The Unione Calcio Sampdoria were founded in 1946. The club was formed by a merger between two local clubs, Sampierdarenese and Andrea Doria.
Sampierdarenese were formed in 1899. They played from 1899 to 1927, when the Fascist regime forced them to join Andrea Doria and become La Dominante. In 1931 they returned to be Sampierdarenese but in 1937 up to 1946 they became A.C Liguria. Sampierdarenese won two Serie B championships.
Andrea Doria were founded in 1900. In 1927, when they were forced to join Sampierdarenese, at the time Andre Doria were fourth for participations in the top division. Andrea Doria were re-formed in 1931 until 1941 and again from 1944 until 1946 when they were definitely merged to form U. C. Sampdoria. Andrea Doria won 4 prestigious FGNI tournaments.
In their first year in Serie A Sampdoria finished 10th. The Blucerchiati stayed in the top flight for twenty years, their best finish was 4th in 1960-61, under manager Eraldo Monzeglio
In 1966 they were relegated for the first time but bounced straight back up again, winning Serie B under Gigi Poggi.
After ten years of mid-table finishes the Blucerchiati were relegated again in 1977. They were promoted again five years later, in 1982 under Renzo Ulivieri.
In 1984-85 Doria won their first historic silverware, the Coppa Italia defeating Milan 3-1 on aggregate. In the league they finished a record high 4th. The manager was Eugenio Bersellini and the squad included Moreno Mannini, Pietro Vierchowod, Luca Pellegrini, Fausto Pari, Roberto Mancini and Gianluca Vialli (Scudetto winners a few years later) plus Alessandro Scanziani, Graeme Souness and Trevor Francis.
In 1988 and 1989 Sampdoria triumphed in the Coppa Italia again under Vujadin Boskov. They also finished 4th and 5th in Serie A. In 1989 They reached the final of the Cup Winners Cup but lost 0-2 to Barcelona.
In 1990 they won the Cup Winners Cup defeating Anderlecht 2-0 in extra-time with a Vialli double.
In 1991 came their masterpiece. Sampdoria won the Scudetto. Other important players in the triumph were Gianluca Pagliuca, Toninho Cerezo, Beppe Dossena, Attilio Lombardo, Oleksij Mychailyčenko and Srečko Katanec.
In 1992 the Blucerchiati won their first Italian Supercoppa beating Roma 1-0. They had an excellent run in the European Cup but lost the final 0-1 in extra-time to Barcelona at Wembley.
In 1992-93 Sven-Goran Eriksson took over and in 1994 won another Coppa Italia. Their star players included Alberico Evani, Ruud Gullit, Vladimir Jugovic, David Platt plus scudetto survivors Pagliuca, Vierchowod, Lombardo and Mancini.
In 1998-99 however Sampdoria were relegated. Eriksson had left for Lazio in 1997 with Mancini and the Blucerchiati went down under Luciano Spalletti (with a brief 5-game David Platt interlude).
Sampdoria did not come up again until 2003, under Walter Novellino. There followed stable years with 8th, 5th, 12th, 9th, 6th, 13th and 4th place finishes. In 2009 they reached the Coppa Italia final but lost to Lazio on penalties.
In 2011 however "La Samp" were relegated again, under Domenico Di Carlo and then Alberto Cavasin. This time however they immediately won promotion under Giuseppe Iachini, via the playoffs.
A decade of mid-table finishes ended in 2023 when the Doriani were relegated again, first under Marco Giampaolo and then Dejan Stankovic. They will be there at least another year as on May 17, 2024 they lost 0-2 to Palermo in the playoffs under manager Andrea Pirlo.
Almost 80 years of history with two glorious decades, the 1980's and 90's. In these years the owner was Roman and Lazio fan, Paolo Mantovani (1979-92). A period in which they won a Scudetto, 3 Italian Cups, 1 Italian Supercoppa and 1 Cup Winners Cup plus reaching a European Cup final.
The player with the most appearances is Roberto Mancini with 567. The top goal scorer is also Mancini with 171 followed by his "twin" Gianluca Vialli with 141. Other legends include: Adriano Bassetto (1946-53), Giuseppe Baldini (1946-50, 1953-55), Gaudenzio Bernasconi (1954-65), Ernst Ocwirk (1956-61, manager 1962-65) Guido Vincenzi (1958-69), Ernesto "Tito" Cucchiaroni (1958-63), Pietro Battara (1961-72), Giancarlo Salvi (1963-64, 1965-76), Domenico Arnuzzo (1972-1981), Marcello Lippi (1970-79), Moreno Mannini (1984-99) and Fabio Quagliarella (2006-07, 2016-23).
Sampdoria club colours are blue, black, red and white and their shirts are widely considered to be among the nicest in Italy, if not the world.
Sampdoria fans have special friendships with those of Verona, Ternana, Parma, Bari and St. Pauli.
Their biggest rivals are obviously Genoa fans while there is also bad blood with those of Torino, Napoli and Bologna.
Sampdoria fans themselves include actors Paolo Villaggio, TV personality Enrica Bonaccorti, Roger Federer (due to childhood holidays), boxer Marvin Hagler, TV comedian Maurizio Crozza, TV presenter Fabio Fazio, cyclist Fausto Coppi, historic radio commentator Alfredo Provenzali and F1 driver Jean Alesi.
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