Serie A 2022–23

Lore & Background

Napoli won the title with five matches remaining after a 1–1 draw against Udinese at the Dacia Arena on 4 May 2023. Napoli's title was their third league title in club history and their first since Diego Maradona led them to victory in 1990 — bringing an end to their 33-year Scudetto drought. AC Milan, the defending champions, finished in fourth place. It was the first time since Roma in 2001 that a club other than AC Milan, Inter Milan or Juventus had won the Serie A title.

In Their Own Story

The air inside the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona was thick with a humidity that felt like anticipation itself. As the final whistle blew against Sampdoria, silence held for a heartbeat—a collective breath held by thirty thousand souls—before the stadium erupted into a roar that shook the very foundations of Naples. Strangers embraced in the stands, tears mixing with the confetti raining down from the upper tiers. On the pitch, players collapsed not from exhaustion, but from the sheer weight of history finally shifting on its axis. The blue scarf was no longer a symbol of hope for tomorrow, but a banner of truth for today.

Reader's Guide

This year would mark the return of playoff matches for the first time since 2005. If the season ends with two teams tied at the top of the league standings, those teams would play at a neutral site to determine the title winner. The match will have no extra time, and will instead go directly to a penalty shoot-out should the teams be tied after regulation. Head-to-head will still be used as a tiebreaker elsewhere on the board. The Lega Serie A in February announced their intention to run a tournament in the United States during the 2022 FIFA World Cup, consisting of players who were not called up to play for the men's national team. The idea received mixed feedback, and was ultimately cancelled by the league due to logistical and funding issues. In January 2023, the Serie A deducted 15 points from Juventus after an investigation by the FIGC accused the club of manipulating their balancing sheets to show false gains of around 60m euros. Months later in April, Italy's highest court ordered the case to be re-examined, and the points were restored. The original ruling was upheld—though this time resulting in Juventus being docked 10 points—in May 2023. On 28 July 2023, UEFA released a statement confirming Juventus has violated finance regulations. Consequently, Juventus faced penalties including exclusion from the 2023–24 UEFA Europa Conference League. Because Spezia and Hellas Verona finished level on points in the final relegation spot, a one-match relegation tie-breaker was held at a neutral venue to determine the final team which would be relegated to Serie B. Hellas Verona won 3–1 and remained in Serie A, while Spezia were relegated to Serie B.

Did You Know?

• Cremonese returned to the Serie A for the first time in 26 years—their longest absence from the top league in history.
• Monza were promoted for the first time in the club's history, making them the 67th team to play at the highest level of Italian football.
• This was the first season since the 2003–04 campaign without any representation from the archipelagos of Italy (teams located on Sardinia or Sicily) in the Serie A.
• Genoa were relegated in the 2021–22 season after 15 consecutive seasons in the top flight, ending the club's longest-ever run in Serie A.