I hope to outline in this brief introduction as to why I chose my Football Manager save with Sampdoria, taking the clubs background, a look at the fantastic kit, stadium, previous players and history.
Club Background
Formed in their current form as Unione Calcio Sampdoria in 1946 from a merger of Society Andrea Doria and Sampierdarenese. The club has its roots as far back as 1895 with the formation of Andrea Doria. The evidence of the merger can still be seen today in the clubs kits, the predominantly blue shirt is the colours of Andrea Doria with the red, black and white midsection taken from Sampierdarenese.
In the same month as the merger the newly formed U.C. Sampdoria arranged to play their home fixtures at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris. The stadium opened in 1911 is one of the oldest stadiums still active in Italy, it is named in honour of Luigi Ferraris who was an Italian footballer (Genoa captain) and engineer killed in WWII. Located in the Marassi area and only 1.5km from the centre of Genoa it also is the home ground for Sampdorias fierce rivals Genoa CFC and plays host to the Derby della lanterna. Sampdoria currently hold the bragging rights with 39 wins compared to Geonas 24 and 37 draws.
The stadium itself has a capacity of 36,600 which has been expanded from the original 20,000. Although being one of the oldest active stadiums in Italy it has undergone extensive rebuilding for the 1990 World Cup, which has given rise to the characteristic design the stadium now has.
The clubs most successful period came between the 1980s and 1990s, within this time the club won it’s only Serie A title (1991), four Coppa Italia (1985, 1988, 1989 & 1994) and an Italian Super Coppa (1991). They also achieved a European Cup final appearance (1992) losing to Barcelona in Wembley. Key players in this spell of success included Roberto Mancini, Gianluca Vialli and Attilio Lombardo. Interestingly both Graeme Souness and Trevor Francis both played for Sampdoria during this time.
Since those glory days Sampdorias fortunes have varied, they have continued to have some impressive star signings including Clarence Seedorf, Christian Karembeu, Sinisa Mihajlovic Juan Sebastien Veron, Antonio Cassano and Giampaolo Pazzini. However their fortunes on the pitch have never quite returned to the previous heights, suffering relegation from Serie A (and a three season stay in Serie B) in 1999 and again in 2011. With some relative domestic success qualifying for the Champions League playoffs 2009/10 season and Uefa Cup/Europa League qualification 2008/09 and 2014/15.
Having finished both the 2016/17 and 2017/18 seasons in 10th place the club is solidly entrenched in mid-table Serie A. Currently without a trophy in 24 years but with a history which includes domestic success, star players, a beautiful home kit and a picturesque good sized stadium can I take the club one step further and win that European final that eluded the great team of 1992/93.
Following this will be a look at the current squad through the lens of Football Manager 2019 and a whistle-stop tour of my first season in charge…
JDH Football Manager Blogs 