GENOA C.F.C.

'Genoa Cricket and Football Club' (IPA: , pronounced ''JEH-noa'') is a professional football club based in the city of Genoa in Italy. Although the athletics and cricket club was founded in 1893 by Englishmen;^[1] the footballing section of the club was opened in 1897 by James Richardson Spensley making it the oldest of its kind still active in Italy.^[2]
During their long history, Genoa have won the Italian Football Championship nine times; the first of which was 1898 during the competition's inaugural season, the last time they won the league was in 1923–24. They have also won the Coppa Italia once. Historically, Genoa are the tenth most successful club in Italian football,^[3] however they are the fourth most successful in terms of championships won. Campionato Serie A - Albo D'oro
The club has played its home games at the 36,536 capacity Stadio Luigi Ferraris^[4] since 1911. Since 1946, the ground has been shared with local rivals Sampdoria. Genoa have often bounced between the top two divisions of Italian football; Serie A and Serie B since the 1960s. After a recent promotion, Genoa are playing in Serie A again for the first time since 1995.

Contents

History

Players

Retired numbers

Managerial history

Colours, badge and nicknames

Supporters and rivalries

Honours

National titles

European titles

Notable former players

References

External links

History

:''For more details on this topic, see History of Genoa C.F.C.''

Players

''As of 30 August, 2007''^[5]
''For all transfers and loans pertaining to Genoa for the current season, please see; 2007–08 transfers''.

Retired numbers

:Main article: ''Retired numbers in football''
'6' – Gianluca Signorini, sweeper, 1988–1995^[6]

Managerial history

Genoa have had many managers and trainers, some seasons they have had co-managers running the team, here is a chronological list of them from 1896 when they became a football club, onwards.^[7]

Name Nationality Years James Richardson Spensley 1896–1907 ''Technical Commission'' 1907–1912 William Garbutt 1912–1927 Renzo De Vecchi 1927–1930 Gèyza Szekany 1930–1931 Luigi Burlando Guillermo Stábile 1931–1932 Karl Rumbold 1932–1933 József Nagy 1933–1934 Vittorio Faroppa 1934–1935 Gyorgy Orth 1935–1936 Ermanno Fellsner 1936–1937 William Garbutt 1937–1939 Ottavio Barbieri William Garbutt 1939–1940 Ottavio Barbieri 1940–1941 Guido Ara 1941–1943 Ottavio Barbieri 1945–1946 William Garbutt 1946–1948 Federico Allasio 1948–1949 David Astley 1949–1950 Manlio Bacigalupo 1950–1951 Imre Senkey 1951–1952 Giacinto Ellena 1952–1953 György Sárosi 1953–1955 Renzo Magli 1955–1958 Annibale Frossi 1958–1959 Antonio Busini Gipo Poggi 1959–1960 Annibale Frossi 1960–1961 Renato Gei 1961–1963 Beniamino Santos 1963–1964 Paulo Amaral 1964–1965 Luigi Bonizzoni 1965–1966 Giorgio Ghezzi 1966–1967 Livio Fongaro 1967–1968 Aldo Campatelli 1968–1969 Franco Viviani 1969–1970

Name Nationality Years Arturo Silvestri 1970–1974 Guido Vincenzi 1974–1975 Gigi Simoni 1975–1978 Pietro Maroso 1978–1979 Gianni Di Marzio 1979–1980 Gigi Simoni 1980–1984 Tarcisio Burgnich 1984–1986 Attilio Perotti 1986–1987 Gigi Simoni 1987–1988 Franco Scoglio 1988–1990 Osvaldo Bagnoli 1990–1992 Bruno Giorgi 1992–1993 Claudio Maselli 1993–1994 Franco Scoglio 1994–1995 Gigi Radice 1995–1996 Attilio Perotti 1996–1997 Gaetano Salvemini 1996–1997 Claudio Maselli 1997 Tarcisio Burgnich 1997–1998 Giuseppe Pillon 1998 Luigi Cagni 1998 Delio Rossi 1999–2000 Bruno Bolchi 2000 Guido Carboni Alfredo Magni 2000–2001 Bruno Bolchi 2001 Franco Scoglio 2001 Edoardo Reja 2001–2002 Claudio D'Onofrio 2002 Vincenzo Torrente Rino Lavezzini 2003 Roberto Donadoni 2003 Luigi De Canio 2004 Serse Cosmi 2004–2005 Francesco Guidolin 2005 Giovanni Vavassori 2005–2006 Gian Piero Gasperini 2006–present

Colours, badge and nicknames

As Genoa was founded by Englishmen the first ever colours of the club resembled that of the England national football team. Not long into the club's footballing history, the kit was changed to white and blue stripes in 1899; the blue was chosen to represent the sea as Genoa is a port city. Finally the club settled for their most famous red and blue halves shirt, this gained them the nickname of ''rossoblu''.
One of the nicknames of Genoa is ''I giffone '' which means "the griffin"; this is derived from the coat of arms belonging to the city of Genoa. The coat of arms features two golden griffins, either side of the cross of St. George.^[8] The actual club badge of ''Genoa Cricket and Football Club'' is heavily derived from the city coat of arms, but also incorporated the club's red and blue colours.

Supporters and rivalries

Genoa have around a million fans in Italy, mostly from Liguria, however they are also popular in Piedmont and the Aosta Valley.^[9] The appeal of Genoa has stretched further than just Italy, as there are fan clubs in Amsterdam, Tokyo, Toronto, New York, Iceland and other places.

The most significant and traditional rivalry for Genoa, is the inner-city one with the club whom they share a ground with; Sampdoria. The two clubs compete together in the heated ''Derby della Lanterna'' ("Derby of the Lantern"); a reference to the Genoa lighthouse.^[10] The ultras of Genoa also have a strong distaste for AC Milan, after a tragedy in January 1995 when Genoa fan Vincenzo Spagnolo was stabbed to death by a visiting Milan fan.^[11]
Conversely, the fans of Genoa have a long standing friendship with Napoli^[12] which goes back to 1982. On the last day of the 2006–07 season, the clubs drew 0–0 ensuring both were promoted back into Serie A; Genoa ultras could be seen holding up banners saying "benvenuto fratello napoletano", meaning Welcome Neapolitan brothers, and the two sets of fans celebrated together.^[13]

Honours

National titles

'Italian Football Championship' / 'Serie A: 9'
:
★ 'Champions': 1898; 1899; 1900; 1902; 1903; 1904; 1914–15; 1922–23; 1923–24
:
★ 'Runners-up': 1901; 1905; 1927–28; 1929–30
'Coppa Italia: 1'
:
★ 'Winners': 1936–37
'Serie B: 6'
:
★ 'Champions': 1934–35, 1952–53, 1961–62, 1972–73, 1975–76, 1988–89
:
★ 'Runners-up': 1980–81
:
★ 'Promoted': 2006–07
'Serie C' / 'Serie C1: 1'
:
★ 'Champions': 1970–71
:
★ 'Runners-up': 2005–06
'Palla Dapples: 13'
:
★ 'Winners': 1903–1909

European titles

'Mitropa Cup:'
:
★ 'Quarter-finalists': 1929
'Coppa delle Alpi: 2'
:
★ 'Winners': 1962, 1964
'Anglo-Italian Cup: 2'
:
★ 'Winners': 1996
'Spagnolo Trophy: 5'
:
★ 'Winners': 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2006

Notable former players

★ Roberto Aballay ★ Guillermo Stábile ★ Diego Milito ★ Ruben Paz ★ Julio César Abbadie ★ Carlos Aguilera ★ Branco ★ Kazuyoshi Miura ★ Jan Peters ★ Marciano Vink ★ John van 't Schip ★ Tomáš Skuhravý ★ Claudiu Niculescu

★ Nicola Caricola ★ Fulvio Collovati ★ Bruno Conti ★ Stefano Eranio ★ Andrea Fortunato ★ Fabio Galante ★ Virgilio Levratto ★ Vincenzo Montella ★ Christian Panucci ★ Roberto Pruzzo ★ Gianluca Signorini

References

1. Genoa
2. Storia
3. Italy -All-Time Table 1898-2002
4. Stadio Luigi Ferraris
5. Primocanale
6. The number retirement could not be observed during the 2005–06 season because Serie C1 sides must use traditional 1 to 11 numbers
7. Mister Genoani
8. Stemma Comune di Genova
9. ''L'altra metà del pallone'': Supporters of football clubs in Italy
10. Football Derby matches in Italy
11. Genoa Fans Milan Fans From Sunday Match
12. Italian Ultras Scene
13. Genoa and Napoli

External links

★ Official Website