Genoa

The club was founded on 7 September 1893 as Genoa Cricket & Athletic Club. In its earliest years, it principally competed in athletics and cricket. Association football was only a secondary concern. Since the club was set up to represent England abroad, the original shirts worn by the organisation were white, the same colour as the Cricket section of the club (white shirt, black trousers and socks). At first Italians were not permitted to join as it was a British sporting club abroad. Genoa's activities took place in the north-west of the city in the Campasso area, at the Piazza d'Armi. The men who initially handled the management of the club were;

On 10 April 1897, the footballing section of the club, already in existence since 1893, became predominant thanks to James Richardson Spensley. It was among the oldest in Italian football at the time, only four other clubs—all in Turin—had been founded. Italians were allowed to join and found a new ground in the form of Ponte Carrega.

The first friendly match took place at home, against a mixed team of Internazionale Torino and F.B.C. Torinese; Genoa lost 1–0. Not long after, Genoa recorded its first victory away against UPS Alessandria winning 2–0. Friendly games also took place against various British sailors such as those from HMS Revenge.

Championship dominance

Football in Italy stepped up a level with the creation of the Italian Football Federation and the Italian Football Championship. Genoa competed in the first Italian Championship in 1898 at Velodrome Humbert I in Turin. They defeated Ginnastica Torino 2–1 in their first official game on 8 May, before winning the first championship later that day by beating Internazionale Torino 3–1 after extra-time.

Genoa returned for the following season, this time with a few changes; the name of the club was altered to Genoa Cricket & Football Club, dropping the Athletic from its name. A change in shirt colour was also in order, as they changed to white and blue vertical stripes; known in Italy as biancoblù. Genoa won their second title in a one-day tournament which took place on 16 April 1899, by beating Internazionale Torino 3–1 for the second time. On their way to winning their third consecutive title in 1900 they also beat local rivals Sampierdarenese 7–0; a winning margin which would not be bettered by any team in the league until 1910. The final was secured with a 3–1 win over F.B.C. Torinese.

The club strip was changed again in 1901, Genoa adopted its famous grenade red-navy halves and therefore became known as the rossoblù; these are the colours used even to this day as with many other Italian clubs, such as Vado Ligure, Lumezzane, Cagliari, Bologna, Crotone, Cosenza and an endless list of other clubs, It Is worth to be said that Genoa has had a role behind the choice of the colours Red and Blue by these and more clubs, essentially because of its influence in italian football and the prestige of the genoese club before the Juventus, Inter and Milan dominion. After a season of finishing runners-up to Milan Cricket and Football Club, things were back on track in 1902 with their fourth title. Juventus emerged as serious contenders to Genoa's throne from 1903 onwards, when for two seasons in a row Genoa beat the Old Lady in the national final.

Notably Genoa became the first Italian football team to play an international match, when they visited France on 27 April 1903 to play FVC Nice, winning the fixture 3–0. As well as winning the Italian championship in 1904, the year was also notable for Genoa reserves winning the first ever II Categoria league season; a proto-Serie B under the top level. 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 fall in part during this period can be traced back to 1908 when FIGC agreed to Federal Gymnastics protests forbidding the use of foreign players. Since Genoa's birth they had always had a strong English contingent. They disagreed, as did several other prominent clubs such as Milan, Torino and Firenze; as thus they withdrew from official FIGC competitions that year. The following season the federation reversed the decision and Genoa was rebuilt with players such as Luigi Ferraris and some from Switzerland, such as Daniel Hug who came from FC Basel. 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.

Garbutt revival

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. Englishman William Garbutt was brought in as head coach to help revive the club; Garbutt was the first professional manager in Italy and was renowned for being highly charismatic, and also for constantly smoking his tobacco pipe. He was dubbed "Mister" by the players; since then Italians have referred to coaches in general by the term.