Information AboutSerie A |
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Serie A (officially known as the '''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 . The league is widely regarded as one of the most elite in the footballing world. FORMAT There have been twenty clubs in Serie A since the 2004 - 05 season. During the course of a season (which lasts from August to May) each club plays the others twice: once at their home stadium and once at that of their opponent for a total of 38 games for each club, and a total of 380 games in a season. In Italian football, a true round-robin format is used. In the first half of the season, called 'andata', each team will play one time against all its opponents, a total of 19 games. In the second half of the season, called 'ritorno', each team will play the exact same teams in the exact same order, the only difference being that a home game played in the first half will be an away game with that same team in the second half, and vice versa. Teams receive three points for a win and one point for a draw. No points are awarded for a loss. "Spareggio" (playoff) was used if teams finished the season with the same total number of points. In season 2005-2006 "Playoffs" were abolished. Now Teams are ranked by total points, with "classifica avulsa" (a table where only head-to-head results between teams with the same total points are considered) used to separate teams on equal points. In case two or more teams have same total points and same "classifica avulsa" goal difference is used to separate them. The three lowest placed teams are Relegated into the Serie B . The top four teams in the Serie A qualify for the UEFA Champions League , with the top two teams directly entering the group phase. 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 Italian Cup; however, if both the Italian Cup finalists have already qualified for UEFA Champions League, the 7th classified team in Serie A gets the UEFA Cup spot. HISTORY Serie A, as it is structured today, began in 1929 . From 1898 to 1929 the competition was organised into regional groups. 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 the winning team will bear a small coat of arms with the Italian Tricolour on their strip in the following season. The most successful league club is Juventus F.C. with 27 championships, followed by A.C. Milan (17), Internazionale Milano (15) and Genoa C&FC (9). For every ten titles won, clubs are allowed to wear a Golden Star Above Their Club Badge ; so Juventus has two stars, while Milan and Internazionale have one star each. From 2004-05 onwards an actual trophy was instated and awarded to clubs, prior to this there was none. In 2006 the Serie A league was shaken by a Match-fixing Scandal . Juventus F.C. , A.C. Milan , S.S. Lazio , ACF Fiorentina and Reggina Calcio were put under trial, along with the referee designators and league managers. A first grade trial took away the last two titles from Juventus (the 2005 - 2006 title was awarded to Internazionale), put Milan out of European competition, and relegated Juventus to Serie B with a seventeen point penalty, and deducted points from Lazio, Milan, Fiorentina and Reggina for season 2006-07 . On appeal the relegation of Juventus was upheld, but their points deduction was reduced to nine. Lazio and Fiorentina were reinstated into Serie A, and Milan were allowed into the Champions League (though at the third qualifying round instead of directly into the group stage). [http://breakingnews.iol.ie/sport/story.asp?j=190190046&p=y9xy9x75z&t=soccer On 2nd February 2007, Italian Football Federation commissioner Luca Pancalli called a halt to the weekend's fixtures after police officer Filippo Raciti was killed in football-related violence during the Sicilian derby between rivals Catania and Palermo {Link without Title} . This tragic event forced football authorities to enforce new security regulations concerning stadia, which render the majority unfit to receive spectators at this time. 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 is 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 Five as '' Football Italiano '' (United Kingdom), RAI International (numerous countries in several continents), Telelatino (Canada), FSC (United States) and a limited number of games on ESPN Brasil (Brazil). CHAMPIONS Juventus FC has won the most championships with 27 titles, followed by A.C. Milan with 17 wins and Internazionale with 15. See Also: Italian football champions COMPLETE TEAM LIST From 1898 to 1929 The 1921-22 C.C.I. championship After 1928-1929 season: the single table In 1929 FIGC changed the mechanism of the championship, and created the ''Serie A'' as we know it today (1 league only with 16, 18 or 20 teams). These are the 61 teams which took part to the championships played from is the only team which played all the seasons following Juventus' relegation to Serie B after the 2005/2006 season. By season By team War championships = Campionato Alta Italia 1944 This championship was disputed during the second World War and wasn't recognized by the FIGC until 2002, though Spezia's ''Scudetto'' is considered a "decoration".
= The 1945-46 War Championship This championship is not usually included in the statistics, because some of the southern sides that took part to the competition were Serie B teams, while northern Serie B teams played at the second level with the Serie C teams. Anyway, '' Torino '''s ''scudetto'' is considered official.
TOP SCORERS (''CAPOCANNONIERI'') BY SEASON
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