Serie A
| Countries | Italy |
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| Confederation | UEFA |
| Founded | 1898 |
| Number of teams | 20 |
| Relegation to | Serie B |
| Level on pyramid | Level 1 |
| Domestic cup(s) | Coppa Italia Supercoppa Italiana |
| International cup(s) | Champions League UEFA Cup Intertoto Cup |
| Current champions | F.C. Internazionale Milano (2007-08) |
| Most successful club | Juventus F.C. (27 titles) |
| Website | http://www.lega-calcio.it |
 2008-09 season |
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Serie A (officially known as the Lega Calcio Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top echelon of the Italian football league system. It is widely regarded as one of the elite leagues of the footballing world. Historically, Serie A has produced the highest number of European Cup finalists. In total Italian clubs have reached the final of the competition on a record of twenty-five different occasions, winning the title eleven times.[1] As of 2008, Serie A is ranked third among European leagues by UEFA, based on the performance of Italian clubs in the Champions League and the UEFA Cup. [2]
In its current format, the Italian Football Championship was revised from having regional and interregional rounds, to just one solid league for the 1929–30 season onwards; the Serie A system carries on today. The championship titles won before 1929 are officially recognised by FIGC as a championship in the same way the ones since then are.
The league hosts some of the world's most famous clubs: Juventus, Milan, Inter, Roma, Lazio and Napoli. Juventus, Milan and Inter were all founding members of the G-14 a group representing the largest and most prestigious European football clubs; Serie A was the only league to produce three founding members.[3] More players have won the coveted Ballon d'Or award while playing at a Serie A club than any other league in the world.[4] AC Milan is one of two clubs with the most official international titles in the world.[5] Juventus, the most winning Italian team, is tied for third in Europe and tied sixth in the world in the same ranking. They are also the only club on the planet[6] to have won all official club competitions.[7]
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Format
For most of Serie A's history there have been 16 or 18 clubs competing at the top level; however since 2004–05 there have been 20 clubs altogether. Below is a complete record of how many teams have played in each season throughout the league's history;
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During the course of a season, 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. In Italian football, a true round-robin format is used. In the first half of the season, called andata in Italy, each team plays exactly one time against each league opponent, a total of 19 games. In the second half of the season, called 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 1994 teams are awarded three points for a win, one point for a draw, and no points for a loss.
Since Italy is currently rated as one of the top three European countries in terms of club football ratings, the top four teams in the Serie A qualify for the UEFA Champions League. The top two teams qualify directly to the group phase, while the third and fourth placed teams enter the competition at the third qualifying round and must win a two-legged knockout tie in order to enter the group phase. Teams finishing 5th and 6th qualify for the UEFA Cup Tournament. A third UEFA Cup spot is reserved for the winner of the Coppa Italia. If the Coppa Italia champion has already qualified for one of the two European tournaments by placing in the top six of Serie A, the third UEFA Cup spot goes to the losing finalist. If both Coppa Italia finalists finish among the top six teams in Serie A, the 7th classified team in Serie A is awarded the UEFA Cup 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 the relegation zone, teams would play tie-breaking games after the season was over to determine which team would be champion, or be awarded a European tournament spot, or be saved or relegated. Since 2005–06, if two or more teams end the season with the same number of points, the ordering is determined by their head-to-head records. In case two or more teams have same total points and same head-to-head records, goal difference becomes the secondary deciding factor.
The Golden Star
In 1958, based on an idea of Umberto Agnelli, the honor of Golden Star for Sports Excellence ("Stella d’Oro al Merito Sportivo" in Italian) was introduced to recognize sides that have won multiple championships or other honours by the display of gold stars on their team crests and jerseys. In Italy, the practice is to award one star for ten titles. The first team to adopt a star was Juventus in Italy and Europe[9], who added a star above their crest in 1958 to represent their tenth Serie A title. In 1982, they received their second golden star for having won their 20th league title.
The current (as of May 2008) officially-sanctioned Lega Calcio Serie A stars are:
Juventus (27; received in 1958 and 1982).- Milan (17, received in 1979).
- Internazionale (16, received in 1966).
History
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 F.C. with 27 championships, followed by A.C. Milan (17), Internazionale Milano (16) and Genoa C&FC (9). From 2004-05 onwards an actual trophy was awarded to club on the field 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 offices of Lega calcio in Milan.
Television rights
As of 2007 individual clubs competing in the league have 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 channel, Sky Italia, along with terrestrial broadcasters Mediaset and La7 (owned by Telecom Italia).
In countries outside of Italy, the league is broadcast on RAI International (numerous countries in several continents), KBS Sports (South Korea), Trans 7 (Indonesia), NTV Turkey (Turkey), Telma [1] (Macedonia), Telelatino (Canada), FSC (United States), TV Esporte Interativo, Rede Bandeirantes, ESPN Brasil (Brazil) and ESPN Latin America (Latin America).
In Australia Serie A is broadcast by Setanta Sports Australia (the home games of the bottom 10 teams in the league) with 2 live games per week, ESPN Australia (the home games of the top 10 teams in the league) with 3 live games per week and RAI International with 4 live games per week.
Champions
| Club | Winners | Runners-up | Winning seasons |
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| Juventus |
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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, 2004–05(revoked) |
| Milan |
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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 |
| Internazionale |
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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 (assigned), 2006–07, 2007–08 |
| Genoa |
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1898, 1899, 1900, 1902, 1903, 1904, 1914–15 (assigned), 1922–23, 1923–24 |
| Torino |
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1927–28, 1942–43, 1945–46, 1946–47, 1947–48, 1948–49, 1975–76 |
| Bologna |
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1924–25, 1928–29, 1935–36, 1936–37, 1938–39, 1940–41, 1963–64 |
| Pro Vercelli |
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1908, 1909, 1910–11, 1911–12, 1912–13, 1920–21, 1921–22 (CCI) |
| Roma |
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1941–42, 1982–83, 2000–01 |
| Lazio |
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1973–74, 1999–00 |
| Fiorentina |
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1955–56, 1968–69 |
| Napoli |
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1986–87, 1989–90 |
| Cagliari |
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1969–70 |
| Casale |
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1913–14 |
| Novese |
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1921–22 (FIGC) |
| Sampdoria |
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1990–91 |
| Hellas Verona |
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1984–85 |
| Spezia |
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1944 |
Serie A clubs
- For more details see List of Italian Football Championship clubs
Prior to 1929, many clubs competed in the top level of Italian football (61 in total) as the earlier rounds were competed up to 1922 on a regional basis then interregional up to 1929. Below is a list of Serie A clubs who have competed in the competition when it has been a league format;
Seasons in Serie A
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The bolded teams compete in Serie A currently. Inter is now the only team to have played Serie A football in every season, following Juventus' FIGC-imposed relegation to Serie B after the 2005–06 season.
Serie A members for 2008–09
The following twenty clubs will be competing in Serie A during the 2008–09 season.
| Club |
Finishing position in 2007–08 |
First season in top division |
First season of current spell in top division |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atalanta | 9th | 1928–29 | 2006–07 |
| Bologna | 2nd in Serie B | 1910–11 | 2008–09 |
| Cagliari | 14th | 1963–64 | 2004–05 |
| Catania | 17th | 1954–55 | 2006–07 |
| Chievo Verona | 1st in Serie B | 2001–02 | 2008–09 |
| Fiorentina | 4th | 1931–32 | 2004–05 |
| Genoa | 10th | 1898 | 2007–08 |
| Internazionale | 1st | 1909 | 1909 |
| Juventus | 3rd | 1900 | 2007–08 |
| Lazio | 12th | 1913–14 | 1988–89 |
| Lecce | 3rd in Serie B | 1985–86 | 2008–09 |
| AC Milan | 5th | 1900 | 1983–84 |
| Napoli | 8th | 1912–13 | 2007–08 |
| Palermo | 11th | 1921–22 | 2004–05 |
| Reggina | 16th | 1999–00 | 2002–03 |
| Roma | 2nd | 1927–28 | 1952–53 |
| Sampdoria | 6th | 1946–47 | 2003–04 |
| Siena | 13th | 2003–04 | 2003–04 |
| Torino | 15th | 1907 | 2006–07 |
| Udinese | 7th | 1913–14 | 1995–96 |
Records
References and notes
- ↑ Kevin Ashby (2007-05-24). "Serie A reiterates star quality". UEFA.com. Retrieved on 2007-08-13.
- ↑ UEFA Country Ranking 2008
- ↑ "G-14's members". g14.com. Retrieved on 12 September, 2006.
- ↑ "European Footballer of the Year ("Ballon d'Or")". RSSSF.com. Retrieved on 17 December, 2007.
- ↑ "Milan top of the world!". Channel4.com. Retrieved on 17 December, 2007.
- ↑ "FIFA Classic Clubs: Juventus FC". FIFA Official Website. Retrieved on 2007-08-31.
- ↑ "UEFA club competitions press kit (.PDF archive, page 23)". UEFA Official Website. Retrieved on 2006-08-25.
- ↑ Two groups, North and South, then a final group
- ↑ FIFA.com article
See also
- List of foreign Serie A players
External links
- History
- Serie A — All results since 1929.
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Italian Football Championship seasons
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Other championships recognized by the Italian Football Federation
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Serie A seasons
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