Genoa Cricket and Football Club, commonly referred to as "Genoa", is a professional football club based in Genoa, Liguria, Italy. Nicknamed the "Grifone" (Red and Blue), it was founded in 1893 as the "Genoa Cricket and Athletic Club", initially focusing on cricket and athletics. The football department emerged in 1897, with Englishman James Richardson Spensley promoting the development of football.
In 1898, Genoa won the first Italian Championship, becoming the first national champion. From 1900 to 1904, they won the Serie A championship five times, and in 1903, they became the first Italian team to participate in international competitions. The current home ground was inaugurated in 1911, and they won the Serie A championship again in the 1922-23 and 1923-24 seasons, totaling 9 championships (a club record), and they were the first to wear the "Scudetto" (Serie A champion shield).
In the 1936-37 season, the team won their only Coppa Italia, and in 1938, three players won the World Cup with Italy. They reached the semifinals of the UEFA Cup in the 1991-92 season. In the 2004-05 season, they were relegated due to a match-fixing scandal after winning Serie B, but returned to Serie A in the 2006-07 season. They were relegated to Serie B in the 2021-22 season, promoted back to Serie A in the 2022-23 season, and successfully avoided relegation in the 2023-24 season.