Genoa CFC

The Griffin. The Red and the Blues. The Old Fool.

Founded in 1893, they are officially the oldest football club in Italy, and for large parts of the early game they dominated Italian football. But Genoa’s history has rarely been smooth. Periods of glory were followed by chaos, relegation, revival and collapse all over again. It was the great Italian journalist Gianni Brera who affectionately labelled them Il Vecchio Balordo — “The Old Fool” — a nickname that captured both the club’s age and its wonderfully unpredictable nature.

To understand Genoa’s badge, you first need to understand the city itself. Genoa was not just another Italian port. For centuries it was one of the great maritime republics of Europe, competing with Venice, Pisa and Amalfi for control of Mediterranean trade. From the 11th century until the fall of the republic in 1797, Genoa built enormous wealth through shipping, banking and naval power. At its height it was one of the richest cities on Earth. Petrarch (famous scholar bloke – said to be the ‘father of the Humanities’) even nicknamed it La Superba — “The Proud One” or “The Superb One” — because of its grand palaces and dominance of the seas.

That long maritime history explains much of the symbolism still attached to Genoa CFC today. The most obvious feature is the griffin. Half eagle and half lion, it symbolised strength and vigilance over both land and sea. According to local legend, the symbol was adopted after workers discovered a griffin statue while building Genoa’s defensive walls in the 9th century, with the creature becoming a protector of the city and its harbour ever since. A fitting image for a city whose merchants and sailors spread across the Mediterranean and Black Sea. Even today the griffin remains one of the defining symbols of the city itself, not just the football club.

Then there are the team’s famous colours. Genoa’s famous red and blue halves are among the oldest and most recognisable shirts in Italy. The red cross of Saint George has long been tied to the city and its republic. Genoese ships carried the Cross of St George across the Mediterranean long before England became closely associated with it. According to tradition, the English even paid Genoa for the right to sail under the protection of the Genoese flag in dangerous waters. This seasons Genoa away kit is a giant St George’s cross – and the promo video was half shot in London to show that connection to the English and their shared patron Saint.

Genoa as a city is simply remarkable: Christopher Columbus was born here. So too was the violin virtuoso Niccolò Paganini. Genoa created one of the world’s earliest banks, financed parts of the Spanish Empire, and helped shape Mediterranean commerce for centuries. Its narrow alleyways — the famous caruggi — still twist through one of the largest medieval old towns in Europe. The city’s influence extended to the Americas – its banks financed many of the expeditions to the New World.

The Genoese trading networks stretched astonishingly far. Their ships sailed from Spain and North Africa to the Black Sea and the Crimea, where Genoa controlled colonies such as Caffa. This vast port became a key gateway between Europe and Asia, handling silk, spices, grain, timber, wax, furs and precious metals flowing in from the Silk Roads.

Genoese merchants also traded enslaved people through the city’s markets and built enormous wealth through banking, maritime insurance and advanced credit systems that helped shape modern finance. Their shipbuilders developed fast and durable galleys that dominated Mediterranean trade for centuries, while some historians even credit Genoa with helping popularise blue jeans, named after the hard-wearing sailor cloth exported from the city itself. Caffa also became infamous during the Black Death, when plague is believed to have spread westwards aboard Genoese ships fleeing the besieged city in 1346.

A sleeping maritime power with a phonemenal history of contributing to history and football. Affectionate. Frustrated. Proud. Ancient. Genoese.

There’s more yet to come from the Old Fool I’m sure.