Serie A


The Serie A, officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest level of the Italian football league system. Established in the 1929–30 season, it restructured the existing Italian Football Championship, which had been played since 1898, into a national round-robin format alongside Serie B. It functions under a promotion and relegation system with Serie B.
The league was organised by the Direttorio Divisioni Superiori until 1943, the Lega Calcio from 1946 to 2010, and the Lega Serie A ever since. The 29 championships played from 1898 to the formation of the Serie A in 1929 are officially recognised by the Italian Football Federation as equal to later Serie A titles. Similarly the 1945–46 season, played under a temporary format due to World War II, is also recognized as an official championship. Since 1924, the winner of Italy's top division has worn the scudetto emblem on its kit in the following season, and since 1961, the Coppa Campioni d'Italia trophy has been awarded to the Serie A champion.
Known for tactical discipline and defensive rigor, the Serie A has been consistently ranked among the strongest leagues in global football. As of 2024–25, Serie A ranks second in the UEFA coefficient rankings based on performances in European competitions over the past five seasons, behind England's Premier League and ahead of Spain's La Liga.
The Serie A is home to several of football's most successful and renowned clubs, including Juventus, Inter Milan, and AC Milan. These teams have played key roles in European football governance and competition history. Juventus, the most decorated club in Italy, has achieved international success across all major UEFA and intercontinental tournaments. Milan and Inter have also earned significant honors, with Milan joint-third among clubs for most UEFA titles, and Inter achieving a continental treble in 2009–10. Alongside Roma, Napoli, Lazio, and Fiorentina, these clubs form the "seven sisters" of Italian football. The Serie A has historically attracted top global talent, producing numerous Ballon d'Or winners.

History

Predecessors to Serie A, 1898–1928

In the Italian football league system, the Federazione Italiana del Football, began organising football in Italy in 1898. Its first competition, the 1898 Italian Football Championship, was held at the Velodrome Humbert I in Turin on 8 May 1898. First in the List of Italian football champions is thus Genoa CFC, who won against three Turin based teams. Other Italian teams existed but hadn't joined at this stage. Genoa won the Italian Football Championship on five out of six occasions, interrupted by AC Milan in 1901.
From 1904, the tournament was named Prima Categoria, structured into regional groups. The winners of each group participated in a playoff to declare the champions.
The FIF joined FIFA and was renamed in 1909 to Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio. The FIGC usurped the rival Federazione Ginnastica Nazionale Italiana as a football administration. The FGNI organised football tournaments in Italy between 1895 and 1913.
Argument in 1921 on the number of teams to be allowed in the set up, led to a split forming the Confederazione Calcistica Italiana. In 1921–22 the CCI conducted a rival tournament named Prima Divisione with Northern Italy's wealthiest clubs, in opposition to the competition organised separately by the FIGC. The FIGC then accepted the Prima Divisione as the new format from 1922 to 1923 with its reduced number of teams.
Prima Divisione played from 1921 to 1926. Prima Divisione was divided into Lega Nord and Lega Sud. Lega Nord was divided into two non-regional, 12 team groups of which the winners played off in the Northern League Final. Lega Sud was sub-divided regionally with winners playing off in a finals series. The winners of the Northern and Southern Leagues then played off in the Finalissima, to be national champions.
In 1926 the Fascist regime placed the FIGC under control of politician Leandro Arpinati. Prima Divisione was replaced with Divisione Nazionale. Divisione Nazionale initially comprised the previous Liga Nord plus 2 of the 3 Roman teams that would merge in 1927 into AS Roma, and SSC Napoli. Divisione Nazionale was based as per the previous Lega Nord on two non-regional groups, now composed of only ten clubs each. The top 3 teams in each of the 2 groups then played in a round robin finals competition to decide the national champion.

Serie A formation

Italian football was re-organised in 1929 to form a national 2 division hierarchic meritocracy, with end of season promotion and relegation between the 2 divisions. The two new divisions were branded Serie A and Serie B. The inaugural Serie A was won by Internazionale during the period they were called Ambrosiana.
After World War II the North - South divisions of Divisione Nazionale were restored for the single 1945–46 season. Serie A was re-stored in 1946 and has continued to today.

Scudetto and Coppa Campioni d'Italia

The Italian league championship title is often referred to as the scudetto. That is since from 1923 to 1924 season, the winner of the Italian football league set up adorned a small coat of arms with the Italian tricolour on their strip in the following season.
An actual trophy is awarded to the winning club since 1960–61 season. The trophy is called the Coppa Campioni d'Italia. Until 2004 it was presented to the winning club at the head office of the Lega Nazionale Professionisti. Since then the trophy has been presented on-pitch at the end of the last round of games.

21st century

In 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; the relegation-threatened Lecce had voted against the decision. Maurizio Beretta, the former head of Italy's employers' association, became president of the new league.
In April 2016, it was announced that Serie A was selected by the International Football Association Board to test video replays, which were initially private for the 2016–17 season, allowing them to become a live pilot phase, with replay assistance implemented in the 2017–18 season. On the decision, FIGC President Carlo Tavecchio said: "We were among the first supporters of using technology on the pitch and we believe we have everything required to offer our contribution to this important experiment."
Serie A will continue the 20 club format after sixteen clubs voted against reducing the division to 18 teams in February 2024.

Format

For most of Serie A's history, there were 16 or 18 clubs competing at the top level. Since 2004–05, however, there have been 20 clubs in total. One season was played with 21 teams for political reasons, following post-war tensions with Yugoslavia. Below is a complete record of how many teams played in each season throughout the league's history:
  • 18 clubs: 1929–1934
  • 16 clubs: 1934–1943
  • 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
During the season, which runs from August to May, each club plays each of the other teams twice; once at home and once away, totalling 38 games for each team by the end of the season. Thus, 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 another 19 games, once more against each opponent, in which home and away matches are reversed. The two halves of the season had exactly the same order of fixtures until the 2021–22 season, when an asymmetrical calendar was introduced, following the format of the English, Spanish and French leagues. Since the 1994–95 season, teams are awarded three points for a win, one point for a draw, and no points for a loss. Prior to this, a win was worth two points. The three lowest-placed teams at the end of the season are relegated to Serie B, and three Serie B teams are promoted to replace them for the next season.

European qualification

In 2023–24, Serie A was ranked as the best league by UEFA coefficient. This was due to a combination of all seven Serie A teams progressing into the knockout stages in European competition, picking up extra coefficient points. Additionally, Atalanta won the Europa League Final and Fiorentina were losing finalists in the UEFA Europa Conference League. This continued a strong recent record where five of the six European club finals have featured at least one Serie A side over the past two seasons. As a result of this ranking the top 5 clubs in Serie A qualify for the Champions League in 2024.

Tiebreaking

If after all 38 games, two teams are tied on points for either first place or for 17th, the outcome is decided by a single-legged play-off match. This match consists of 90 minutes of regulation time followed by penalties if necessary. The game is to be held at a neutral venue, with the designated "home" team determined by the performance-based criteria listed below. In cases where there are at least three teams tied for one of these positions, a mini table is created using the same tiebreakers to determine which two teams will play in the decider. For ties concerning all other league positions, the following tiebreakers are applied:
  1. Head-to-head points
  2. Goal difference of head-to-head games
  3. Goal difference overall
  4. Higher number of goals scored
  5. Play-off game at a neutral venue if relevant to decide European qualification or relegation; otherwise by coin flip
Between 2006–07 and 2021–22, the tiebreakers currently used for all places to decide the scudetto winner if necessary, though this was never needed. Before 2005–06, a play-off would immediately be used if teams were tied for first place, a European qualification spot, or a relegation spot. In some past years, the playoff was a single game at a neutral site while in others it was a two-legged tie decided by aggregate score.
The only time a playoff was used to decide the champion occurred in the 1963–64 season when Bologna and Inter both finished on 54 points. Bologna won the playoff 2–0 at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome to win the scudetto. Playoff games have been used on multiple occasions to decide European competition qualifications and relegation.