Ask collectors which is the most beautiful shirt in football history and many will answer without hesitation: Sampdoria's. The royal blue with the white, red and black band across the chest is unique in the world. Behind it lies the story of two Genoa clubs that decided to become one.

Two clubs, one city

Sampdoria was born from two Genoa sports clubs with roots in the late 19th century. One was Sampierdarenese, from the Sampierdarena district, founded in 1891 and wearing red and black. The other was Andrea Doria, in white and blue, named after the famous Genoese admiral.

The two clubs had joined forces before. In 1927 they merged into La Dominante, but in 1931 they split again. The final union would come after the war.

12 August 1946: Sampdoria is born

On 12 August 1946, in the office of notary Bruzzone in Genoa, Unione Calcio Sampdoria was officially founded. The name was a simple combination: "Samp" from Sampierdarenese and "Doria" from Andrea Doria.

The hard part was the shirt. Neither side wanted to lose its identity. The solution was clever: Andrea Doria's blue became the main colour, and a horizontal white, red, black and white band, in the colours of Sampierdarenese, went across the chest. In the centre of the band was stitched the Cross of St George, the symbol of Genoa.

That band also gave the team its nickname: "Blucerchiati", meaning "the blue ones with the circles".

A shirt that never changes

From 1946 to this day, Sampdoria's home shirt has had practically the same design. Manufacturers and sponsors have changed many times, but the four-colour band has stayed in place. It is the only shirt in the world with a horizontal stripe in these four colours.

The Italian magazine Guerin Sportivo named it the most beautiful club shirt in the world, and fans simply call it "la maglia più bella del mondo", the most beautiful shirt in the world. Its influence reached beyond Italy too: Scotland's Dundee United once wore a similar design, and it is said that this is how Rod Stewart fell in love with Sampdoria.

Baciccia, the sailor with the pipe

In the early 1980s the club's second symbol appeared on the shirt: "Baciccia", the profile of a Genoese sailor with a pipe. Usually placed on the sleeve, it became one of the best-loved badges in Italy, a reminder of the city's seafaring history.

The golden era of the '90s

Sampdoria's most legendary shirt is the one from the early 1990s. With Paolo Mantovani as president, Vujadin Boškov as coach and Gianluca Vialli and Roberto Mancini up front, the team won its first and only Italian league title in 1991.

The following season the shirt stayed the same, with just one addition: the scudetto on the chest. Wearing it, Sampdoria reached the 1992 European Cup final at Wembley, where they lost 1-0 to Barcelona in extra time. Today the shirts of that era are among the most sought-after retro shirts on the market.

80 years of blucerchiati

For the club's 80th anniversary, Sampdoria is wearing two commemorative shirts in the 2026/27 season, inspired by the historic kits of Sampierdarenese and Andrea Doria, a tribute to the two clubs that gave it life.

A work of art for your collection

The Sampdoria shirt is not just a football kit. It is the story of a port city, of a union that has lasted 80 years and of a team that conquered Italy. That is why it is one of the most-loved shirts among collectors all over the world.

See our Sampdoria jerseys at sportarena.gr.

Photo: The Stadio Luigi Ferraris in Genoa – Gabriel Rinaldi, Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.