Sampdoria indeed gets the chance at a miraculous escape. The club had initially been relegated to Serie C, but a late points deduction for Brescia means that Sampdoria can still stay up through a decisive two-legged playoff against Salernitana.
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The 1991 Italian champions and 1990 Cup Winners' Cup holders, Sampdoria, are on the verge of what could become one of the most unlikely survival stories in recent Italian football history.
Once a proud name in European football, the Genoa-based club has experienced a steep and painful decline over the past few years. After being relegated from Serie A in 2023, hopes for a quick return to the top flight were quickly dashed. Instead of fighting for promotion, the club endured a disastrous campaign in Serie B, marked by inconsistency, managerial instability, and off-field financial concerns.
Sampdoria finished the 2024–25 Serie B season in eighteenth place out of twenty teams a position that normally means automatic relegation to Serie C. It was a devastating blow for a club that had only recently been competing with the giants of Italian football. Fans feared that the fall into the third tier, just two seasons after dropping from Serie A, could mark the beginning of a long and uncertain period in the wilderness. The atmosphere around the club was heavy with resignation. The once-vibrant Stadio Luigi Ferraris saw dwindling attendances and growing frustration.
But football, as ever, remains unpredictable.
Toward the end of May, reports began to emerge of serious financial irregularities at Brescia, one of Sampdoria’s direct rivals in the battle to avoid the drop. Brescia had finished the season just above Sampdoria in the standings, but investigations into their financial conduct revealed violations that could not be ignored by the Italian football authorities. Speculation mounted in the press that a substantial points deduction was imminent. For Sampdoria supporters, it was a glimmer of hope perhaps even a miracle in the making.
That hope became reality when the Serie B league administration officially handed Brescia a four-point penalty. The deduction saw Brescia tumble from safety into the relegation zone, slipping into eighteenth place. As a result, Sampdoria moved up to seventeenth, with 41 points, just one point behind Salernitana, who ended the season in sixteenth place with 42 points.
According to Serie B regulations, the bottom four teams are relegated outright. However, there is a special clause that applies when the point difference between the teams in sixteenth and seventeenth is four points or fewer: in that case, the final spot for relegation is decided by a two-legged playoff. This mechanism was designed to provide a fairer outcome in cases where teams were closely matched over the season, and now it gives Sampdoria a dramatic second chance to save their season.
The playoff pits Sampdoria against Salernitana in a tense, winner-takes-all showdown. The first leg will be played in Genoa at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris on Sunday, June 15 at 8:30 p.m., while the second leg will take place in Salerno on Friday, June 20. Both teams are under enormous pressure, with their futures hanging in the balance not only in sporting terms but financially as well. The difference between staying in Serie B and dropping into Serie C can be catastrophic, particularly for clubs already grappling with economic instability.
For Sampdoria, this sudden opportunity feels almost surreal. It offers a potential lifeline, not just to the club's league status but also to its identity, its history, and its future. The squad, which includes Dutch midfielder Melle Meulensteen, has been thrown a lifeline. The players now have a chance to redeem a season that, until just days ago, appeared destined to end in disaster.
The fans, long-suffering but fiercely loyal, are expected to pack the Ferraris for the first leg, hoping to lift their team in what could be the most important 180 minutes of football the club has played in years. Victory would not erase the turmoil and underachievement of the past two seasons, but it could halt the freefall—and perhaps spark the beginning of a long-awaited revival.
