Coach Alberto Gilardino’s Genoa have been promoted back into Serie A after only one year in the second division, joining Frosinone in the step up from Serie B.
The Grifone needed to get a better result than Bari today in order to secure automatic promotion as one of the top two.
They beat Ascoli 2-1 at Marassi with Mattia Bani and Milan Badelj goals, while Bari were held to a 1-1 draw in Modena.
Genoa are the oldest football club in Italy, founded in September 1893, and naturally dominated the sport in its early years with nine titles before Serie A became the current format.
They were relegated in penultimate place last season after a chaotic campaign that saw them taken over by American investors 777 Partners.
This term had started with Alexander Blessin in charge, but he was sacked at the start of December and youth team coach Gilardino promoted to the main job.
It proved an inspired decision, initially just as a stopgap, but then he took them to 14 Serie B victories, six draws and one defeat.
There probably won’t be a Derby della Lanterna next season either, because as Genoa step up, Sampdoria are rock bottom and set for relegation.
Source: Football Italia
