Serie A

Italy's top professional football league since 1929.

Serie A is the top professional football league in Italy, established in the 1929–30 season as a national round-robin competition. It is currently ranked second in the UEFA coefficient standings as of 2024–25 and has historically attracted top global talent, producing numerous Ballon d'Or winners. The league is home to renowned clubs such as Juventus, Inter Milan, and AC Milan, which have played key roles in European football.

Quick Facts

Organiser: Lega Serie A
Country: Italy
Founded: 1898 (as Campionato Italiano di Football); 1929 (as Serie A)
Teams: 20 (since 2004–05)
Relegation: Serie B
Levels: 1
Most successful club: Juventus (36 titles)
Most appearances: Gianluigi Buffon (657)

Facts from the source article.

Did You Know?

Serie A's logo featured sponsor Telecom Italia Mobile (TIM) from 2010, with minor changes in 2016 and new logos in August 2018 and August 2019.
On 5 February 2024, Serie A signed a sponsor deal with Eni (Enilive) as the main sponsor.
Since the 2010–11 season, Serie A clubs have negotiated television rights collectively.

History

The Federazione Italiana del Football (FIF) began organising football in Italy in 1898, with the first Italian Football Championship held on 8 May 1898 at the Velodrome Humbert I in Turin. Genoa CFC won that inaugural title, defeating three Turin-based teams, and went on to win five of the first six championships, interrupted only by AC Milan in 1901. From 1904, the tournament was renamed Prima Categoria and structured into regional groups, with group winners playing a playoff for the title.

The FIF joined FIFA and was renamed the Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio (FIGC) in 1909, which took over football administration from the rival Federazione Ginnastica Nazionale Italiana (FGNI). A dispute in 1921 over the number of teams led to a split, with the Confederazione Calcistica Italiana (CCI) organising a rival tournament called Prima Divisione, featuring Northern Italy's wealthiest clubs. The FIGC later accepted the Prima Divisione as the new format from 1922 to 1923.

Prima Divisione was played from 1921 to 1926, divided into Lega Nord and Lega Sud, with winners of each league meeting in the Finalissima for the national championship. In 1926, the Fascist regime placed the FIGC under politician Leandro Arpinati, and Prima Divisione was replaced with Divisione Nazionale, which initially included the previous Lega Nord plus two Roman teams and SSC Napoli. Divisione Nazionale consisted of two non-regional groups of ten clubs each, with the top three from each group playing a round-robin final to decide the champion.

Format

For most of Serie A's history, the league featured 16 or 18 clubs, but since 2004–05 it has consistently had 20 teams. One season, 1947–48, was played with 21 teams for political reasons following post-war tensions with Yugoslavia. The season runs from August to May, with each club playing every other team twice—once at home and once away—for a total of 38 games per team. The first half of the season is called the andata, and the second half the ritorno, with home and away matches reversed.

Until the 2021–22 season, the fixture order was identical in both halves; an asymmetrical calendar was then introduced, following the format of the English, Spanish, and French leagues. Since 1994–95, a win earns three points, a draw one point, and a loss none; previously, a win was worth two points. The three lowest-placed teams at the end of the season are relegated to Serie B, replaced by three promoted teams. In 2023–24, Serie A was ranked as the best league by UEFA coefficient, thanks to all seven Serie A teams advancing to the knockout stages of European competitions, with Atalanta winning the Europa League and Fiorentina finishing as runners-up in the UEFA Europa Conference League. As a result, the top five clubs in Serie A qualified for the Champions League in 2024.

Clubs

Since the league format began in 1929–30, 68 teams have competed in Serie A through the 2026–27 season. Inter Milan is the only club to have played in every season. As of the 2025–26 season, 20 clubs compete in Serie A. The most seasons played belong to Inter Milan (95), followed by Juventus and Roma (94 each), AC Milan (93), Fiorentina (89), Lazio (84), Torino (83), Napoli (81), and Bologna (80). Other notable participants include Sampdoria and Atalanta (66 seasons each), Genoa (59), Udinese (54), Cagliari (46), and Hellas Verona (35). The league has seen changes in the number of competing clubs over time, ranging from 16 to 21 teams in different eras.

Players

Serie A has undergone many rule changes regarding non-EU players. During the 1980s and 1990s, clubs signed numerous foreign players from both EU and non-EU countries, including Liam Brady, Paul Gascoigne, Michel Platini, Lothar Matthäus, Ruud Gullit, and Diego Maradona. In the middle of the 2000–01 season, the old quota system—limiting each team to five non-EU players and three per match—was abolished. Around the same time, the FIGC investigated players using fake passports, resulting in bans for several players in July 2001, including Dida, Álvaro Recoba, and others, though most bans were later reduced.

From the 2003–04 season, a new quota limited the number of non-EU, non-EFTA, and non-Swiss players each club could sign from abroad annually, following provisional measures in 2002–03 that allowed only one such signing per club in the summer transfer window. The rule underwent minor changes in August 2004, June 2005, June 2006, and June 2007. The number of non-EU players in the league dropped from 265 in 2002–03 to 166 in 2006–07, partly due to EU enlargement in 2004 and 2007, which granted EU status to players like Adrian Mutu and Valeri Bojinov.