any case, is fake news.

“AC Milan denies the false reports circulating at this time regarding Franco Baresi. Franco is going through a difficult time, and the Club stands by him with affection, as well as by his family. We ask everyone to respect his privacy and not to contribute to the spread of information that is completely unfounded,” reads the post on the club’s official account on X, formerly Twitter.

This is not the first time Baresi has faced a health challenge. In August 2025, Milan officially announced that its honorary vice president had undergone surgery to remove a lung nodule, discovered during routine examinations. The procedure, performed using a minimally invasive technique, went well, and his post-operative recovery was complication-free. Subsequently, Baresi was evaluated by an oncologist, who recommended consolidation therapy based on immunotherapy. “Dear fans, I want to let you know that it will take me a little while to get back into shape. Thank you to Milan and to all of you for your support. With love, a hug,” Baresi himself had said at the time.

Exactly three months after that surgery, in November 2025, an encouraging sign emerged: Baresi had reappeared on social media with a brief but meaningful message. “Long live life,” the legendary Rossoneri No. 6 had written, accompanying his words with several photos, including a recent one next to a Milan flag and others from the 1980s and 1990s wearing the Rossoneri jersey. The post immediately garnered thousands of likes and messages of support, with heartfelt reactions from Paolo Maldini and other former teammates such as Daniele Massaro and Filippo Galli.

Despite the difficulties, Baresi continued to be a living symbol of Italian soccer in the months that followed. During the Opening Ceremony of the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics last February, “Kaiser Franz” symbolically took the field at San Siro alongside Giuseppe Bergomi: the two icons of Italian soccer received the Olympic flame to the strains of “Nessun Dorma” sung by Andrea Bocelli, before handing it over to Anna Danesi, Paola Egonu, and Carlotta Cambi, the stars of Italy’s winning women’s volleyball team. It was a powerful image that demonstrated how Baresi remained an indispensable figure in Italian sports.