Serie B relegation: Sampdoria lies in ruins

One of Italy's most traditional football clubs is facing a pile of rubble: Sampdoria was relegated to the third division on Tuesday evening after a dramatic Serie B final.

14 May 2025

From: det

On Tuesday, May 13, a relegation for the history books occurred. Sampdoria was relegated to the third division, Serie C, for the first time in its history. Since the club was formed in August 1946 from the merger of Sampierdarenese and Andrea Doria, it had always played in Serie A or Serie B. That will now change.

Since Tuesday evening, it's been clear that Sampdoria is one of the three teams relegated from Serie B. The Genoa club, Serie A champions in 1991, could only manage a 0-0 draw at Juve Stabia on the final matchday, thus failing to reach safety. Sampdoria mounted a desperate attack in Castellammare di Stabia, but the nightmare could not be averted. And so Sampdoria, coached by World Cup winner Andrea Pirlo at the start of the season, will only play third-tier football starting next season.

Sampdoria fans can now hope for Serie B again. © Ingrid Zambrano/Phourteen

This is remarkable because two years ago, Sampdoria was still playing in Serie A. In the spring of 2023, the traditional club was relegated to Serie B after eleven consecutive top-flight seasons. A year ago, Sampdoria made it to the promotion playoffs there, and now they're facing something no one could have or wanted to anticipate before the season: relegation to Serie C.

Relegation, playouts and playoffs

Besides Sampdoria have to too Cosenza and Citadel to Serie C. Frosinone and Salernitana will play off in the play-offs to determine the fourth relegated team. And that's precisely the next oddity: These two clubs were relegated from Serie A a year ago, and now one of them is being relegated down another division.

Master Sassuolo and Pisa were already confirmed as promoted before the last matchday. Spezia (3.), Cremonese (4.), Juve Stabia (5.), Catanzaro (6.), Cesena (7.) and Palermo (8th) will play for the third promoted team in the playoffs.

The FC Sudtirol saved itself on the penultimate matchday and played against Bari 0-0 draw.

	SP	G	U	V	TV	P
1. Sassuolo	38	25	7	6	78:38	82
2. Step on	38	23	7	8	64:36	76
3. Specia	38	17	15	6	59:33	66
4. Cremonese	38	16	13	9	62:44	61
5. Juventus Stabia	38	14	13	11	42:41	55
6. Cesena	38	14	11	13	46:47	53
7. Catanzaro	38	11	20	7	51:45	53
8. Palermo	38	14	10	14	52:43	52
9. Baric	38	10	18	10	41:40	48
10. FC South Tyrol	38	12	10	16	50:57	46
11. Modena	38	10	15	13	48:50	45
12. Carrarese	38	11	12	15	39:49	45
13. Reggiana	38	11	11	16	42:52	44
14. Mantova	38	10	14	14	47:56	44
15. Brescia	38	9	16	13	42:48	43
16. Frosinone	38	9	16	13	37:50	43
17. Salernitana	38	11	9	18	37:47	42
18. Sampdoria	38	8	17	13	38:49	41
19. Cittadella	38	10	9	19	30:56	39
20. Cosenza (-4)	38	7	13	18	32:56	30