Juventus, AC Milan and Inter are the only three teams to win more than 10 Scudetti. They have dominated modern Italian football, winning 66 titles since 1898. Many may not realise, however, that one club is just shy of their first stella (star); though they have been waiting a long time to place it on their shirts.
Originally founded in September 1893, Genoa Cricket and Athletic Club officially welcomed football to the fold on April 10, 1897. Founded by merchants, sailors and explorers, Italian football can trace its roots back to England via the ports of Genoa.
It wasn’t long after the formation of the club’s football side by Englishman James Richardson Spensley that the newly named Genoa Cricket and Football Club claimed their first Italian Scudetto.
Spensley, a doctor by trade but also an acute traveller schooled in various languages, is credited as ‘the father of Italian football’. However, he is not the only Englishman to have a lasting legacy with the port city team.
William Garbutt would later become just as important a figure with the club, as he led the Grifone to three title wins as coach before plying his trade with Napoli, Roma and Athletic Club before returning to Genoa prior to World War I.
A year following the football team’s creation, Genoa won their first Scudetto in a competition far removed from the modern incarnation of Serie A.
The title was decided in a mere one-day tournament between Genoa, Ginnastica Torino, FBC Torinese and Internazionale Torino. The Grifone triumphed in the end with Spensley a central figure in the club’s lifting of the trophy.
Scudetti continued to pile up over the next two seasons and by 1904, Genoa had already amassed six Italian championships. The club took six of the first seven championships, becoming the first dynasty of calcio in a time that barely resembled the modern day — if at all.
In 1924, the club under Garbutt, won their ninth and so far last title. Ninety-one years have now gone by and Genoa have been within one title win of the coveted stella.
Genoa have claimed only one major domestic trophy since the 1920s, the 1936-37 Coppa Italia, which was the only time the club have lifted that particular award.
Though minor trophies like the Anglo-Italian Cup and six Serie B titles have been won, Genoa’s trophy case has been missing the most desired of all trophies by their supporters: a Serie A title.
In the almost century-long wait for their next Scudetto, Genoa have bounced between Serie A and the second and third tiers of Italian football.
Though there have been good years, the club has an equal amount of bad seasons.
Genoa supporters were forced to watch city-rivals Sampdoria collect cups and trophies in the 1980s and 1990s, all the while hoping they could return to their pre-war glories.
In 2015, Genoa do not look any closer to collecting their tenth Serie A title.
Despite being quite stable on the field under the tutelage of Gian Piero Gasperini, the club currently do not have the funds to compete with Serie A’s big clubs.
Once the biggest club in Italy, Genoa are now just a mid-pack to lower mid-pack team.
Although the club have played well against the league’s top teams this season beating Juventus, AC Milan, Lazio and running Roma and Napoli close, Genoa are not funded to maintain that type of form or attract the same quality of stars.
What Genoa have found success in has been revitalising the careers of players.
This season alone has seen Alessandro Matri, Diego Perotti, Iago Falque and M’Baye Niang turn their floundering football careers into second chances and a possible return to bigger clubs.
The horse-trading of players by upper management hasn’t helped the club either.
Last January saw the club let several of their top players go, including leading scorer Matri and captain Luca Antonelli.
The club practically started anew. That turnover hurt the team as they started the New Year being pushed back down the table from the lofty European position Genoa possessed at the turn of the year.
With another birthday celebration of the club’s founding coming and going, Genoa supporters can only make Scudetto wishes as they blow out the candles.
While Genoa are no closer to their stella, they are still beloved by many, even if their fame is not as well-known as it should be.
