 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Lega Pro" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(March 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico | |
 | |
| Abbreviation | LICP |
|---|---|
| Predecessor | Lega IV Serie |
| Founded | 1959 |
| Headquarters | Florence |
Region served | Italy |
| Products | Serie C Coppa Italia Serie C Campionato Primavera 3 |
| Membership | 60 clubs |
President | Matteo Marani |
Parent organization | FIGC |
| Website | LegaPro.com |
The Lega Italiano Calcio Professionistico (Italian for Professional Football Italian League), commonly known asLega Pro[1] (Pro League), is the governing body that runs the third tier of professionalfootball competitions in Italy, theSerie C. It used several names in the past, includingLega Professionisti Serie C. It is a full member ofEuropean Leagues.[2]
The league was created in 1959 asLega Nazionale Semiprofessionisti by theFIGC CommissionerBruno Zauli on the base of the old Lega IV Serie. The League managed threeSerie C and sixSerie D groups with 162 clubs.[3] The league was intermediate between professionals and amateurs. Former C clubs protested for their lostLega Calcio membership, and they spent the following twenty years to regain a professional status. The league, led byArtemio Franchi, was expanded in 1967 to 222 clubs. A new reform in 1978 abolished the Serie D and divided the C into two fully professional championships, theSerie C1 and theSerie C2, with 108 members in six groups. The new name wasLega Nazionale Serie C, and its status became professional. After 2000 the Serie C2 was reduced and later abolished in 2014, to give way to aSerie C in three groups.
