Sampdoria relegated to Serie C for first time in their history after a season dogged by chaos and upheaval.
Sampdoria relegated to Serie C for the first time in their 78-year history after a season dogged by managerial upheaval.
In their last Serie B game, the Genoa-based team was held to a goalless draw at Juve Stabia.
They finished in 18th position as a result, one point behind Salernitana, who defeated Cittadella 2-0 to guarantee a spot in the relegation play-offs.
After being demoted at the end of the 2022–2023 season, Sampdoria, who had a star-studded squad and won their sole Serie A title in 1991, have been playing in the second division of Italian football.
After they failed in the play-offs, Italian World Cup winner Andrea Pirlo, who was signed as coach in June 2023, was unable to guarantee an instant return to the first division.
The club’s owners referred to Pirlo as “a key part of the project” the month before Sampdoria’s play-off exit, but three games into the current season, after two losses and a draw, he was fired.
He was succeeded by Andrea Sottil, who led the team to win over Genoa in the Coppa Italia penalty shootout in the first Derby della Lanterna in two years.
But after only four victories in 14 games, he was also cut in October 2024, and Leonardo Semplici took his place.
The fans’ patience with Semplici ran out at the end of March after the team lost 3-0 at home to Frosinone, which put them in the drop zone.
Following the game at Luigi Ferraris Stadium, irate fans threw stones and flares at the team bus that was transporting Semplici and his Sampdoria players.
Alberico Evani, the team’s fourth coach of the season, was given the duty of keeping them up after Semplici was removed of his duties in April.
With club great Attilio Lombardo serving as assistant and Roberto Mancini, another Sampdoria classic, lending an unofficial hand, Evani’s future looked bright.
Evani defeated Cittadella, another struggling team, 1-0 to start, but they haven’t been able to maintain their lead after three draws, a loss, and one victory.