It may not have a history that spans more than a century like bitter city rival Genoa, but Italian football hardly has the charm it needs without the four colors from Liguria and the sailor Baćić from the club's crest... However, the reality is that Sampdoria is no longer a big story in the Apennines.
The former Italian champion, a club that played in the Champions League final, and whose colors were defended by legends such as Vujadin Boškov, Gianluca Vialli, Roberto Mancini, Tonino Cerrez and many others, will play in Serie C - the third tier of Italian football - starting next season.
This is known after Sampdoria failed to defeat Juve Stabia in the last round, so they broke through the bottom of Serie B from 18th place and finished as low as never before in history.
The famous club was not helped by the fact that they brought back another legend, Attilio Lombardo, to the coaching staff, all overseen by Mancini. The financial troubles and everything that had happened in recent years had to be paid for in a painful way.
Sampjerdareneze and Andrea Doria
Sampdoria has officially existed since 1946, but it was formed from two clubs that were born at the end of the 19th century - their names are Sampjerdarenese and Andrea Doria, so it is easy to conclude how the new club got its name.
She also got her colors from them, because one club's jerseys were red and black, and the other's were blue and white.
The new club from Genoa played in Serie A from the beginning, there were years when it moved to a lower tier, and then the return to the elite in 1982 heralded the best days for the fans of "Marasi".
Golden days with Boškov and Mantovani
Everything changed in 1979 when Paolo Mantovani, an oil businessman from Rome and, as legend has it, a Lazio fan, sailed into the famous Italian port. However, when he felt the passion that Sampdoria carried, he knew that he would support only that club for the rest of his life.
Thanks to his investments, Sampdoria returned to Serie A, and won the Italian Cup in 1985. A year later, the Genoa team was coached by a former player of this club and a man who had already won titles with Real Madrid, the great Yugoslav - Vujadin Boškov.
Everything after that is history...
Two more Coppa Italia trophies soon followed, followed by the first European trophy - the 1990 Cup Winners' Cup, when Sampdoria defeated Anderlecht in Gothenburg with two goals from Vialli in extra time.
The days of celebration continued the following year as Boškov led the club to its first Scudetto - his boys won the title ahead of Milan, Inter and Genoa.
It was the club's greatest success in history, and just 12 months later it could have been even greater.
Sampdoria reached the Champions League final, the iconic "Wembley" and the match with Barcelona. They failed to enter the immortals, as a goal from a free kick by Ronald Koeman in the 112th minute of the grand final was decisive.
It was Barca's first European crown, and it could easily have been Sampdoria's.
In addition to the aforementioned Villali, Mancini, Tonino and Lombardo, Gianluca Pagliuca, Pietro Vjerhovod and many others also wrote great pages for Sampdoria in those years... One of the rare foreigners in the team was the Yugoslav Srećko Katanec.
Ortega, Seedorf, Veron, Mihajlovic, Jugovic...
Immediately after the Champions League final, Boškov took over Roma, and a year later Mantovani passed away.
He was succeeded by his son Enrico, and although there were many major transfers by the beginning of the new millennium, the results were nowhere near those of his father's time.
Sampdoria's colors were defended by Ariel Ortega, Juan Sebastian Veron, Clarence Seedorf, Vladimir Jugović, Siniša Mihajlović, among others, but in those years only one more Cup was won - in 1994.
In 1999, the giants were relegated to Serie B, and over the next twenty years they came back, came close to returning to the Champions League, were relegated, and then this May they faced the most difficult moments in their history.
What will happen to the third-tier club is difficult to predict, but it is clear that Italian football is not the same without Sampdoria in the big stories.
Bonus video:
