One of Europe’s finest teams in the early 1990s, Sampdoria are now battling relegation to the third-tier Serie C for the first time – FFT travelled to their recent clash against Cosenza to hear about a decline featuring film directors, Andrea Pirlo and a pig’s head in the post...

Words Daniele Verri

Pictures Simone Arveda/Getty

Watching a Sampdoria game evokes grainy television images of European nights and great champions. It awakens memories of the club’s unforgettable 1991 Scudetto and its heroes. Gianluca Vialli with his impertinent smile and laughing eyes, Roberto Mancini’s proud gaze and ever-perfect quiff, plus David Platt, Attilio Lombardo and Ruud Gullit. It also brings to mind the Serbian former coach Vujadin Boskov, whose malapropisms such as “Gullit is like deer coming out of forest” kept plenty entertained, and president Paolo Mantovani, the man who took the team to domestic and European glory. Sampdoria, however, have long been none of these things. Their decline began with the death of Riccardo Garrone, club sponsor during the golden years, as CEO of oil firm ERG, then president of the club until his January 2013 death. His son Edoardo’s brief presidency, handover to Roman businessman Massimo Ferrero the following year and the latter’s sporting and managerial policies eventually sank the club, pushing it to the brink of bankruptcy in a 2023 to forget. Vialli’s tragic passing preceded the club finishing bottom of Serie A with only three wins all season. This term the club, saved from financial disaster by ex-Leeds chairman Andrea Radrizzani and business partner Matteo Manfredi, face the real and present danger of dropping into the third tier for the first time. How did it all end up like this?

“Those who run the club understand nothing about football. There’s a lack of heart”

DARK CLOUDS

In search of traces of past glory and the ruins left by more than a decade’s woe, FourFourTwo head to Sampdoria’s home game against fellow strugglers Cosenza, alongside lifelong fans Piero Mirulla and Silvio Regis. For every home match, the two follow their heart and make the four-hour, 200-mile journey south-west to Genoa from Vicenza, near Venice. We decide to meet at the Kafesito bar on Via del Piano, where supporters gather before matches. Located in the Marassi district, along the banks of the Bisagno river-cum-stream, it’s a few steps away from the Gradinata Sud, Sampdoria’s home end at the venerable Stadio Luigi Ferraris they share with Genoa, now the city’s only Serie A club. Travelling towards the city from Milan up north, we’ve barely left the Lombardy region behind and entered Liguria when dark clouds begin to assemble on the motorway leading down to Genoa. It’s a winding route that demands close attention, even on a quiet Saturday morning. Just as we approach Genoa, rain starts pouring down – such weather is a frequent companion in this coastal area, where moisture-rich air blows in from the sea and meets the mountains on which the city is built. Floods and extreme weather phenomena have always characterised Genoese history. Even against bottom-of-the-table Cosenza – a clash that could deliver the club’s first win in 13 games, and fifth all season long in Serie B – the bad weather contributes to the heavy atmosphere around Sampdoria. Three hours before kick-off, though, Via del Piano teems with life in blue, red and white colours. You can hear the hearts of the Blucerchiati – those wearing a blue shirt with rings around it – beat. The street is jam-packed and beer flows nearly as precipitously as the relentless deluge from above. Tension hangs in the air. Most people catch up on their Friday night shenanigans – anything to avoid talking about the upcoming encounter. Piero and Silvio are also in town for the christening of the former’s niece, due to take place the following day. Born and raised in the city, both now live outside the region and met in Vicenza. “In the early 2000s, six of us from Genoa, all fans and all there for work, got together between Vicenza, Padua and Venice,” explains Silvio. “It’s not uncommon to meet people from Genoa around Italy. Since the late 1970s, the city has endured a deep financial crisis – because of the mismanagement of the port, which has lost significant volumes of goods traffic, and the dismantling of large state-owned industries such as the Italsider steelworks in Cornigliano. In the 1980s, Sampdoria ran counter to the city’s trend. The team was doing well and had some of the best players in Europe, while things were getting worse and worse in the city.”