Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria, is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa, Liguria. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, Sampierdarenese and Andrea Doria. Both the team name and jersey reflect this, the first being a combination of the former names, the second incorporating the former teams' colours (blue-white and white-red-black) in a single design. The team's colours are blue with white, red and black hoops, hence the nickname blucerchiati ("blue-circled").