The Lega Nazionale Professionisti (Italian for National Professionals League), commonly known as Lega Calcio (Football League), was the governing body that ran the two highest

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 ...

divisions in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, namely

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 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 ...

, from 1946 to 2010. The league also ruled 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 ...

from 1948 to 1959. It has ceased to exist since 1 July 2010, following a split between Serie A and Serie B clubs, which led to the 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 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 competitions in Italy, the Serie B. It was pr ...

respectively. The Lega Calcio was founded as the Lega Nazionale (''National League'') in 1946, after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, and its name was changed in 1960, shortly after Italy fully recognized professional status for the players of the top divisions. Its predecessor during the

fascist Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...

era, between 1926 and 1944, was the

Direttorio Divisioni Superiori The Direttorio Divisioni Superiori (Italian for ''Directory of Higher Divisions'') was the ruling body of the major Italian football championships during the fascist era. History The Directory was established through the CONI by the fascists. Ita ...

(''Directory of Higher Divisions''), a committee whose president was appointed by the

FIGC The Italian Football Federation ( it, Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio; FIGC), known colloquially as ''Federcalcio'', is the governing body of football in Italy. It is based in Rome and the technical department is in Coverciano, Florence. It ...

. Earlier still before, the first football league in Italy was the ''Lega Nord'' (Northern League), which was composed of the major clubs of

Northern Italy Northern Italy ( it, Italia settentrionale, it, Nord Italia, label=none, it, Alta Italia, label=none or just it, Nord, label=none) is a geographical and cultural region in the northern part of Italy. It consists of eight administrative regions ...

from 1921 to 1926. Promotion and relegation between the divisions were a central feature of the league: at the end of the season the bottom clubs of Serie B switched with the top clubs of the Lega Serie C (or its predecessors), thus integrating the League into the

Italian football league system The Italian football league system, also known as the Italian football pyramid, refers to the hierarchically interconnected league system for association football in Italy. It consists of nine national and regional tournaments, the first three be ...

. Besides, the Lega Calcio also organized the main Italian cup competition, 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 ...

and the Supercoppa Italiana.

Competition

League

The member clubs of the Lega Calcio were grouped into two divisions: the

and

. In any given season a club played each of the others in the same division twice, once at their home stadium and once at that of their opponents. Clubs gained three points for a win (two before 1994) one for a draw, and none for a defeat. At the end of each season, the club with the most points in the Serie A was crowned champion. If points were equal, the head-to-head records determined the winner (tie-breakers were also used in the past). If still equal, the goal difference and then goals scored became the deciding factors. As for Serie B, at the top end two, three or four clubs won promotion to Serie A, with the bottom Serie A clubs taking their places. At the lower end, three or four club were relegated to the

, while teams from the Lega C joined in their place.

Promotion and relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

were determined by final league positions, but to sustain interest for more clubs over the length of the season in the later years one promotion place from Serie B was decided according to a playoff between four clubs, which took place at the end of the season. It was therefore possible for a team finishing sixth in the championship to be promoted rather than the clubs finishing immediately above them in the standings. Likewise, one relegation place to the

Serie C1 Lega Pro Prima Divisione was the third highest football (soccer), football league in Italy. It consisted of 33 teams, divided geographically into two divisions of 16 and 17 teams for group A and B respectively. Until 2008 it was known as Serie C1 ...

was decided according to a playoff between two clubs. Youth teams of Lega Calcio clubs played in the

Campionato Nazionale Primavera The Campionato Nazionale Primavera – Trofeo Giacinto Facchetti, was an Italian football youth competition. It is organised by the Lega Serie A and the participating teams that take part in Serie A and Serie B: the first edition was held in th ...

, as well as competing in their own cup competitions, such as the Coppa Italia Primavera and the Supercoppa Primavera.

Cup

The Lega Calcio organised a cup competition, the

, open to all Serie A and Serie B clubs and some clubs from the

Supercup

The Lega Calcio also organised the Supercoppa Italiana, between the champions of the Serie A and the winners of the Coppa Italia.

2010 split

On 30 April 2009, after divisions between Serie A and Serie B clubs regarding the future of the league, 19 of 20 top flight clubs (the only exception being

U.S. Lecce Unione Sportiva Lecce, commonly referred to as Lecce (), is an Italian football club based in Lecce, Apulia. The club play in Serie A in the 2022–23 season, the top level of the Italian football pyramid, having been promoted from Serie B. ...

) agreed on plans to split from Serie B to form another governing and financing body, with the same name Serie A, in a move reminiscent of England's

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

formation in 1992. Subsequently, on 1 July 2010, the Lega Calcio has officially ceased to exist and replaced by the two newly formed leagues,

and

List of Lega Nazionale Professionisti presidents

*1946–50 Piero Pedroni *1950–57 Saverio Giulini *1958–59 Giuseppe Pasquale (interim) *1959–62 Giuseppe Pasquale *1962–64 Giorgio Perlasca *1964–65 Artemio Franchi (interim) *1965–73 Aldo Stacchi *1973–76

Franco Carraro Franco Carraro (born 6 December 1939) is an Italian sport manager and politician. Career Carraro was born on 6 December 1939 in Padua, at the time Kingdom of Italy. He worked in many high-profile roles in the public and private sectors. He ...

*1976–77 Antonio Griffi *1977–78

(interim) *1978–81 *1982–87

Antonio Matarrese Antonio Matarrese (born 4 July 1940) is an Italian sports manager for football. He is known for having owned A.S. Bari for almost 20 years. Family His brothers also worked in notable positions. Giuseppe Matarrese, was the Bishop of Frascati from ...

*1987–96 Luciano Nizzola *1997–2001

*2002–06

Adriano Galliani Adriano Galliani (born 30 July 1944) is an Italian entrepreneur and football executive who is the CEO of club Monza. He is known for being former vice-chairman and CEO of AC Milan from 1986 to 2017, a period in the club's history known as ...

*2006–09

*2009 Giancarlo Abete (interim) *2009–10 :: interim commissioner appointed directly by the

Italian Football Federation The Italian Football Federation ( it, Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio; FIGC), known colloquially as ''Federcalcio'', is the governing body of football in Italy. It is based in Rome and the technical department is in Coverciano, Florence. It ...

Official Match Ball

*2007–08 Nike T90 Aerow II *2008–09 Nike T90 Omni *2009–10 Nike T90 Ascente

References

External links

Lega Nazionale Professionisti official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lega Calcio Serie A Serie B 1946 establishments in Italy 2010 disestablishments in Italy Football governing bodies in Italy