Italian Serie A

Region: Italy
Teams: 20
Founded: 1929

The Italian Serie A is the most prestigious domestic football league in Italy and is one of the more structured football leagues in the world. Contested on a round-robin basis, the second part of the season, the ‘ritorno’, is a mirror image of the first, dubbed the ‘andata’, with each team playing the other in exactly the same order. The only difference is the home and away stadia are swopped mid-season.

Household names – Juventus, internazionale, Lazio and Milan – are all synonymous with the Italian Serie A, and one of the major claims to fame of the league is the fact it has produced more Ballon d Or, European Footballer of the year, award winners than any other league in the world.

League Format

Each of the twenty teams go head-to-head twice each season, with each season contested between August and May the following year, with a total of 38 games played per club. Points are allocated for a win (3) and a draw (1) and the team finishing at the top of the league standings is crowned champion.

Apart from the honour of claiming the domestic title, the league winner and the three runners-up qualify for the elite UEFA Champions League. The team finishing fourth on the log has to play a two-legged knock-out tie in the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League for entry into the group stage.

UEFA Europa League qualification

Fifth and sixth place finishers qualify for the UEFA Europa League, with a third berth reserved for the winner of the Coppa Italia, the annual Italian Cup competition. If, however, the cup winner has already qualified for either UEFA League event, the losing finalist advances to the Europa League. The team finishing 7th in the Serie A secures a place in the Europa League in the event that the losing cup finalist has already secured European qualification.

Relegation

As is the norm in all annual domestic league tournaments, the three teams finishing at the bottom of the standings are relegated to the second tier of Italian football, Serie B.

Apart from the honour of claiming a league title, teams have an added incentive – Golden Stars – awarded to those teams that boast multiple championship titles. A single star represents 10 titles and is worn on the team jerseys and crests.