2009–10 Lega Pro Prima Divisione
The 2009–10 Lega Pro Prima Divisione season was the thirty-second football league season of Italian Lega Pro Prima Divisione since its establishment in 1978, and the second since the renaming from Serie C to Lega Pro.
It was divided into two phases: the regular season, played from 23 August 2009 to May 2010, and the playoff phase from May to June 2010.
The league was contested by 36 teams, geographically divided into two divisions of 18 teams each. Teams only played other teams in their own division, once at home and once away for a total of 34 matches each.
Teams finishing first in the regular season, plus one team winning the playoff round from each division were promoted to Serie B; teams finishing last in the regular season, plus two relegation playoff losers from each division were relegated to Lega Pro Seconda Divisione. Four teams were thus promoted to Serie B and six teams were relegated to Lega Pro Seconda Divisione.
Events
Start of season
The league was to feature four teams relegated from Serie B in 2008–09; Rimini, Pisa, Avellino 1912|Avellino], and Treviso. On July 9, the Covisoc organization announced that Pisa, Avellino, and Treviso did not pass the financial requirements in order to be admitted to the league. The clubs were allowed to appeal the decision until 11 July. On 10 July, Pisa announced they were not appealing the exclusion from the league due to their failure to meet the financial requirements. The next day, Treviso and Avellino failed to appeal the exclusion as well.It is to feature six teams promoted from 2008–09 Lega Pro Seconda Divisione; the three division winners - Varese 1910|Varese], Figline & Cosenza, and the three playoff winners - Como, Giulianova & Pescina V.d.G.
The remaining 26 teams were to come from the teams that played in 2008–09 Lega Pro Prima Divisione that were neither promoted nor relegated. Of those, Venezia, and Perugia were also listed by the Covisoc organization as not having met the financial requirements to be admitted. On July 11, Venice mayor Massimo Cacciari announced Venezia did not manage to fulfil the financial requirements to appeal the exclusion. On the other hand, the commission did allow Perugia to remain in Prima Divisione on appeal.
On 30 July 2009, the four vacancies created were filled by the following teams, all of which were destined to play in Lega Pro Seconda Divisione for the 2009–10 season before the call-up:
- Potenza, which finished last in Prima Divisione 2008-09 - Girone B
- U.S. [Alessandria Calcio 1912|Alessandria], which lost in the playoff finals in Seconda Divisione 2008-09 - Girone A
- Andria BAT|Andria], which lost in the playoff semi-finals in Seconda Divisione 2008-09 - Girone C
- Viareggio, which lost in the playoff semi-finals in Seconda Divisione 2008-09 - Girone B
Exclusion of Potenza from the league
The verdict was however partly reverted on appeal later on 2 April, when the Tribunale Nazionale di Arbitrato per lo Sport admitted Potenza back to the league in order to allow the club complete the season; however the club will nevertheless appear as last-placed in the final table, regardless of the results from the coming games, thus forcing Potenza to play in the Lega Pro Seconda Divisione for the 2010–11 season.