Lega Serie A
Encyclopedia
The Lega Nazionale Professionisti Serie A (Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

 for National League of Professionals Serie A), commonly known as Lega Serie A (Serie A League), is the governing body that runs the major professional football competitions in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, most prominently the Serie A
Serie A
Serie A , now 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 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...

.

It was founded on 1 July 2010. In the past the television rights of the Serie A clubs were sold separately , and the league "Serie A" had to financial support Serie B through divided part of the Serie A TV revenues to Serie B clubs. On 30 April 2009, Serie A announced a split from Serie B. Nineteen of the twenty clubs voted in favour of the move. Relegation-threatened Lecce voted against.

The governing body took over most of the competitions formerly held by Lega Calcio
Lega Nazionale Professionisti
The Lega Nazionale Professionisti , commonly known as Lega Calcio , was the governing body that ran the two highest football divisions in Italy, namely Serie A and Serie B, from 1946 to 2010...

, namely Serie A
Serie A
Serie A , now 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 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...

, Coppa Italia
Coppa Italia
The Coppa Italia is an Italian football annual cup competition. Its first edition was held in 1922, but the second champions were not crowned until 1936. Roma and Juventus lead the way with nine wins. Roma has contested more finals, 16, while Torino and Juventus follow with 13...

, Supercoppa Italiana
Supercoppa Italiana
The Supercoppa Italiana is a pre-season football competition held the week before the season begins in Italy every year. It is contested by the winners of the Serie A and the Coppa Italia in the previous season, as a curtain raiser to the new season. It is usually played at the home of the Serie A...

, and youth competitions Campionato Nazionale Primavera, Coppa Italia Primavera
Coppa Italia Primavera
The Coppa Italia Primavera is an Italian football competition played for by youth teams from Campionato Primavera. All players are under 20 of age. The first edition was held in the 1972-73 season....

, and Supercoppa Primavera
Supercoppa Primavera
The Supercoppa Primavera is an Italian youth teams football match played by the winner of Campionato Primavera and the winner of Coppa Italia Primavera at the beginning of the season.The competition is held since 2004....

. The Serie B
Serie B
Serie B, currently named Serie bwin due to sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It is contested by 22 teams and organized by the Lega Serie B since July 2010, after the split of Lega Calcio that previously took care of both the...

, instead, is now organised by the newly-born Lega Serie B
Lega Serie B
The Lega Nazionale Professionisti Serie B , commonly known as Lega Serie B , is the governing body that runs the second tier of professional football competitions in Italy, the Serie B.It was founded on 7 July 2010, following a split between Serie A and Serie B clubs, which led to the dissolution...

.

League

There are 20 clubs in Serie A. During the course of a season (generally from August to May) each club plays the others twice (a double round robin system), once at their home stadium and once at that of their opponents, for a total of 38 games. Teams receive three points for a win and one point for a draw; no points are awarded for a loss. Teams are ranked by total points; the club with the most points is crowned champion at the end of each season. If two teams are equal on points, they're ranked by points scored in head-to-head matches, then by goal difference
Goal difference
In sports such as ice hockey and association football, goal difference is often the first tiebreaker used to rank teams which finish a league competition with an equal number of points....

 in said games, then by goal difference in all games and then by total numbers of goals scored. If still equal, teams are deemed to occupy the same position. However, if following the application of the above-mentioned tiebreaker criteria there is still a tie for the championship, for relegation, or for qualification to other competitions, positions will be decided by drawing of lots. The three lowest placed teams are relegated
Promotion and relegation
In many sports leagues around the world, promotion and relegation is a process that takes place at the end of each season. Through it, teams are transferred between divisions based on their performance that season...

 in Serie B
Serie B
Serie B, currently named Serie bwin due to sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It is contested by 22 teams and organized by the Lega Serie B since July 2010, after the split of Lega Calcio that previously took care of both the...

 and the top two teams from Serie B, together with the winner of play-offs involving the third to sixth placed clubs, are promoted in their place.

Cup

The Lega Serie A organizes the main Italian cup competition, the Coppa Italia
Coppa Italia
The Coppa Italia is an Italian football annual cup competition. Its first edition was held in 1922, but the second champions were not crowned until 1936. Roma and Juventus lead the way with nine wins. Roma has contested more finals, 16, while Torino and Juventus follow with 13...

, which is open also to all Serie B clubs and some clubs from the Lega Pro and the LND
Lega Nazionale Dilettanti
The Lega Nazionale Dilettanti is the giant league which rules the amatorial football of FIGC in Italy.Founded in 1959 in Rome, it has many leagues inside: a national league, the Interregional Commettee, which organizes the Serie D championship from 1981, nineteen regional leagues called Regional...

.

Super Cup

The Lega Serie A also organizes the Supercoppa Italiana
Supercoppa Italiana
The Supercoppa Italiana is a pre-season football competition held the week before the season begins in Italy every year. It is contested by the winners of the Serie A and the Coppa Italia in the previous season, as a curtain raiser to the new season. It is usually played at the home of the Serie A...

, a yearly match between the champions of the Serie A and the winners of the Coppa Italia.

Youth competitions

Youth teams of Lega Serie A clubs play in the Campionato Nazionale Primavera, as well as competing in their own cup competitions, such as the Coppa Italia Primavera
Coppa Italia Primavera
The Coppa Italia Primavera is an Italian football competition played for by youth teams from Campionato Primavera. All players are under 20 of age. The first edition was held in the 1972-73 season....

 and the Supercoppa Primavera
Supercoppa Primavera
The Supercoppa Primavera is an Italian youth teams football match played by the winner of Campionato Primavera and the winner of Coppa Italia Primavera at the beginning of the season.The competition is held since 2004....

.

Footballs

The Nike
Nike, Inc.
Nike, Inc. is a major publicly traded sportswear and equipment supplier based in the United States. The company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, which is part of the Portland metropolitan area...

 Seitiro is the official match football of the Lega Serie A and is used by all 20 teams in league games. The same football is used in all Coppa Italia
Coppa Italia
The Coppa Italia is an Italian football annual cup competition. Its first edition was held in 1922, but the second champions were not crowned until 1936. Roma and Juventus lead the way with nine wins. Roma has contested more finals, 16, while Torino and Juventus follow with 13...

 games and the Supercoppa Italiana
Supercoppa Italiana
The Supercoppa Italiana is a pre-season football competition held the week before the season begins in Italy every year. It is contested by the winners of the Serie A and the Coppa Italia in the previous season, as a curtain raiser to the new season. It is usually played at the home of the Serie A...

.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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