Sampdoria's fall from grace

The city of Genoa is one of the gems of the Italian football landscape: a seaside city hosting two of the biggest clubs in the country and, of course, a massive derby between the two sides, the Derby della Lanterna, named after the famous lighthouse that shines over the city's port.

Bragging rights over the Ligurian capital are contested by Genoa Cricket and Football Club, Italy's oldest club, founded in 1893 and winner of nine Scudetti in the early days, and Unione Calcio Sampdoria, the younger sibling, founded only in 1946 through the merge of Sampierdarenese and Andrea Doria, whose names were mixed to produce the blucerchiati's actual denomination.

Samp players are known as blucerchiati because of the stripes that cross the kit from side to side

Despite being much younger than Genoa and most other Italian clubs, Sampdoria have earned their spot as one of the most important institutions in the country, having gained a massive following that has never waved off even in the toughest days. In its 79 years of history, Sampdoria competed in Serie A 66 times and in Serie B the remaining 13 seasons, meaning that they are one of the few clubs to have never stepped foot in the third tier alongside Turin rivals Juventus and Torino, Milan clubs A.C. Milan and Inter Milan and Rome clubs A.S. Roma and Lazio.

To be pedantic, they still will be part of this group until the end of the summer break: when the new season begins, the Doria will have to face uncharted territory as they have recently failed to avoid relegation to Serie C for the first time ever.

For a club of this size, this is without doubt a catastrophic state to be in, but it's not unheard in Italian football to have big clubs compete in the third tier: clubs like Napoli, Parma, Fiorentina and even city rivals Genoa have had their share of misfortunes leading to Serie C, but in most cases that was the result of the clubs folding and going bankrupt, unlike Sampdoria. The genoese club has "earned" its place by relegating because of their abysmal sporting performance, not because of a bankruptcy due to poor management.

To be completely fair, Samp's recent shaky history was definitely caused by mismanagement as well: former owner Massimo Ferrero left the club in a terrible state in May 2023, when the blucerchiati had just been relegated to Serie B for the first time since 2011-12 and the club's future was in jeopardy as folding altogether was not out of the picture, but in the following season Andrea Pirlo coached the team to 7th place and a playoff appearance that looked promising for a possible move up the pyramid in the near future.

However, this season has been disgraceful to say the least: the club changed four (4!!) managers, from Pirlo, to Sottil, to Semplici, to club legend Alberico Evani at the end of the season, along with the legendary Roberto Mancini in a bid to rise the spirits and save the team from relegation. This final attempt also failed, and the last matchday draw away against Juve Stabia meant the nightmare would come true: Serie C, for the first time.

Long gone are the glory days for Sampdoria: in the golden years the blucerchiati faithful could enjoy stars like Pagliuca, Vierchowod, Lombardo, and the goal twins Mancini and Vialli, whose leadership inspired Samp to four Coppa Italia triumphs, the 1990 Cups Winners' Cup title and one legendary Scudetto in 1991, when Serie A was by far the greatest spectacle in the world in terms of domestic football. They even reached the European Cup final in 1992, one of the club's dearest achievements, but lost 1-0 to Barcelona as Koeman scored from a free kick.

The two strikers, who between them have scored 312 goals for Sampdoria, went on to lead the Italian National team to their Euro2020 gold medal at Wembley, with Mancini as head coach and Vialli as staff member.

The latter would sadly pass away in December 2023 after a long fight with cancer, leaving the entirety of Italy in grief at the loss of a special man beloved by everyone. Samp's ultras displayed a beautiful tifo to remember him.

Despite the glorious past between the 80's and 90's, Sampdoria has had alternating success in recent years. The dynamic duo of Cassano and Pazzini lifted them to fourth place and the Champions League playoffs in 2010, where they couldn't get past Werder Bremen, but both left to join title-chasing A.C. and Inter Milan respectively in the January transfer window, leaving Doria in a tough fight for survival where the Derby della Lanterna at the end of the year would become decisive. Genoa striker Mauro Boselli won the match for the Grifone in the 97th minute, basically relegating Sampdoria just one year after the European qualification.

Sampdoria quickly climbed back to Serie A and remained there for a decade, when 2022 showed them the biggest opportunity for revenge yet: a struggling Genoa desperately needed a win to escape relegation themselves, but Samp's goalkeeper Emil Audero saved Genoa's captain Domenico Criscito's penalty in injury time to become a cult hero and send the hated rivals down.

 

They would however only have the upper hand over Genoa for a year: as we said, Serie B came in 2023, while the red and blues went straight back up. This meant that for two years in a row the Derby della Lanterna would not take place, and Samp losing in the playoffs while Genoa earned safety in the top tier could have made it three years, but the two sides met one more time in the Coppa Italia in a even more tense than usual matchup. Despite Genoa having the odds in their favour, Samp managed one last satisfaction winning the tie on penalties and earning bragging rights back.

The derby win didn't spark a comeback for Sampdoria, and now they have nothing to brag about anymore. They will be competing in Serie C, a league notoriously tough to get promoted from (only the three group winners get promoted, along with one club across the three groups through a messy playoff system) and tough economically, as income drops massively from Serie B. For this reason many clubs fold every year: recently Taranto and Turris were excluded from the league, and given Sampdoria was struggling already by itself, this relegation will be another tough blow.

Who knows what the future holds for the blucerchiati and their beautiful kits. The only certain thing is that their fans won't leave their side regardless of the division.