Genoa

The Stadio Comunale Luigi Ferraris, known locally as the Marassi, is the shared home of Genoa CFC and UC Sampdoria, located at Via Giovanni De Pra 1 in the Marassi district of Genoa, Liguria. The stadium holds 33,205 spectators and is the oldest football ground still in use in Italy at professional level. Construction began in 1911 and the stadium was inaugurated in 1911, making it over 110 years old. Named after Luigi Ferraris, a local footballer who died during the First World War, the Marassi is one of Italian football's great historic venues, shaped over a century of continuous development. It was one of the twelve venues for the 1990 FIFA World Cup, hosting group stage and quarter-final matches.

Genoa CFC are Italy's oldest football club, founded in 1893 by British expatriates, and have nine Serie A titles to their name, all won before 1924. The Ferraris has been the stage for the club's long history of ups and downs, including the extraordinary Derby della Lanterna - the local derby between Genoa and Sampdoria - which is one of Italian football's most passionate and contested fixtures. The two clubs have shared the Marassi since 1946 and the alternating colours of red-and-blue Genoa and blue-black-white Sampdoria have made the ground a symbol of a football-mad port city. Sampdoria's greatest era in the late 1980s and early 1990s, culminating in their only Serie A title in 1991 and the European Cup final in 1992, was lived largely within these walls.

The Stadio Luigi Ferraris underwent renovation for the 1990 World Cup, with new stands replacing older structures and the addition of roof coverage. The ground is set in a dense urban residential neighbourhood, with apartment buildings rising directly behind the stands on two sides, giving it a profoundly Italian character. The Marassi generates an exceptionally loud and atmospheric matchday experience, with the two sets of supporters creating intense derbies that reverberate through the surrounding streets. Plans for a new shared stadium or comprehensive renovation of the existing ground have been discussed for many years. Both Genoa and Sampdoria recognise the need for modern facilities to sustain their footballing ambitions.