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

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, most prominently the

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 ...

. It was founded on 1 July 2010. In the past the television rights of the Serie A clubs were sold separately, and "Serie A" had to financially support Serie B through divided part of the Serie A TV revenues to Serie B clubs. On 30 April 2009, Serie A announced a split from Serie B, when nineteen of the twenty clubs voted in favour of the move. Relegation-threatened Lecce voted against.Italian league splits in two after meeting ends in stalemate – Guardian
/ref> The governing body took over most of the competitions formerly held by

Lega Calcio 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 divisions in Italy, namely Serie A and Serie B, from 1946 to ...

, namely

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 ...

Supercoppa Italiana The Supercoppa Italiana ( en, Italian Super Cup) is an annual football match contested by the winners of the Serie A and the Coppa Italia in the previous season. If the same team wins both the Serie A and Coppa Italia titles in the previous seaso ...

, and youth competitions

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 ...

Coppa Italia Primavera The Coppa Italia Primavera (Italian for Spring Italian Cup) is an Italian football competition played by youth teams from Campionato Primavera. All players are under 20 of age. The first edition was held in the 1972–73 season. Due to sponsorshi ...

, and Supercoppa Primavera.

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 ...

is now organised by the

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 ...

, which was also created in 2010.

Competitions

League

Serie A counts a total number of 20 clubs. In each season (that starts in August, to end in following May) every club faces the others twice (double round-robin system): once in home stadium and once in the opponents one, for 38 total games (19 for each half). Teams gain 3 points for win and a point for draw: no points are gained for lost matches. Ranking is based on total points: the top-club (with the most points) is crowned Italian champion at the end of season. If two or more teams are equal on number of points, they are ranked by following criteria: head-to-head records (results and points),

goal difference Goal difference, goal differential or points difference is a form of tiebreaker used to rank sport teams which finish on equal points in a league competition. Either "goal difference" or "points difference" is used, depending on whether matches ar ...

in these games, goal difference overall, most goals scored, draw. The three lowest placed teams are

relegated 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. ...

, as three other sides (two top-teams and play-off winner) are promoted in order to replace them.

Cup

The Lega Serie A organizes the main Italian cup competition, the

, which is open also to all Serie B clubs and some clubs from 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 ...

and the

Serie D The Serie D () is the top level of semi-professional football in the country. The fourth tier of the Italian league system, the competition sits beneath the third professional league, Serie C. It is administered by the Lega Nazionale Dilettant ...

Super Cup

The Lega Serie A also organizes the

, a yearly match between the champions of the Serie A and the winners of the Coppa Italia.

Youth competitions

Youth teams of Lega Serie A clubs play in the

, as well as competing in their own cup competitions, such as the

and the Supercoppa Primavera.

Footballs

Nike Nike often refers to: * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine give ...

is the official match football of the Lega Serie A and is used by all 20 teams in league games. The same football is used in all

games and the

List of Lega Serie A chairmen

* Maurizio Beretta 2010–2017 *

Carlo Tavecchio Carlo Tavecchio (born 13 July 1943) is an Italian politician, sports executive, and administrator. Career For four legislatures, he held the office of Mayor of Ponte Lambro. For 15 years, he was president of an amateur company. From 1987 to 1992, ...

2017–2018 (interim commissioner) *

Giovanni Malagò Giovanni Malagò (born 13 March 1959) is an Italian businessman, sports manager and former futsal player. He is the current president of the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI). Since 1 January 2019 he is a member of the International Ol ...

2018 (interim commissioner) * Gaetano Miccicchè (2018–2019) * Mario Cicala (2019) (interim commissioner) * Giancarlo Abete (2019–2020) (interim commissioner) * Paolo Dal Pino (2020–)

Official Match Ball

*2010–11 Nike T90 Tracer *2011–12 Nike Seitiro *2012–13 Nike Maxim *2013–14 Nike Incyte *2014–15 Nike Ordem 2 *2015–16 Nike Ordem 3 *2016–17 Nike Ordem 4 *2017–18 Nike Ordem 5 *2018–19 Nike Merlin *2019–20 Nike Merlin 2 *2020–21 Nike Flight *2021–22 Nike Flight 2

References

External links

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