Sampdoria relegated to Serie C for first time

Sampdoria have been relegated to Serie C for the first time in their 78-year history after a season dogged by managerial upheaval.

The Genoa-based club were held to a goalless draw at Juve Stabia in their final Serie B match.

That ensured they finished in 18th place, a point behind Salernitana who secured a relegation play-off place with a 2-0 victory over Cittadella.

Sampdoria, who won their only Serie A title in 1991 with a star-studded team, had been playing in Italian football's second tier since they were relegated at the end of the 2022–23 season.

Italian World Cup winner Andrea Pirlo was hired as coach in June 2023 but was unable to secure an immediate return to the top flight after they lost in the play-offs.

The month before Sampdoria's play-off exit Pirlo was called "a key part of the project" by the club's owners, but three games into the current campaign he was dismissed following two defeats and a draw.

Andrea Sottil replaced him and oversaw a Coppa Italia penalty-shootout victory against Genoa in the first Derby della Lanterna in two years.

However, he too was jettisoned in October 2024 after just four wins in 14 games and replaced by Leonardo Semplici.

With the club in the drop zone, a 3-0 home defeat by Frosinone at the end of March was the tipping point for the fans as patience with Semplici ran out.

The team bus carrying Semplici and his Sampdoria players was pelted by stones and flares by angry supporters after the match at the Luigi Ferraris Stadium.

Semplici was relieved of his duties in April with Alberico Evani - the club's fourth coach of the season - tasked with keeping them up.

Things began promisingly for Evani with club legend Attilio Lombardo in as assistant and another Sampdoria icon in Roberto Mancini helping in an unofficial capacity.

Evani began with a 1-0 win over fellow strugglers Cittadella, but three draws, a defeat and just one win since then have not been enough to keep them up.