On this day 125 years ago Italy’s oldest club, Genoa, was founded by a group of Englishmen.
Initially founded on September 7 1893 as Genoa Cricket & Athletic Club, for the first few years of its existence football was largely a secondary concern.
In 1897, James Richardson Spensley established the football side of the club, one of the few football clubs in Italy at the time.
On this day 125 years ago Italy’s oldest club, Genoa, was founded by a group of Englishmen.
Initially founded on September 7 1893 as Genoa Cricket & Athletic Club, for the first few years of its existence football was largely a secondary concern.
In 1897, James Richardson Spensley established the football side of the club, one of the few football clubs in Italy at the time.
Most of the others came from Turin, with Torino Football & Cricket Club, Nobili Torino and Internazionale Torino competing against Genoa for the first-ever Scudetto, a tournament held over just one day.
The Grifone won it, and would go on to win the next three in a row, adopting their famous Rossoblu colours for the last of these.
After being beaten by Milan in the 1900-01 season final, Genoa returned to success and once again did three-in-a-row.
They had to wait more than 10 years to add the seventh title, with the club awarded the 1914-15 title after World War I cut play short.
The period between the wars brought a further two Scudetti, though all of Genoa’s successes came in the regionalised Italian Football Championship, before the advent of Serie A.
The Italian top flight as we know it now was inaugurated in 1929, and the Grifone finished second in the first season.
Incredibly, Genoa have not won a major trophy since their last league win in 1924, managing only two Coppe delle Alpi and the 1996 Anglo-Italian Cup.
Indeed, far from the heady heights of their early days, Genoa have spent 33 years of their history in Serie B, even falling as far as the third tier in the 1970-71 season and the 2005-06 campaign, the latter of which was due to being demoted in a match fixing scandal.
Despite that lack of silverware though, Genoa remain one of Italy’s most historic clubs, as well as the oldest still in existence.
They retain their Anglicised name, Genoa Cricket & Football Club, though the Italian name for the city is Genova, and you’d be hard-pressed to find much cricket at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris.
Though their league wins all came before the advent of Serie A, their nine triumphs are still counted in the record books and make Genoa the fourth most successful side in terms of league titles, ahead of the likes of Roma, Lazio, Napoli and Torino.