Ginnastica Sampierdarenese was created in 1891 and the football section was opened in 1899. The other side that represented the city was Andrea Doria and two teams had been competing with each other till 1926 when fascist authorities decided to unite them. The new club mostly played in minor leagues.
In 1979 while playing in Serie B the club was acquired by businessman Paolo Mantovani whose aim was to put investments in the team bringing Sampdoria to the top tier of Italian football. It was not long after that Sampdoria made it to Serie A and three years later won their first Coppa. The club clinched their second Italian Cup in 1988 thus receiving qualification for the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup 1988/1989 and reaching the final there. The match against Barcelona was a tense one yet the Italian sibe lost 2-0.
A second triumph in the Coppa Italia provided Sampdoria a chance to compete in the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup 1989/1990, which they won after beating Anderlecht in the final. The previous year the team was crowned the Italian Seria A winners and thus becoming one of the strongest clubs in Europe. The winning squad included several famous players, such as Gianluca Vialli, Gianluca Pagliuca and Roberto Mancini.
After the season 2010/2011 Sampdoria was relegated to Serie B but returned the following season.
The club badge depicts a sailor known as Baciccia, which is translated to English as John-Baptist. The image of a sailor underlines the connection of the club to the port city of Genoa.
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