Serie A

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This article is about the Italian football league. For other uses, see Serie A (disambiguation).
Serie A
Country Italy
Confederation UEFA
Founded 1898 officially
1929 as round-robin tournament
Number of teams 20 (from 2004-05)
Levels on pyramid 1
Relegation to Serie B
Domestic cup(s) Coppa Italia
Supercoppa Italiana
International cup(s) UEFA Champions League
UEFA Europa League
Current champions Juventus (30th title)
Most championships Juventus (30 titles)
TV partners SKY Italia
Mediaset Premium
2014–15 Serie A

Serie A (Italian pronunciation: [ˈsɛːrje ˈa]), also called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since the 1929–30 season. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new league, the Lega Serie A, was created for the 2010–11 season. Serie A is regarded as one of the best football leagues in the world. Serie A was considered the best league in the world in the '90s,[1] and has produced the highest number of European Cup finalists: Italian clubs have reached the final of the competition on a record twenty-six different occasions, winning the title twelve times.[2] Serie A is ranked 4th among European leagues according to UEFA's league coefficient behind the Spanish La Liga, English Premier League and German Bundesliga, which is based on the performance of Italian clubs in the Champions League and the Europa League.[3] It also ranked 5th in world according to the first trends of the 2011 IFFHS rating.[4]


The league hosts three of the world's most famous clubs as Juventus, Milan and Internazionale, all founding members of the G-14, a group which represented the largest and most prestigious European football clubs; Serie A was the only league to produce three founding members.[6] More players have won the coveted Ballon d'Or award while playing at a Serie A club than any other league in the world.[7] Ahead of Spain's La Liga. Although the actual number of Ballon d'Or won by players in these two leagues is equal at 18 each. Including the FIFA Ballon d'Or. Milan is the second club with the most official international titles in the world (18).[8] Juventus, Italy's most successful club of the 20th century[9] and the most successful Italian team,[10] is tied for fourth in Europe and eighth in the world in the same ranking.[11] The club is the only one in the world to have won all possible official continental competitions and the world title.[12][13][14] Internazionale, following their achievements in the 2009–10 season, became the first Italian team to have achieved The Treble.[15]


The old Logo

For most of Serie A's history there were 16 or 18 clubs competing at the top level; however, since 2004–05 there have been 20 clubs altogether. A season (1947–1948) was played with 21 teams for political reasons. Below is a complete record of how many teams played in each season throughout the league's history;

  • 18 clubs = 1929–1934
  • 16 clubs = 1934–1942
  • 18 clubs = 1942–1946
  • 20 clubs = 1946–1947
  • 21 clubs = 1947–1948
  • 20 clubs = 1948–1952
  • 18 clubs = 1952–1967
  • 16 clubs = 1967–1988
  • 18 clubs = 1988–2004
  • 20 clubs = 2004–present
Scudetto patch.

During the league, from August to May, each club plays each of the other teams twice; once at home and once away, totaling 38 games for each team by the end of the season. Therefore, in Italian football a true round-robin format is used. In the first half of the season, called the andata, each team plays once against each league opponent, for a total of 19 games. In the second half of the season, called the ritorno, the teams play in exactly the same order that they did in the first half of the season, the only difference being that home and away situations are switched. Since the 1994-1995 season, teams were awarded three points for a win, one point for a draw, and no points for a loss.

Since Italy is currently rated as the fourth European countries in terms of club football ratings,[16] the top three teams in the Serie A qualified for the UEFA Champions League (from the 2012-13 season). The top two teams qualify directly to the group phase, while the third-placed team enters the competition at the playoff qualifying round and must win a two-legged knockout tie in order to enter the group phase. Teams finishing 4th and 5th qualify for the UEFA Europa League Tournament. A third UEFA Europa League spot is reserved for the winner of the Coppa Italia. If the Coppa Italia champion has already qualified for the major European tournament by placing in the top three of Serie A, the third UEFA Europa League spot goes to the losing finalist. If both Coppa Italia finalists finish among the top five teams in Serie A, the 6th classified team in Serie A is awarded the UEFA Europa League spot. The three lowest placed teams are relegated to Serie B.

Before the 2005-06 season, if two or more teams were tied in points for first place, for only one spot in a European tournament or in relegation zone, this teams would play tie-breaking games after the league's end, to determine which team would get the best place (useful to be champion, to be awarder a European tournament sport, or to be saved). From 2005-06 season, if two or more teams end the league with the same number of points, the deciding criterials used are (in order):

  1. Head-to-head records;
  2. Goal difference of head-to-head records;
  3. Goal difference of final table;
  4. Most number of goals scored;
  5. Draw.


Serie A, as it is structured today, began in 1929. From 1898 to 1922 the competition was organised into regional groups. Because of ever growing teams attending regional championships, FIGC split the CCI (Italian Football Confederation) in 1921. When CCI teams rejoined the FIGC created two interregional divisions renaming Categories into Divisions and splitting FIGC sections into two North-South leagues. In 1926 due to internal crises FIGC changed internal settings adding southern teams to the national divisions which lead to 1929-30 final settlement. No title was awarded in 1927 after Torino were stripped of the championship by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC). Torino were declared champions in the 1948-49 season following a plane crash near the end of the season in which the entire team was killed.

The Serie A Championship title is often referred to as the scudetto (small shield) because since the 1924–25 season the winning team will bear a small coat of arms with the Italian tricolour on their strip in the following season. The most successful club is Juventus with 30 championships, followed by Milan (18), Internazionale (18), and Genoa (9). From 2004–05 onwards an actual trophy was awarded to club on the pitch after the last turn of the championship. The trophy, called Coppa Campioni d'Italia, is official since the 1960–61 season, but between 1961 and 2004 it was consigned to the winning clubs at the head office of the Lega Nazionale Professionisti.

On 30 April 2009, Serie A announced a split from Serie B. Nineteen of the twenty clubs voted in favour of the move in an argument over television rights. Relegation-threatened Lecce voted against. Maurizio Beretta, the former head of Italy's employers' association, became president of the new league.[17][18][19][20]

Television rights[edit]

In the past individual clubs competing in the league had the rights to sell their broadcast rights to specific channels in Italy, unlike in most other European countries. The three broadcasters in Italy are the satellite broadcaster SKY Italia, along with terrestrial broadcasters Mediaset Premium and Dahlia TV for their own pay television networks; RAI is allowed to broadcast only highlights (in exclusive from 13:30 to 22:30 CET). This is a list of television rights in Italy (until 2009–2010):

For the 2010–11 and 2011–12 seasons, Serie A clubs negotiating club TV rights collectively rather than individually for the first time since 1998–99. The domestic rights for those two seasons were sold for €1.149bn to Sky Italia.[21]


Global rights for the 2010–11 and 2011–12 seasons were sold for €181.5M to MP & Silva.[22]

In countries and territories outside of Italy, the league is broadcast on adventure time Raitalia (numerous countries in several continents), BT Sport (United Kingdom), Setanta Sports (Ireland), Canal+ (Spain), beIN Sport USA (United States as well as Canada while not having a broadcast channel), TV Esporte Interativo, Fox Sports (Brazil), ESPN Latin America (Latin America (except Brazil)), CCTV5 (China), KBS Sports (South Korea), Al Jazeera Sports (Middle East and North Africa), Astro SuperSport (Malaysia), Kompas TV (Indonesia), Neo Sports, TrueVisions (Thailand), mio TV (Singapore), TEN Sports (India), ESPN STAR (India), Fox Sports (Netherlands), Canal+ Poland (Poland), NTV Turkey (Turkey), bTV Action and RING.BG (Bulgaria), Digi Sport (Romania), Arena Sport, Sport Klub (Serbia), SuperSport (Albania), Supersport Kosova (Kosovo), In televizija (Montenegro), Telelatino, Sport 5 (Israel), HiTV (Nigeria), Sport1 (Lithuania), Canal9 (Denmark and Norway) and Sportbox (Mongolia).

In the 1990s Serie A was at its most popular in the UK when it was shown on Channel 4, although it has actually appeared on more UK channels than any other league, rarely staying in one place for long since 2002. Serie A has appeared in the UK on BSB Sports Channel (1990–91), Sky Sports (1991–92), Channel 4 (1992–2002), Eurosport (2002–04), Setanta Sports and Bravo (2004–07), Channel Five (2007–08), ESPN (2009–13) and BT Sport (since 2013). In Mexico, Televisa Deportes Network HD two games delay in the week.


Club Winners Runners-up Championship seasons
1926-27, 1927–28, 1942–43, 1945–46, 1946–47, 1947–48, 1948–49, 1975–76
Pro Vercelli
1941–42, 1982–83, 2000–01
1973–74, 1999–00
1955–56, 1968–69
1986–87, 1989–90
1921–22 (FIGC)
Hellas Verona

Bold indicates clubs currently playing in the top division.

  • The 2004-05 and 2005-06 titles were initially won by Juventus but were rescinded due to the Calciopoli scandal. The 2004-05 title remained unassigned while the 2005-06 title was awarded to Internazionale.
  • A decoration was awarded to Spezia in 2002 by FIGC for the 1944 wartime championship. However, the Federation has stated that it cannot be considered as a scudetto.
  • The 1926–27 title was initially won by Torino, but was rescinded due to the Allemandi match fixing scandal.

Serie A clubs[edit]

For more details see List of Italian Football Championship clubs


Seasons in Serie A[edit]


Serie A members for 2014–15[edit]

The following twenty clubs will complete in Serie A during the 2014–15 season.

Finishing position
in 2013–14
First season in Serie A First season of current spell in Serie A
Atalanta 11th 1937–38 2011–12
Cagliari 15th 1964–65 2004–05
Cesena Serie B, 4th1 1973–74 2014–15
Chievo 16th 2001–02 2008–09
Empoli Serie B Runner-Up 1986–87 2014–15
Fiorentina 4th 1931–32 2004–05
Genoa 14th 1929–30 2007–08
Internazionale 5th 1929–30 1929–30
Juventus Champions 1929–30 2007–08
Lazio 9th 1929–30 1988–89
Milan 8th 1929–30 1983–84
Napoli 3rd 1929–30 2007–08
Palermo Serie B Champions 1932–33 2014–15
Parma 6th 1990–91 2009–10
Roma 2nd 1929–30 1952–53
Sampdoria 12th 1946–47 2012–13
Sassuolo 17th 2013–14 2013–14
Torino 7th 1929–30 2012–13
Udinese 13th 1950–51 1995–96
Verona 10th 1957–58 2013–14

1 Promoted as playoff winner.


Further information: Football records in Italy
Top 10 Players With Most Appearances[23]
Last updated as of 13 September 2014
Player Period Club(s) Games
1 Italy Paolo Maldini 1984–2009 Milan 647
2 Argentina Javier Zanetti 1995–2014 Internazionale 615
3 Italy Gianluca Pagliuca 1987–2007 Sampdoria, Internazionale, Bologna, Ascoli 592
4 Italy Dino Zoff 1961–1983 Udinese, Mantova, Napoli, Juventus 570
5 Italy Francesco Totti 1992– Roma 562
7 Italy Roberto Mancini 1981–2001 Bologna, Sampdoria, Lazio 541
8 Italy Silvio Piola 1929–1954 Pro Vercelli, Lazio, Juventus, Novara 537
9 Italy Enrico Albertosi 1958–1980 Fiorentina, Cagliari, Milan 532
10 Italy Gianni Rivera 1958–1979 Alessandria, Milan 527
Silvio Piola is the highest goalscorer of Serie A with 274 goals.
Top 10 Goalscorers[24]
Last updated as of 4 May 2014
Player Period Club(s) Goals
2 Italy Francesco Totti 1992– Roma 235
3 Sweden Gunnar Nordahl 1948–1958 Milan, Roma 225
5 Italy Giuseppe Meazza 1929–1947 Internazionale, Milan, Juventus 216
7 Italy Antonio Di Natale 2002– Empoli, Udinese 200
10 Italy Alessandro Del Piero 1993–2012 Juventus 188


Non-EU players[edit]

Unlike La Liga, which imposed a quota on the number of non-EU players on each club, Serie A clubs could sign as many non-EU players as available on domestic transfer. But since the 2003–04 season a quota has been imposed on each of the clubs limiting the number of non-EU, non-EFTA and non-Swiss players who may be signed from abroad each season,[25] following provisional measures[26] were had been introduced in the 2002–03 season, which allowed Serie A & B clubs to sign only one non-EU player in the 2002 summer transfer window.

In the middle of the 2000–01 season, the old quota system was abolished, which no longer limited each team to having more than 5 non-EU players and using no more than 3 in each match.[26][27] Concurrent with the abolishment of the quota, FIGC had investigated footballers that used fake passports. Alberto and Warley, Alejandro Da Silva and Jorginho Paulista of Udinese,[28] Fábio Júnior and Gustavo Bartelt of Roma,[29] Dida of Milan, Álvaro Recoba of Inter, Thomas Job, Francis Zé, Jean Ondoa of Sampdoria, Jeda and Dede of Vicenza were banned in July 2001, for 6 months to 1 year.[30] However, most of the bans were subsequently reduced.

The number of non-EU players was reduced from 265 in 2002–03 season to 166 in 2006–07 season.[31] It also included players got EU status after their countries joined the EU (see 2004 and 2007 enlargement), which made players such as Adrian Mutu, Valeri Bojinov, Marek Jankulovski and Marius Stankevičius no longer non-EU players.

The rule underwent minor changes in August 2004,[32] June 2005,[33] June 2006.[34][35] and June 2007.[36]

Since the 2008–09 season, 3 quotas have been awarded to clubs that do not have non-EU players in their squad (previously only newly promoted clubs could had 3 quota); clubs that have one non-EU player have 2 quotas. Those clubs that have 2 non-EU players, are awarded 1 quota and 1 conditional quota, which is awarded after: 1) Transferred 1 non-EU player abroad, or 2) Release 1 non-EU player as free agent, or 3) A non-EU player received EU nationality. Clubs with 3 or more non-EU players, have 2 conditional quotas, but releasing two non-EU players as free agent, will only have 1 quota instead of 2.[37] Serie B and Lega Pro clubs cannot sign non-EU player from abroad, except those followed the club promoted from Serie D.

Big clubs with many foreigners, usually borrow quotas from other clubs that have few foreigners or no foreigners, in order to sign more non-EU players. Adrian Mutu joined Juventus via Livorno in 2005, at that time Romania was not a member of the EU. Other cases include Júlio César, Victor Obinna and Maxwell who joined Internazionale from Chievo (first two) and Empoli respectively.

On 2 July 2010, the above conditional quota reduced back to 1, however if a team did not have any non-EU players, that team could still sign up to 3 non-EU players.[38][39][40]

FIFA World Players of the Year[edit]

1Player was a member of the club for the first half of the calendar year (The second part of a finished season - January to May)
2Player was a member of the club for the second half of the calendar year (The first part of a new season - August to December)

Official match ball[edit]

  • 2007–2008: Nike T90 Aerow II
  • 2008–2009: Nike T90 Omni
  • 2009–2010: Nike T90 Ascente
  • 2010–2011: Nike T90 Tracer
  • 2011–2012: Nike Seitiro
  • 2012–2013: Nike Maxim
  • 2013–2014: Nike Incyte
  • 2014–2015: Nike Ordem

UEFA ranking[edit]

UEFA Country Ranking at the end of the 2013-14 season: Last updated 5 May 2014

(see UEFA coefficients full list for more information)

Hours of Serie A[edit]

From 1929 to 1993, Serie A matches were played at the same hour: on Sunday afternoon, at 2:30 or 4:30 (according to sunlight). In 1993-94 season, Lega Calcio brought a notable edit: the deferred match, played on Sunday evening at 8:30 (8:45 from 2009-10). The format changed again in 1999-2000, due to entering of pay television in domestic football.

  • Two matches are played on Saturday: the first game at 6 p.m, the second at 8:45;
  • The most part of a matchday is played on Sunday, at 3 p.m: deferred match is still present.

From 2004, due to the presence of 20 teams, is also possible to play in midweek: the most part of matchday is played on Wednesday evening, with some matches on Tuesday and on Thursday (at the same hour). In 2010, "lunch match" has been introduced: a match can be played on Sunday at 12:30 a.m. Finally, in a few matchdays, is also possible that matches are played on Friday or on Monday evening.[41]

List of Lega Serie A presidents[edit]

See also[edit]


  1. ^ "Member associations - Italy - Honours –". 
  2. ^ Kevin Ashby (2007-05-24). "Serie A reiterates star quality". Retrieved 2007-08-13. 
  3. ^ "UEFA Country Ranking 2011". Retrieved 9 August 2010. 
  4. ^ "The English Premier League is no more the No.1 of the world !" (in Italian). IHHS. 22 July 2010. Retrieved 9 August 2010. 
  5. ^ "Page 21: official statistical records recognized by FIGC" (PDF). Retrieved 2010-10-03. 
  6. ^ "G-14's members". Retrieved 12 September 2006. 
  13. ^ "FIFA Club World Championship TOYOTA Cup: Solidarity – the name of the game" (PDF). FIFA Activity Report 2005 (Zurich: Fédération Internationale de Football Association): 62. April 2004 – May 2005. Retrieved 17 December 2012. 
  16. ^ [1], [2]
  21. ^ "Italian clubs cross fingers over TV ruling". FourFourTwo ( 13 May 2010. Retrieved 5 January 2011. 
  22. ^ "Serie A TV rights sell for 181.5 million". FourFourTwo ( 6 November 2009. Retrieved 27 December 2010. 
  31. ^ "COMUNICATO STAMPA: CONSIGLIO FEDERALE". FIGC (in Italian). 21 June 2007. Retrieved 17 July 2010. 
  32. ^ "Comunicato n° 090 del 25 agosto 2004". FIGC (in Italian). 25 August 2004. Retrieved 6 December 2010. 
  33. ^ "Comunicato n° 225 del 13 giugno 2005". FIGC (in Italian). 13 June 2005. Retrieved 6 December 2010. 
  34. ^ "Comunicato n° 7 dell' 8 giugno 2006". FIGC (in Italian). 8 June 2006. Retrieved 6 December 2010. 
  35. ^ "Comunicato n° 8 dell' 8 giugno 2006". FIGC (in Italian). 8 June 2006. Retrieved 6 December 2010. 
  36. ^ "Comunicato n° 023/A del 21 giugno 2007". FIGC (in Italian). 21 June 2007. Retrieved 6 December 2010. 
  37. ^ "Comunicato n° 003/A del 3 luglio 2008/" (in Italian). FIGC. 2008-07-03. Retrieved 2010-02-01. 
  38. ^ "CONSIGLIO FEDERALE". FIGC (in Italian). 2 July 2010. Retrieved 3 July 2010. 
  40. ^ "CU N°6/A (2010–11 season)". FIGC (in Italian). 5 July 2010. Retrieved 13 November 2011. 
  41. ^ In 2003 UEFA gave to European federations the chance to change the hour of matches, according to the weather: for example, in August matches can be played at 6 or 7 p.m (instead at 3) due to warm. During the winter, matches can be played at 5 or 6 p.m (than to 8:45) due to cold.
  42. ^ "Lega di A: gli organi dirigenti". FC Internazionale Milano (in Italian) ( 1 July 2010. Retrieved 2 July 2010. 
  43. ^ "Comunicato Ufficiale n° 1". Comunicati Segreteria - Lega Serie A (in Italian). 1 July 2010. Retrieved 2 July 2010. 

External links[edit]