- U.C. Sampdoria
Infobox Football club
clubname = Sampdoria
current = U.C._Sampdoria_season_2008-09
fullname = Unione Calcio Sampdoria
SpA
nickname = "Blucerchiati" (blue-ringed)
founded =August 1 ,1946
ground =Stadio Luigi Ferraris ,Genoa ,Italy
capacity = 36,536
chairman = flagicon|ItalyRiccardo Garrone
manager = flagicon|ItalyWalter Mazzarri
league =Serie A
season = 2007-08
position = Serie A, 6th
pattern_la1=|pattern_b1=_samp|pattern_ra1=|pattern_so1=_black_stripes
leftarm1=0000C0|body1=0000C0|rightarm1=0000C0|shorts1=FFFFFF|socks1=FFFFFF
pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=_samp|pattern_ra2=|pattern_so2=_whitehorizontal
leftarm2=FFFFFF|body2=FFFFFF|rightarm2=FFFFFF|shorts2=0000C0|socks2=0000C0Unione Calcio Sampdoria (commonly nicknamed "Blucerchiati", blue-ringed) is a football club based in
Genoa ,Italy . The club was formed in1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, Sampierdarenese and Andrea Doria. Both the team name and jersey do reflect this, the first being acrasis of the former names, the second incorporating the former teams' colours (blue-white and red-black) in a single design.Sampdoria currently compete in the Italian
Serie A . The team's colours are blue with white, red and black stripes, hence the nickname blucerchiati. Sampdoria play atStadio Luigi Ferraris , capacity 36,536, [cite web|url=http://www.genoacfc.it/stadio.asp|title=www.genoacfc.it|accessdate=2007-06-20] which it shares with Genoa's other club,Genoa Cricket and Football Club . The derby between the two teams is commonly known as theDerby della Lanterna .Sampdoria have obtained the "scudetto" once in their history, in the
1991 season. The club has also won theCoppa Italia four times (1985 , 1988, 1989, and1994 ). Their biggest European success came when they won the Cup Winners' Cup in 1990. They also reached theUEFA Champions League final in 1992 only to lose against the Spanish sideFC Barcelona with an 1-0 score after extra time.History
The Ginnastica Sampierdarenese was founded in
1891 , opening its football section in1899 . Also around this time, a club named Society Andrea Doria was founded in1895 , and began to increase their focus on dedicating itself to football.Andrea Doria: early league participation
Andrea Doria did not participate in the first
Italian Football Championship which was organized by the Italian Federation of Football (F.I.F.) since instead they had enrolled themselves into a football tournament which was organized by the Italian Federation of Ginnastica. The club eventually joined the competition for theItalian Football Championship 1903 , 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.Post-World War I
After
World War I , Sampierdarenese finally began to compete in the Italian Championship, the first season back Andrea Doria were not present. However, in 1920 Doria returned and the two clubs met in the championship for the first time; Doria won in both games (4-1 and 1-0); they also were crowned winners of the Liguria region.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 F.I.G.C. run competition, whereas Andrea Doria played in the C.C.I. variation.
Sampierdarenese won the Ligura section and then went onto the semi-finals, finishing top out of three clubs; this lead them to the final against Novese. Both legs of the final ended in 0-0 draws, thus a repetition match was played in
Cremona onMay 21 1922 . Still intensely difficult to separate, the match went into extra time with Novese eventually winning the tie (and the Championship) 2-1.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 won one game 2-1, while Sampierdarenese were victorious 2-0 in the other. At the end of the 1926-27 season, the clubs merged under the name La Dominante Genova.
La Dominante Genova split: 1930s
Wearing
green andblack striped shirts, La Dominante Genova were admitted to the first ever season ofSerie B , where they finished 3rd just missing out on promotion. The next season, under the name Liguria they had a disastrous year, finishing bottom of the table and were relegated.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 intoSerie A for the first time. Andrea Doria on the other hand, battled out the 1930s down inSerie C .The
15 July 1937 saw Sampierdarenese, melting itself with Corniglianese and Rivarolese with the club using the name Associazione Liguria Calcio; this saw them reach 5th place in Serie A during 1939. In the early 1940s, the club was relegated, but bounced straight back up as Serie B champions in 1941.Merger
After
World War II , both clubs were competing inSerie A ; in a reverse of pre-war situations, Andrea Doria were now the top club out of the two. However on12 August 1946 a merger took place that would stick for the two teams, together they formed Unione Calcio Sampdoria.The first president 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 fromFlorence named Giuseppe Galluzzi. In the same month of the merger, the new club demanded that they should share theStadio Luigi Ferraris ground with Genoa; the agreement was carried off without problems. Consequently, the stadium was prepared to accommodate the games of both clubs.As if to further show that the merger really was equal parts of both previous clubs, a new football kit was designed for the club; it implemented the blue shirts of Andrea Doria with the white, red and black mid-section of Sampierdarenese.
European and domestic successes
In
1979 the club, then playing Serie B, was acquired by oil businessmanPaolo Mantovani , who invested in the team in order to bring Sampdoria to the top flights. In1982 Sampdoria made their Serie A return, and they won their firstCoppa Italia three years later. In1986 Vujadin Boskov was appointed as new head coach; the club won their second Coppa Italia in1988 , being admitted to theUEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1988-89 , where they reached the final, being defeated 2-0 by Barcelona. A second consecutive triumph in the Coppa Italia gave Sampdoria a spot in theUEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1989-90 , which they finally won defeating Anderlecht afterextra time in the final. This was followed only one year later by their first (and, as of 2007, only) "scudetto", being crowned as Serie A champions with a five points advantage to second-placed Inter Milan. The winning team featured several notable players, such asGianluca Pagliuca ,Gianluca Vialli ,Roberto Mancini ,Toninho Cerezo ,Pietro Vierchowod andAttilio Lombardo , withVujadin Boskov as head coach. In the following season, Sampdoria reached the European Cup final, and was defeated again by Barcelona at the Wembley Stadium.Since this period Sampdoria have made a limited number of appearances in European cup competitions. During the 1994/1995 campaign they reached the semi-finals of the European Cup Winners' Cup before being eliminated on penalties in a memorable tie against Arsenal. The club also participated in the 1997/1998 UEFA Cup but were eliminated by
Atletico Bilbao of Spain in the First Round. The 2005/2006 season also proved to be a significant one, with Sampdoria returning to European competition for the first time since their promotion back to Serie A, with the club narrowly missing out on Champions League qualification and entering the UEFA cup. During this campaign, the team was minutes away from qualification to the last 32 when Lens of France eliminated them by beating them 2-1. The club recently also took part in the 2007/2008 UEFA Cup, entering via the Intertoto cup. However it was to be a short and disappointing campaign, with Sampdoria being eliminated onaway goals byAaB of Denmark in the First Round.Decline and resurgence
On
October 14 ,1993 Paolo Mantovani suddenly died; he was replaced by his son Enrico. During Enrico Mantovani's first season (1993/94) Sampdoria won one more Italian Cup and placed 3rd in the national championship. During the following four seasons many players from his father's team left the club but many important acquisitions were made which kept Sampdoria in the top tier of the Italian Serie A. Players the likes of Enrico Chiesa, Juan Sebastian Veron, Ariel Ortega, Vincenzo Montella, Clarence Seedorf, and Christian Karembeu were all major signings.Despite this, 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, a known Italian oil businessman. Two of Garrone's most important initial moves were to inject new cash into the club and to appoint
Walter Novellino as new head coach. Sampdoria returned to Serie A in2003 lead by talismanFrancesco Flachi , and ended their first season in eighth place. In theSerie A 2004-05 they lost a spot in the UEFA Champions League to Udinese in the final matchdays of the season, ending in fifth place. This was followed by a poor season; despite this, Novellino was confirmed for one more season and Sampdoria ended the 2006-07 Serie A campaign in ninth place. As the 8th placed team in Serie A were not granted a UEFA licence, Sampdoria was able to enter theUEFA Intertoto Cup 2007 as a result. Novellino announced his farewell to Sampdoria soon after, withWalter Mazzarri unveiled shortly after as his replacement.The 2007-08 campaign started very early for Sampdoria, which defeated
PFC Cherno More Varna in the Intertoto Cup andHajduk Split in the second qualifying round of UEFA Cup, before being eliminated in the First Round proper byAaB on away goals. The club took actively part in the transfer market, persuadingVincenzo Montella to make a comeback at Samp and signingAntonio Cassano from Real Madrid on a loan basis. Having had such a successful loan period, Sampdoria have made the move permanent from the 2008/09 season. Sampdoria ended the season in sixth place of the Italian Serie A and qualified for theUEFA Cup 2008-09 .Current squad
"As of
September 15 2008 " [cite web|url=http://www.sampdoria.it/index.php?option=com_teammanager&task=allplayers&year=2008&teamid=1&Itemid=110 |publisher=UC Sampdoria|title=Rosa 2008-2009|language=Italian|accessdate=2008-08-01]Notable former players
:"See also; "1946 - 1970s
*flagicon|ItalySergio Brighenti
*flagicon|ARGErnesto Cucchiaroni
*flagicon|ItalyMarcello Lippi
*flagicon|ItalyGiovanni Lodetti
*flagicon|ItalyAngelo Sormani
*flagicon|Spain Luis Suárez
*flagicon|Italy Roberto "Bob" Vieri1980s
*flagicon|ItalyIvano Bordon
*flagicon|IrelandLiam Brady
*flagicon|GERHans-Peter Briegel
*flagicon|BRAToninho Cerezo
*flagicon|ItalyGiuseppe Dossena
*flagicon|ENGTrevor Francis
*flagicon|ItalyMoreno Mannini
*flagicon|ItalyRoberto Mancini
*flagicon|SpainVictor Muñoz
*flagicon|ItalyGianluca Pagliuca
*flagicon|ItalyFausto Pari
*flagicon|ItalyLuca Pellegrini
*flagicon|ScotlandGraeme Souness
*flagicon|ItalyGianluca Vialli
*flagicon|ItalyPietro Vierchowod 1990s - 2000s
*flagicon|FRAAlain Boghossian
*flagicon|ItalyIvano Bonetti
*flagicon|ItalyMarco Branca
*flagicon|ItalyRenato Buso
*flagicon|ItalyAntonio Cassano
*flagicon|ItalyEnrico Chiesa
*flagicon|FRAOumar Dieng
*flagicon|ItalyAlberigo Evani
*flagicon|ItalyRiccardo Ferri
*flagicon|ItalyFrancesco Flachi
*flagicon|NetherlandsRuud Gullit
*flagicon|ItalyGiovanni Invernizzi
*flagicon|FR Yugoslavia flagicon|SerbiaVladimir Jugović
*flagicon|Yugoslavia flagicon|SloveniaSrečko Katanec
*flagicon|FRAChristian Karembeu
*flagicon|GERJürgen Klinsmann
*flagicon|FRAPierre Laigle
*flagicon|ItalyAttilio Lombardo
*flagicon|FR Yugoslavia flagicon|SerbiaSiniša Mihajlović
*flagicon|USSR flagicon|UKRAlexei Mikhailichenko
*flagicon|ItalyVincenzo Montella
*flagicon|ARGAriel Ortega
*flagicon|ENG David Platt*flagicon|Italy
Fabio Quagliarella
*flagicon|NetherlandsClarence Seedorf
*flagicon|ENGLee Sharpe
*flagicon|ItalyGiuseppe Signori
*flagicon|BRAPaulo Silas
*flagicon|ARGJuan Sebastián Verón
*flagicon|ItalySergio Volpi
*flagicon|ENGDes Walker
*flagicon|ItalyWalter Zenga
*flagicon|ItalyChristian Zenoni
*flagicon|FR Yugoslavia flagicon|SerbiaBratislav Živković Managerial history
Colours, badge and nicknames
The club crest features a sailor in profile known by the old Genoese name of Baciccia, which translates to Giovanni-Battista in Italian or John-Baptist in English. The image of a sailor is appropriate due to Sampdoria being based in the port city of Genoa.
The white, blue, red and black colours within the crest represent the clubs origins of a merger between two teams, Sampierdarenese and Andrea Doria, who wore respectively red/black and white/blue jerseys. [cite web|url=http://football.guardian.co.uk/theknowledge/story/0,,1924393,00.html|title=What percentage of Frank Lampard's goals are deflected?|accessdate=2007-06-20]
Genoa C.F.C. supporters often play jokes at the "cousins" four-coloured attire by dubbing them "cyclists" since striped jerseys were often associated with this sport in the 40s and 50s.Honours
Serie A : 1
*Champions: 1990-91
*Runners-up: 1921-22 ("F.I.G.C. as Sampierdarenese")Serie B : 2
*Champions: 1933-34, 1966-67
*Runners-up: 1981-82, 2002-03Coppa Italia : 4
*Winners: 1984-85, 1987-88, 1988-89, 1993-94
*Runners-up: 1985-86, 1990-91Supercoppa Italiana : 1
*Winners: 1991
*Runners-up: 1988, 1989, 1994UEFA Champions League
*Runners-up: 1991-92UEFA Cup Winners' Cup : 1
*Winners: 1989-90
*Runners-up: 1988-89UEFA Intertoto Cup : 1
*Winners: 2007References
External links
* [http://www.sampdoria.it/ Sampdoria's official website]
* [http://www.ucsampdoria.co.uk/ Unofficial Sampdoria Website]
* [http://www.resultsfromfootball.com/seriea-team/ucsampdoria.html Sampdoria statistics]
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