U.C. Sampdoria

Ginnastica Sampierdarenese was founded in 1891, opening its football section in 1899. Named to honour Andrea Doria, a club named Society Andrea Doria was founded in 1895, which increasingly focused itself on football training and competition.

Andrea Doria did not participate in the first Italian Football Championship which was organised by the Italian Federation of Football (FIF) since instead they had enrolled themselves into a football tournament which was organised by the Italian Federation of Ginnastica. The club eventually joined the competition for the 1903 Italian Football Championship, but did not win a game in the tournament until 1907, when they beat local rivals Genoa 3–1. It was not until 1910–11 that the club began to show promise. During that season's tournament, they finished above Juventus, Internazionale and Genoa in the Piedmont-Lombardy-Liguria section.

Early photograph of Andrea Doria players

After World War I Sampierdarenese finally began to compete in the Italian Championship, after they took the place of Bolzaneto's Assoiazione del Calcio Ligure a pre-war club of Genoa province (in turn, Ligure was the heir of Liguria Foot Ball Club, a team founded in 1897). Thus, Samp and Doria met in the championship for the first time; Doria won in first-leg game (4–1 and 1–1), and they also arrived at second place after Genoa in the Ligurian Championship, qualifying for the National Round.

With the 1921–22 season, the Italian top league was split into two competitions; both of the clubs in Sampdoria's history were in separate competitions that year too. Sampierdarenese played in the FIGC-run competition, whereas Andrea Doria played in the CCI variation. Sampierdarenese won the Liguria section and then went on to the semi-finals, finishing top out of three clubs; this led them to the final against Novese. Both legs of the final ended in 0–0 draws, thus a repetition match was played in Cremona on 21 May 1922. Still intensely difficult to separate, the match went into extra time with Novese eventually winning the tie (and the Championship) 2–1. However, Sampierdarenese recriminated for the referee's conduct.

After the league system in Italy was brought back into one item, Sampierdarenese remained stronger than Andrea Doria by qualifying for the league. By 1924–25, the clubs were competing against each other in the Northern League; Doria who finished one place above their rivals and won one match 2–1, while Sampierdarenese were victorious 2–0 in the other. At the end of the 1926–27 season, the clubs merged by fascist authorities under the name La Dominante.

La Dominante

Home colours

Wearing green and black striped shirts, La Dominante Genova were admitted to the first ever season of Serie B, where they finished third, just missing out on promotion. The next season, under the name Foot Ball Club Liguria, they had a disastrous year, finishing bottom of the table and suffering relegation.

Because of this, both Sampierdarenese and Andrea Doria reverted to their previous names as separate clubs. Sampierdarenese were back in Serie B for the 1932–33 season and finished in the upper part. The following year, they were crowned champions and were promoted into Serie A for the first time. Andrea Doria, on the other hand, battled out the 1930s down in Serie C.

On 15 July 1937 Sampierdarenese absorbed Corniglianese and Rivarolese, with the club adopting the name Associazione Calcio Liguria. This saw them reach fifth place in Serie A in 1939. In the early 1940s, the club was relegated but bounced straight back up as Serie B champions in 1941.

Sampdoria in the late 1940s

After World War II, both Andrea Doria and Sampierdarenese (the name Liguria was abolished in 1945) were competing in Serie A, but in a reverse of pre-war situations, Andrea Doria were now the top club out of the two. However, on 12 August 1946, a merger occurred to create Unione Calcio Sampdoria. The first chairman of this new club was Piero Sanguineti, but the ambitious entrepreneur Amedeo Rissotto soon replaced him, while the first team coach during this period was a man from Florence named Giuseppe Galluzzi. To illustrate the clubs would be equally represented in the new, merged club, a new kit was designed featuring the blue shirts of Andrea Doria and the white, red and black midsection of Sampierdarenese. In the same month of the merger, the new club demanded they should share the Stadio Luigi Ferraris ground with Genoa. An agreement was reached, and the stadium began hosting Genoa's and Sampdoria's home matches.

Serbian Vujadin Boškov, pictured as a Sampdoria player in 1961, managed the team to their only Serie A title in 1991

In 1979, the club, then playing Serie B, was acquired by oil businessman Paolo Mantovani (1930–1993), who invested in the team to bring Sampdoria to the top flight. In 1982, Sampdoria made their Serie A return and won their first Coppa Italia in 1985. In 1986, Yugoslav Vujadin Boškov was appointed as the new head coach. The club won their second Coppa Italia in 1988, being admitted to the 1988–89 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, where they reached the final, losing 2–0 to Barcelona.[2][3] A second consecutive triumph in the Coppa Italia gave Sampdoria a spot in the 1989–90 Cup Winners' Cup, which they won after defeating Anderlecht after extra time in the final.[4]

This was followed only one year later by their first and only Scudetto, being crowned as Serie A champions with a five-point advantage over second-placed Internazionale. The winning team featured several notable players, such as Gianluca Pagliuca, Gianluca Vialli, Roberto Mancini, Toninho Cerezo, Pietro Vierchowod and Attilio Lombardo, with Boškov as head coach.[5] In the following season, Sampdoria reached the European Cup final and were defeated once again by Barcelona, at Wembley Stadium.[6]

Vujadin Boškov is recognised as one of Sampdoria's most successful managers winning a record amount of trophies and thus further establishing the clubs reputation in Europe.

On 14 October 1993, Paolo Mantovani died suddenly and was replaced by his son Enrico. During his first season (1993–94), Sampdoria won one more Coppa Italia and placed third in Serie A. During the following four seasons, many players from his father's tenure left the club but many important acquisitions were made which kept Sampdoria in the top tier Serie A. This included the likes of Argentine internationals Juan Sebastián Verón and Ariel Ortega, and international midfielders Clarence Seedorf and Christian Karembeu.[4]

Luigi Delneri managed Sampdoria to fourth place and Champions League qualification in 2010

In May 1999 Sampdoria were relegated from Serie A and did not return to the top flight until 2002. Around this time, Sampdoria was acquired by Riccardo Garrone, an Italian oil businessman. Sampdoria returned to Serie A in 2003 led by talisman Francesco Flachi, and ended their first season in eighth place. After several more top-half finishes, manager Walter Novellino gave way to Walter Mazzarri in 2007.[7]

With the signings of forwards Antonio Cassano from Real Madrid,[8] and Giampaolo Pazzini in January 2008, Sampdoria ended the 2007–08 season in sixth position and qualified for the 2008–09 UEFA Cup.[9] The following season, they came fourth and qualified for the UEFA Champions League play-offs under manager Luigi Delneri, who left for Juventus.[10] With the departures also of CEO Giuseppe Marotta, and both Cassano and Pazzini, and the squad being stretched by Champions League football, Sampdoria were relegated to Serie B after loss 2–1 at home to Palermo in May 2011.[11]

In the following season, Sampdoria won the playoffs after defeating Varese 4–2 on aggregate in the play-off final in June 2012.[12] After sixth-placed rivals Genoa in the 2014–15 season failed to obtain a UEFA license for the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League, seventh-placed Sampdoria took their spot.[13] Sampdoria has been owned since June 2014 by the film producer Massimo Ferrero.

As of 11 January 2021.[14]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  ITA Emil Audero 2 DF  BRA Kaique Rocha 3 DF  ITA Tommaso Augello 5 MF  POR Adrien Silva 6 MF  SWE Albin Ekdal 8 MF  ITA Valerio Verre 9 FW  ITA Ernesto Torregrossa (on loan from Brescia) 10 FW  SEN Keita Baldé (on loan from Monaco) 11 MF  URU Gastón Ramírez 14 MF  CZE Jakub Jankto 15 DF  GAM Omar Colley 16 MF  NOR Kristoffer Askildsen 18 MF  NOR Morten Thorsby 19 DF  ITA Vasco Regini

No. Pos. Nation Player 20 FW  ITA Antonino La Gumina 21 DF  ITA Lorenzo Tonelli 22 DF  JPN Maya Yoshida 23 FW  ITA Manolo Gabbiadini 24 DF  POL Bartosz Bereszyński 25 DF  ITA Alex Ferrari 26 MF  FRA Mehdi Léris 27 FW  ITA Fabio Quagliarella (captain) 30 GK  ITA Nicola Ravaglia 34 GK  CRO Karlo Letica (on loan from Club Brugge) 35 GK  ITA Lorenzo Avogadri (on loan from Atalanta) 38 MF  DEN Mikkel Damsgaard 87 MF  ITA Antonio Candreva (on loan from Inter Milan) 99 FW  SVN Nik Prelec

As of 1 February 2021

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF  ITA Carlo Romei

As of 1 February 2021

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  ITA Wladimiro Falcone (at Cosenza until 30 June 2021) — GK  ITA Matteo Raspa (at Ravenna until 30 June 2021) — DF  ITA Leonardo Benedetti (at Vis Pesaro until 30 June 2021) — DF  GER Julian Chabot (at Spezia until 30 June 2021) — DF  ITA Axel Campeol (at Grosseto until 30 June 2021) — DF  ITA Fabio Depaoli (at Benevento until 30 June 2021) — DF  ITA Tommaso Farabegoli (at Feralpisalò until 30 June 2021) — DF  MNE Cristian Hadžiosmanović (at Casertana until 30 June 2021) — DF  COL Jeison Murillo (at Celta until 30 June 2021) — DF  ITA Nicola Murru (at Torino until 30 June 2021) — MF  ITA Antonio Palumbo (at Ternana until 30 June 2021)

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  ITA Lorenzo Sabattini (at Imolese until 30 June 2021) — MF  ITA Andrea Tessiore (at Vis Pesaro until 30 June 2021) — MF  ENG Ronaldo Vieira (at Hellas Verona until 30 June 2021) — FW  SEN Ibourahima Baldé (at Foggia until 30 June 2021) — FW  ITA Federico Bonazzoli (at Torino until 30 June 2021) — FW  ITA Gianluca Caprari (at Benevento until 30 June 2021) — FW  ITA Felice D'Amico (at Pro Sesto until 30 June 2021) — FW  ITA Antonio Di Nardo (at Arezzo until 30 June 2021) — FW  ITA Erik Gerbi (at Teramo until 30 June 2021) — FW  MNE Ognjen Stijepović (at Grosseto until 30 June 2021) — FW  ITA Matteo Stoppa (at Pistoiese until 30 June 2021)

Serie A

• Winners (1): 1990–91

Coppa Italia

• Winners (4): 1984–85, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1993–94

Supercoppa Italiana

• Winners (1): 1991

Serie B

• Winners (1): 1966–67

European Cup

• Runners-up (1): 1991–92

European Cup Winners' Cup

• Winners (1): 1989–90
• Runners-up (1): 1988–89

European Super Cup

• Runners-up (1): 1990

Wembley International Tournament

• Winners (3): 1990, 1991, 1992

Amsterdam Tournament

• Winners (1): 1988

Joan Gamper Trophy

• Winners (1): 2012