The Terza Categoria is the lowest level of amateur

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 ...

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 ...

. It is the ninth level in 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 b ...

. Each individual league winner within the Terza Categoria level progresses to their closest regional league in the

Seconda Categoria The Seconda Categoria is a level of football in Italy. It is the 8th level (since 2014-15) in the Italian football league system. Each individual league winner within the Seconda Categoria level progresses to their closest regional league in the ...

level. Unlike all the levels above the Terza Categoria, there is no relegation. This level of Italian football is completely amateur and is run on a provincial level from the Local and Provincial Committees. It is also the only Italian football division where head coaches are not requested to own any license released by the federation. In theory, this is the final league in Italy from which a team can go all the way and become

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 ...

champions.

Birth of Terza Categoria

Because of the birth of the

Lega Nazionale Dilettanti The Lega Nazionale Dilettanti (National Amateur League) is the league which rules amateur football of Italian Football Federation (FIGC) in Italy. Founded in 1959 in Rome, it has many leagues inside: a national league, the Inter-regional Committ ...

(Amateur League) in 1959,

Seconda Divisione Seconda Divisione (''Second Division'') was the name of the second level of the Italian Football Championship from 1921 to 1926. The competition was initially founded in opposition to the FIGC by the clubs of Northern Italy, which disagreed the o ...

(literally Second Division), was converted into the Terza Categoria (literally Third Category). With the reform of 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 ...

before the 2014–15 season in which the

Lega Pro Prima Divisione Lega Pro Prima Divisione was the third highest 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. Before the 1978� ...

and

Lega Pro Seconda Divisione Lega Pro Seconda Divisione was the fourth highest football league in Italy, the lowest with a professional status. Usually it consisted of 36 teams, but in the 2011–12 season, there were 41 teams divided geographically into two divisions of 2 ...

were unified restoring Serie C as the new third national level, the championship became the ninth national level, but remained the fifth and lowest regional competition.

References

9 1959 establishments in Italy Sports leagues established in 1959 {{Italy-footy-competition-stub

Birth of Terza Categoria

See also

References