History of Genoa CFC

From 1905 onwards when they were runners-up, Genoa lost their foothold on the Italian championship; other clubs such as Juventus, Milan and Pro Vercelli stepped up.

The rebuilding of the squad also saw the creation of a new ground in the Marassi area of Genoa; when built it had a capacity of 25,000 and was comparable to British stadiums of the time; it was officially opened on 22 January 1911.

With the introduction of the Italy national football team, Genoa played an important part, with the likes of Renzo De Vecchi; who was azzurri captain for some time, Edoardo Mariani and Enrico Sardi earning call-ups.

[8] The war took a harsh toll on Genoa as players Luigi Ferraris, Adolfo Gnecco, Carlo Marassi, Alberto Sussone and Claudio Casanova all died while on military duty in Italy; while footballing founder James Richardson Spensley was killed in Germany.

[10] Due to the strongly British connotations attached to the name, Genoa were forced to change it by the fascist government to Genova 1893 Circolo del Calcio in 1928.

Thankfully for the club, they were able to bounce back under the management of Vittorio Faroppa, winning promotion by finishing top of their group ahead of Novara.

In 1936, the ambitious Juan Culiolo took over as president of the club; in 1936–37 they achieved a 6th-place finish and also won the Coppa Italia by beating AS Roma 1–0 with a goal from Mario Torti.

This time their stay at the second tier of the Italian football system would be far longer than previous relegations, the club was unstable as it changed manager each season.

[21] The relegation was bad for the club in more ways than one, they lost some of their top players who could have offered them a swift return; such as Roberto Pruzzo's move to AS Roma where he would go on to have great success.

[25] The club was purchased by Calabrian entrepreneur Aldo Spinelli in 1985 and despite no longer having Simoni as manager, Genoa were finishing in the top half of Serie B.

After a slip in form during 1987–88, Genoa refocused their energy and were able to achieve promotion back into Serie A the following season, finishing as champions ahead of Bari.

[27] Noted Genoa players during this period included Gianluca Signorini, Carlos Aguilera, Stefano Eranio, Roberto Onorati and John van 't Schip.

[28] Back in Serie A however, due to a limited roster of first-line players the team suffered heavily from the very success they enjoyed in the UEFA competition (which meant more matches to be played for the same athletes and fatiguing trips to Spain, Romania -twice-, England and the Netherlands), so Genoa finished just one place above the relegation zone; in the seasons following Genoa remained in the lower half of the table.

This meant a relegation play-out was to be played between the two in Florence, the game was tied 1–1 at full-time and went to a penalty shootout, Genoa eventually lost the shoot-out 5–4.

The late 1990s and early 2000s would be the most trying time in the history of the club, cwith constantly changing managers, a poor financial situation and little hope of gaining promotion, outside of a decent 6th-place finish in 1999–00.

After leading for much of the season, they eventually finished as runners-up and were entered into the play-offs, beating Monza 3–0 on aggregate to achieve promotion back into Serie B.

Milito was glad to come back to Genoa and play in Italy's Serie A and greatly contributed to a very successful season which saw the red and blue genoese griffins finishing fifth and securing a UEFA placement, while winning both derbies against the striped Sampdoria "cousins" and managing to defeat teams like Roma, Milan and Juventus.

Genoa could have aimed even higher, but an unlucky streak of defeats with Lazio and Bologna right after having won against Juventus quashed their hopes for a Champions League spot.

Having sold both Milito and midfield Thiago Motta to Inter Genoa has now 40 million euro to invest in suitable replacements to maintain a high standing in the coming Serie A season and to compete successfully in the UEFA cup.