Serie A League Overview

Some of the best football clubs and players in the world play in the Italian Serie A league, the first division of football in Italy. 20 clubs currently play Serie A. The league has a main sponsor, TIM, a telecommunications company and the official name of the league is ‘Serie A TIM’. Serie A has produced the largest number of European Club Championships finalists.

The league has been played with current format since 1929. Before that the competition was divided into regional tournaments. When a club wins the title it wears the Scudetto with the Italian colours on its uniform the following season. Clubs that finish in the top four spots of the league qualify for the UEFA Champions League. The first an second places qualify directly to the group stage. CluBs that finish in the fifth and sixth place respectively, qualify for the UEFA CUP, together with the Coppa Italia winners. The three clubs with the least amount of points by the end of the season are relegated to the Serie B – the Italian second division.

League Ranking

3rd Best League in the World
3rd Best League in Europe
(According to the IFFHS)

Serie A History

From 1898 to 1928 an Italian League, divided into regional groups was the format used to determine the best football teams in the country. In the 1929-1930 season the organizations that ruled the regional tournaments were unified to form one single national championship.

As from the 1924/25 season, a club that wins the Italian Serie A receives the right to wear the Scudetto – a type of coat of arms with the Italian colors, green, white and red – on the their shirt for the following season to show that they are the title holders. Juventus of Turin is the club with the most number of Serie A titles with 27 followed by AC Milan with 17, Inter Milan with 15, Genoa with 9, Torino, Bologna and Pro Vercelli – currently in Lega Pro Seconda Divisione, former Serie C2, with 7 titles each.

In May of 1949 a tragedy marked the history of the Italian Serie A when the airplane transporting the entire Torino FC squad, 4 time league champions, crashed into the hill where the Basilica Superga – a church near Turin - is located.

All the 31 people onboard were killed including the 18 Torino players, club officials, journalists and the airline crew. The team was returning from Protugal where they played a friendly match against Benfica and with only four matches left to concluding the season Torino was forced to play with his youth team. In respect to the tragedy all their opponents also used their youth players against Torino and the young ones were able to carry on the club’s lead in the competition and with the title. After Roma’s 200-2001 scudetto, Juventus, AC Milan and Inter Milan have dominated Serie A in the recent years. Juventus won in 2001-2002 and 2002-2003, AC Milan 2003-2004 and Inter Milan won the last two seasons of the Serie A. The late Umberto Agnelli, one of the most influential entrepreneurs and politicians in Italy, introduced in 1958 the Golden Star for Sports Excellence to be a recognition to the clubs that win multiple championships. In Italy the Golden Star is added to a teams crest when the club wins ten scudettos. Currently only three clubs in the Italian Serie A have this honour: Inter Milan, 1 star (15 scudettos); AC Milan 1 star (17 scudettos); Juventus 2 stars (27 scudettos).

League Format

Serie A TIM starts in August and ends in May. Each team plays 38 matches. The teams play eacher other twice, once at home and once away. The winner is the club with the most number of points after the regular season. In case of two teams finishing with the same number of points the winner will be determined by their head-to-head confront, if the tie persists the goal differential is next deciding criterium. The top 2 teams automatically qualify for the group stage of the UEFA Champions League. Third and fourth place will enter the Champions League in the third round of the qualifying process and must play and win a two-legged knock out match to enter the group phase. The teams that finish fifth and sixth qualify for the UEFA Cup.

League Trophies

Juventus (27): 1905, 1925–26, 1930–31, 1931–32, 1932–33, 1933–34, 1934–35, 1949–50, 1951–52, 1957–58, 1959–60, 1960–61, 1966–67, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1974–75, 1976–77, 1977–78, 1980–81, 1981–82, 1983–84, 1985–86, 1994–95, 1996–97, 1997–98, 2001–02, 2002–03

A.C. Milan (17): 1901, 1906, 1907, 1950–51, 1954–55, 1956–57, 1958–59, 1961–62, 1967–68, 1978–79, 1987–88, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1995–96, 1998–99, 2003–04 Inter Milan (15): 1909–10, 1919–20, 1929–30, 1937–38, 1939–40, 1952–53, 1953–54, 1962–63, 1964–65, 1965–66, 1970–71, 1979–80, 1988–89, 2005–06, 2006–07

Genoa (9): 1898, 1899, 1900, 1902, 1903, 1904, 1914–15, 1922–23, 1923–24

Torino (7): 1927–28, 1942–43, 1945–46, 1946–47, 1947–48, 1948–49, 1975–76

Bologna (7): 1924–25, 1928–29, 1935–36, 1936–37, 1938–39, 1940–41, 1963–64

Pro Vercelli: 1908, 1909, 1910–11, 1911–12, 1912–13, 1920–21, 1921–22*

Roma: 1941–42, 1982–83, 2000–01

Lazio: 1973–74, 1999–00

Fiorentina: 1955–56, 1968–69

Napoli: 1986–87, 1989–90

Cagliari: 1969–70

Sampdoria: 1990–91

Hellas Verona: 1984-85

Spezia: 1944

Casale: 1913–14

Novese: 1921-22*

Recognition and Awards

Most League Goals of All Time

Most League Appearances

League Management

Lega Nazionale Professionisti (or Lega Calcio) - managed by the Italian Football Confederation

Sponsors

TIM (Telecom Italia Mobile): http://www.tim.it

Media Coverage

• Corriere Dello Sport: http://www.corrieredellosport.it/
  
• Gazzetta Dello Sport: http://www.gazzetta.it/

Important Links

• http://www.lega-calcio.it

References

• http://www.lega-calcio.it/eng/atim_societa.shtml