World Football Club Crests

Sampdoria is one of Italy’s more mythical football clubs although it was formed as late as 1946 through a merger of the Genoa clubs Sampierdarenese and Andrea Doria. The purpose was to create a counterbalance to the town’s historically dominant team, Genoa CFC. As both Sampierdarenese and Andrea Doria played in Serie A, the new club UC Sampdoria could continue in the top flight. Out of respect for both clubs, Sampdoria was thus a fusion of their respective names, and Andrea Doria’s blue and white colours were used as the base for the match shirts while the red and black stripes of Sampierdarenese adorned the chest. Sampdoria’s emblem bore the image of Genoa’s city crest, the cross of St George.

Sampdoria began with an impressive, if brief, period in Serie A, but the greatest successes were not achieved until the oil magnate Paolo Mantovani took over the club in 1979. In the era of Mantovani, Sampdoria were promoted to Serie A in 1982, the start of a golden age that would last just over 10 years. Sampdoria won the Italian Cup in 1985, 1988, 1989 and 1994 and managed the impressive feat of winning Serie A in 1991. The team also won the Cup Winners Cup in 1990 and played in the 1992 European Cup Final against the mighty Barcelona.

In 1980, Sampdoria adopted a new club crest featuring a pipe-smoking sailor called Baciccia – the dialect name for Giovanni Battista (John the Baptist), who happens to be Genoa’s patron saint. This is one of world football’s most striking crest designs.

CLUB: UC Sampdoria

NICKNAMES: I Blucerchiati (the Blue Hooped Ones), La Samp and Il Doria

FOUNDED: 1946

STADIUM: Stadio Luigi Ferraris, Genoa (36,536 capacity)

HISTORIC PLAYERS: Roberto Mancini, Attilio Lombardo, Sinisa Mihajlovic, Gianluca Vialli and Angelo Palombo

1946–present. The city of Genoa is represented by the cross of St George. Andrea Doria, one half of the club that became Sampdoria, wore both the shield and the cross from Genoa’s city crest, a tradition that continued after the merger. The cross of St George has appeared on Sampdoria’s match jerseys since the club was founded.

1980–present. This may be one of the world’s best known emblems, but few know what it actually portrays. The silhouette shows a bearded sailor in profile with a pipe in his mouth and a hat on his head – not illogical because Genoa is Italy’s greatest port. The sailor is called Baciccia after the dialect name for Giovanni Battista (John the Baptist), Genoa’s patron saint. Baciccia was an early symbol for Sampdoria but didn’t appear on match shirts until the 1980/81 season. Since then, the smoking sailor has represented the club, though the placing of the emblem has alternated between the chest and the left arm. In 2009 the emblem was reported to an anti-smoking group in Italy, which felt that the pipe set a bad example for young people – a criticism that the then owner Riccardo Garrone dismissed. The pipe was allowed to stay.

Roberto Mancini (left) and Gianluca Vialli in Sampdoria’s colours in 1989. Note the additional ‘tricolore’ cockade or roundel on their shirts. The current holders of the Italian Cup are permitted to wear this motif.