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TheItalian football league system, also known as theItalian football pyramid, refers to the hierarchically interconnectedleague system forassociation football in Italy. It consists of nine national and regional tournaments, the first three being professional, while the remaining six are amateur, set up by theItalian Football Federation. One team fromSan Marino also competes. The system has a hierarchical format withpromotion and relegation between different divisions.
In theory, it is possible for a local amateur club to rise to the pinnacle of the Italian game and win theScudetto. While this is unlikely in practice, movement within the pyramid does occur. A notable example isAC ChievoVerona, which from the lower division went to Serie A, the highest level, reaching as high as 4th place in2005–06 Serie A. The top two levels contain one division each. Below this, the levels have progressively more parallel divisions, which each cover progressively smaller geographic areas.
TheGenoa Cricket and Athletic Club, later known as theGenoa Cricket and Football Club was established on 7 September 1893, Italy's fourth oldest football team (after Torino F.C.C., Nobili Torino andInternazionale Torino), and the oldest active Italian football team, with 13 decades of activity.[1] In March 1898, theItalian Football Federation (Federazione Italiana del Football, in 1909 re-namedFederazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio,FIGC) was set up inTurin. Four clubs joined– Genoa,FC Torinese,Internazionale di Torino and theSocietà Ginnastica di Torino (Gymnastic Society of Torino). Other clubs existed but decided not to join. The first championship took place on a single day, May 8, 1898, in Torino. The title was won by Genoa.
The FIF joinedFIFA in 1905 and the championship moved to a regional league set up in the same year.
After the interruption ofWorld War I, football popularity grew and smaller clubs joined. In the summer of 1921, a second association was briefly created in competition with the FIGC: theConfederazione Calcistica Italiana (CCI), emerged from an argument between major and minor clubs over the structure of the national leagues. Hence in 1922 Italy had two championsUS Pro Vercelli andUS Novese. The two groups eventually re-merged at the end of the season.
The restructure to form a single national league structure occurred in 1929. At national level, two hierarchical divisions were initially formed with promotion and relegation between two divisions namedSerie A andSerie B. Initially eighteen teams were in Serie A. The first Serie A winners were Internazionale in 1930. The national team also won theWorld Cup in 1934 and 1938.
AfterWorld War II the league briefly returned to a regional structure with a north–south divide and a play-off for a single year beforeSerie A was restored.Torino were the first post-war league champions and went on to win four in a row. However, it isJuventus,Milan andInternazionale that have dominated the league since World War II, having won the title in 57 of the 74 seasons.
The current league system dates back to 1978, when semi-professional sector was disbanded. In that year, the currentLega Pro (then known asNational Semiprofessional League) which ruledSerie C andSerie D, turned in a fully professional league organizing newSerie C1 andSerie C2. Italy so became the only country having two distinct professional football leagues, 14 years beforeEngland. In 2010, with the split betweenLega Serie A andLega Serie B, Italy became the sole country with three professional leagues. TheSerie C was brought back in 2014, abolishing Serie C1 and Serie C2.[2]
The system uses the principle ofpromotion and relegation. The first tier of Italian football isSerie A, which is governed by theLega Nazionale Professionisti Serie A and is made up of 20 teams. The second tier isSerie B, which is organised by theLega Nazionale Professionisti B. Both of these leagues cover the whole of Italy.
The third tier isSerie C. It is run by theLega Italiana Calcio Professionistico; it has three divisions of 20 clubs each, which are generally split on the basis of location.
At the fourth tier isSerie D, a league of nine parallel divisions (in which the clubs are divided by geographical location) that is organised by theDipartimento Interregionale of theLega Nazionale Dilettanti. Beneath these are five further levels; three of them,Eccellenza,Promozione andPrima Categoria, are organised byregional committees of the Lega Nazionale Dilettanti; and the last two levels,Seconda Categoria andTerza Categoria, byprovincial committees.
All 100 Serie A, Serie B and Serie C teams areprofessional.
| Level | Divisions | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Professional Leagues | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1 | Serie A (One national division, 20 clubs) | ||||||||||||||||||
| 2 | Serie B (One national division, 20 clubs) | ||||||||||||||||||
| 3 | Serie C (3 interregional divisions of 20 clubs each) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Non-professional Leagues | |||||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Serie D (9 interregional divisions, 18 clubs per division) | ||||||||||||||||||
| 5 | Eccellenza (28 regional divisions, 16–18 clubs per division) | ||||||||||||||||||
| 6 | Promozione (53 regional divisions, 14–18 clubs per division) | ||||||||||||||||||
| 7 | Prima Categoria (105 regional divisions, 16 clubs per division) | ||||||||||||||||||
| 8 | Seconda Categoria (182 regional/provincial divisions, 16 clubs per division) | ||||||||||||||||||
| 9 | Terza Categoria (232 provincial divisions, 6–18 clubs per division) | ||||||||||||||||||
From2005—2006 season, if two or more teams end the league with the same number of points, the final place is given from following criteria (that count for every division):
The women's system is divided into five levels. From 2002 to 2013, theSerie A2 existed between the Serie A and B, but it has since been renamed to B.
Starting from the2022-2023 season, the Women's Serie A adopt a new format and become a professional league.[3][4]
| Level | Divisions | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Professional Leagues | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1 | Serie A One national division, 12 clubs | ||||||||||||||||||
| Non-professional Leagues | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2 | Serie B One national division, 14 clubs 12-16 clubs from 2018 to 2025 season (3–4 interregional divisions from 1970 to 2018)[5] | ||||||||||||||||||
| 3 | Serie C 4 interregional divisions, 12–14 clubs per division from his foundation in 2018 (Highest regional leagues until the 2017–18 season) | ||||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Eccellenza 19 regional divisions (Highest regional leagues from 2018 to 2019; from 1978 to 2018 asSerie C) | ||||||||||||||||||
| 5 | Promozione Regional divisions (Lowest regional leagues;[6] until the 2017–18 season asSerie D) | ||||||||||||||||||
