Unione Calcio Sampdoria’s iconic shirt was not
contrived but fortuitously arrived at when Sampierdarenese merged with Andrea Doria in 1946. Sampierdarenese had worn white shirts with a red and black band around the middle, paired with black shorts and
socks. Andre Doria’s strip consisted of a blue and white halved jersey, blue shorts and blue socks. A number of configurations were possible but the
shirt’s creator opted for blue shirts with a white-red-black-white horizontal
set of stripes around the middle and the stemma
San Giorgio – ‘cross of St George’ – at its centre. This cross was also
present on the shirts of Andre Doria. Whether Sampierdarenese’s fans felt
aggrieved by this is not known. The symbol is a homage to the patron saint of
Genoa, so maybe not.
In any case, in 1980 Sampdoria decided to introduce a proper
club crest and came up with one of the most weird and wonderful emblems of its
kind. For the uninitiated, the Baciccia, as it is known, depicts the silhouetted profile of a
bearded sailor smoking a pipe, with blue, red and black stripes bending
sinister behind him. So not only do Sampdoria possess one of the finest looking
shirts in football but it might also be said they have the best badge.
For much of the 1980s sportswear manufacturer Ennerre
was Italian football’s prevalent brand, supplying strips for Roma,
Napoli, Fiorentina, Atalanta, Bologna, Sampdoria, among others. As the decade neared its
end so too did Ennerre’s dominance. In 1988 Fiorentina turned to ABM for their gear, Bologna to Uhlsport, and Sampdoria to Kappa. (Napoli, Roma and Atalanta would
remain affiliated with Ennerre until 1991.)
1987-88 had been a good year for Vujadin Boškov’s
team, finishing fourth in the league and defeating Torino in the final of the Coppa
Italia. Kappa’s first outing as Sampdoria’s kit supplier would therefore feature
the coccarda – with red outer ring and green centre – sewn upon the left
breast. Ordinarily this would have necessitated relocating the club’s badge to
the shirt’s sleeve, except it was already there – had been since Ennerre moved
it in 1981 for reasons unbeknown to anyone but them. Other distinguishing
features included: the Kappa logo embroidered in white upon the right side of
the chest; the slanted, uppercase font of new sponsor ERG sublimated above the jersey’s distinctive hoops; the shirt's number in black set against a white
square; a thinly trimmed neckline and flared collar. (Unlike the shirts they were now providing for Juventus and A.C. Milan,
Kappa saw no need to incorporate micropatterned textures.)
The partnership got off to a good start. Sampdoria retained
the Coppa Italia, beating Maradona’s Napoli 4-1 over two legs, and made it to
the final of the 1989 European Cup Winners’ Cup, losing to Barcelona in Bern.
They finished Serie A in fifth place, one place down on the previous season,
although 18 teams had competed for the title as opposed to the mere 16 the year
before. Gianluca Vialli netted 14 goals, his highest
return of his career thus far, Roberto Mancini scored 9, while Gianluca Pagliuca established himself as the club’s first-choice goalkeeper.
For 1989-90, the shirt remained the same in every respect bar two: numbers were now white instead of the black, rendering the white backdrop obsolete, and the coccarda's colours were inverted - i.e. green outer ring, red centre. The campaign would pan out very much like the last, with another fifth placed finish and a consecutive appearance in the final of the European Cup Winners’ Cup. This time around Sampdoria were victorious, beating Anderlecht in Gothenburg courtesy of two extra-time goals from Gianluca Vialli, who was also the
competition’s top goal scorer. Conversely, Sampdoria’s Coppa Italia challenge
ended prematurely when Juventus knocked them out in the group stage.
Who could have predicted what was to happen next to
the Genovese side? A quick word regarding personnel. In 1989 Vujadin Boškov had
made two significant signings: the Italian winger Attilio Lombardo from
Cremonese, and the Yugoslav defender Srečko Katanec from VfB Stuttgart. In 1990
the Ukrainian Oleksiy Mykhaylychenko replaced Victor Munoz in a midfield
that also featured the play-making talents of Toninho Cerezo and Giuseppe Dossena. Pietro Vierchowod and Luca Pellegrini
were solid in defence; Gianluca Vialli and striking partner Roberto Mancini
were indomitable up front.
Meanwhile, Japanese sportswear manufacturer ASICS
replaced Kappa as Sampdoria’s kit supplier. Or did they? Aside from the now
absent coccarda, the shirt was
ostensibly the same. I suspect that it was
the same jersey and that Kappa had been subcontracted by ASICS to make shirts
under their brand. Whatever sort of arrangement may or may not have been in
place, ASICS was the main beneficiary for Sampdoria were about to win their
first (and so far only) Coppa Campioni
d'Italia, finishing ahead of both A.C. Milan and Inter
by a comfortable five points. (Gianluca Vialli scored 19 goals – his highest
tally in any one season – and Mancini added another 12.)
Apart for the scudetto
that now adorned Sampdoria’s shirts, their kit remained little altered for the
following season. Unfortunately, the
club’s form did not. Sampdoria finished a disappointing sixth in the league and
were knocked out of the Coppa Italia in the semi-final by eventual winners
Parma. However, in what would be Boškov’s final year as manager, Sampdoria did
make it to the final of the European Cup only to lose to Barcelona (again)
after Ronald Koeman drilled home a free kick in extra-time from some 25 yards
out. Interestingly, Sampdoria used this opportunity – or had the opportunity
pressed upon them – to wear next seasons’ shirt. Gone was the slim-line V-neck
and in it’s place was a snap-fastened collar. Hardly a radical change, but the damage was done.
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1988-89
From 1988 through to 1992 Sampdoria’s shirts were much the same. If the club hadn’t been winning trophies that brought with them
symbolic, physical motifs – the coccarda
and the scudetto – then anyone would
be hard pressed to tell them apart. Fortunate, then, that this tenure coincided
with what can be seen retrospectively as the high watermark in football apparel.
And yet Kappa/ASICS never showed quite the respect
Sampdoria’s colours deserved. We can be grateful that the shirt was never micropatterned, which would have distracted from its extraordinary design. But
at the very least they could have sewn the bloody badge on, as pretty much
every other sportswear manufacture was doing at the time. Instead the Baciccia was subjected to dye-sublimation,
which looked cheap.
