The Lega Nazionale Professionisti B (Italian for National Professionals League B), commonly known as LNPB or Lega B (B League), is the governing body that runs the second tier of professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

competitions in Italy, the

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 ...

. It was previously known as Lega Nazionale Professionisti Serie B or just Lega Serie B. It was founded on 7 July 2010, following a split between

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

and Serie B clubs, which led to the dissolution of the Lega Calcio and creation of two new leagues, the

Lega Serie A The Lega Nazionale Professionisti Serie A (Italian for ''National Professionals League Serie A''), commonly known as LNPA or Lega Serie A (Serie A League), is the governing body that runs the major professional Association football, football com ...

and Lega Serie B respectively. Since April 2011, Lega Serie B has joined the

European Professional Football Leagues European Leagues (EL) is a sports organization within association football created for growth of professional football in Europe. Its members are the professional football leagues organisations of 29 countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark ...

association.

Competition

League

There are 20 clubs in Serie B since 2019, restoring the situation which existed before 2003. They were 22 during the first eight years of the Lega B. During the course of a season (generally from August to May) each club plays the others twice (a double round robin system), once at their home stadium and once at that of their opponents, for a total of 38 games. Teams receive three points for a win and one point for a draw; no points are awarded for a loss. Teams are ranked by total points; the club with the most points is crowned champion at the end of each season. If two teams are equal on points, they're ranked by points scored in head-to-head matches, then by goal difference in said games, then by goal difference in all games and then by total numbers of goals scored. If still equal, teams are deemed to occupy the same position. However, if following the application of the above-mentioned tiebreaker criteria there is still a tie for the championship, for relegation, or for qualification to the play–offs, positions will be decided by drawing of lots. The two higher placed teams, plus the winner of play-offs involving the third to sixth placed clubs, are promoted to the

, while the bottom three teams from Serie A are relegated in their stead. At the lower end of the table, the three bottom clubs, along with the loser of play-offs involving the 16th and 17th placed teams, are relegated to the

Serie C The Serie C () is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing body that runs the Serie C. The unification of the Lega Pro ...

, with four sides from said league joining Serie B in their place.

Cup

The Lega Serie B clubs participate in the

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

, which is organized by the

Youth competitions

Youth teams of Lega Serie B clubs can play in the Campionato Primavera 2 and the Coppa Italia Primavera, which are organized by the Lega Serie B and

respectively. However, they can join the

Campionato Primavera 1 Campionato Primavera 1, known also as Campionato Primavera 1 TIMvision – Trofeo Giacinto Facchetti due to sponsorship and posthumous honour, is an Italian football youth competition. It was created in 2017–18 season by splitting Campionato Na ...

, as the Serie A teams can join the Primavera 2, under an ordinary system of promotions and relegations, and the same thing can happen with the

Lega Pro The Serie C () is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing body that runs the Serie C. The unification of the Lega Pro ...

’s teams playing the

Campionato Primavera 3 Campionato Primavera 3, formerly Campionato Nazionale Dante Berretti (or simply ''Campionato Berretti''), is an Italian football competition played by youth teams (under 19) organized by the Lega Pro, and mainly composed by Serie C clubs but also ...

List of Lega Serie B presidents

* Andrea Abodi 2010–2017 * Mauro Balata 2017–

Official Match Ball

*2010–11 Nike T90 Tracer *2011–12 Nike Seitiro *2016–17 Puma evoPOWER 2.1 *2017–present Kappa Kombat

References

External links

Lega B official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lega Serie B Serie B B 2010 establishments in Italy Professional sports leagues in Italy