The 2007–08 Serie A (known as the
Serie A
The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...
TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 106th season of top-tier Italian
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
, the 76th in a
round-robin tournament
A round-robin tournament or all-play-all tournament is a competition format in which each contestant meets every other participant, usually in turn.''Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged'' (1971, G. & ...
. It started on 25 August 2007 and ended on 18 May 2008.
Internazionale Milano successfully defended the championship on the final day of the season, finishing first with 85 points, three ahead of
Roma.
Events
''Plusvalenze'' investigation
Inquiries are being conducted by the ''CO.VI.SOC.'' (Italian football's financial watchdogs) into the finances of four Serie A clubs (
Internazionale,
Milan
Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...
,
Sampdoria, and
Reggina) who stand accused of falsely inflating player values — a practice known as ''plusvalenze'' in Italian — in order to qualify financially for the
2005–06 Serie A. If the allegations prove true, penalties could range from fines to point deductions, relegation to Serie B, and even the stripping of Internazionale's 2005-06 ''
scudetto'', which was stripped from
Juventus
Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...
as a result of the ''
Calciopoli'' scandal before being awarded to Internazionale.
Lazio fan killed by police
On the morning of 11 November 2007 26-year-old
Lazio
Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...
fan
Gabriele Sandri, a
DJ from Rome, was killed by a shot in his neck while sitting inside a car, by a policeman, after some other fans of Lazio violently assaulted a group of
Juventus
Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...
ultras with stones on the
A1 Motorway service station of Badia al Pino in
Arezzo
Arezzo ( , ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in Italy and the capital of the Province of Arezzo, province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about southeast of Florence at an elevation of Above mean sea level, above sea level. As of 2 ...
.
Early reports suggested that a
stray bullet
A stray bullet is a bullet that, after being fired from a gun, hits an unintended target. Such a shooting accident may occur due to missing a target when hunting or sport-shooting or celebrating wedding
A wedding is a ceremony in which two ...
from a gun, set to distract the group of
ultras, hit the Lazio fan in the neck as he sat in a car and killed him.
An emergency meeting set up between
Lega Calcio president
Antonio Matarrese and police chief Antonio Manganelli decided that the game between
Inter and Lazio would be called off, but the rest of the fixtures would go ahead that day, starting at a slightly later time (about 10 minutes later).
The Atalanta–Milan game was eventually suspended following unrest caused by local ultras attempting to break off the protection glass in order to invade the pitch and stop the match. Later in the afternoon, the Italian Football Federation chose to postpone also the game between AS Roma and Cagliari, whose kick off was scheduled for 8:30 pm at
Stadio Olimpico, Rome. However, this did not prevent violent riots, as hundreds of armed hooligans attacked a police barracks and the CONI (Italian Olympic National Committee) headquarters in Rome.
Though Sandri's death was later held by some to have been caused by a tragic error by a policeman who claimed his gun went off as he was running. Prosecutors then opted initially to open an inquiry into manslaughter against the policeman, nevertheless the initial hearing held that Sandri's death was culpable homicide, and the policeman involved (Luigi Spaccarotella) was condemned to 6 years imprisonment. On appeal, the higher court not only confirmed this judgment, but increased the punishment to 9 years and 4 months as an element of intentionality was found.
Final week
The championship was decided in the final week, as
Inter, who managed to secure even an 11-point advantage to rivals
Roma in mid-season, lost almost all of it in the final weeks, maintaining only a one-point advantage with only one match to play. In the final week, both Inter and Roma were scheduled to play away matches opposed to relegation-battling sides, respectively
Parma
Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...
and
Catania
Catania (, , , Sicilian and ) is the second-largest municipality on Sicily, after Palermo, both by area and by population. Despite being the second city of the island, Catania is the center of the most densely populated Sicilian conurbation, wh ...
. Both matches were successively forbidden to be attended by Inter and Roma fans. In the end, Inter secured the ''scudetto'' with a 2–0 win, with both goals being scored in the second half by
Zlatan Ibrahimović, who recovered from a long-term injury in time to play the game, whereas Roma only managed to achieve a 1–1 draw at
Stadio Angelo Massimino against
Walter Zenga's Catania, a result which allowed the Sicilian side to escape relegation at the expense of
Empoli and Parma.
Teams
Stadiums and locations
Personnels and Sponsoring
League table
Results
Top goalscorers
Coaches
2007–08 events
*Atalanta: on June 9, 2007
Luigi Delneri was announced as new head coach following
Stefano Colantuono's departure to Palermo.
*Cagliari: on November 13 Cagliari chairman
Massimo Cellino sacked
Marco Giampaolo and replaced him with veteran coach
Nedo Sonetti, who already served twice with the ''rossoblu'' before this new appointment.
On December 19 Sonetti tendered his resignation, after he managed to achieve only one point in three matches in charge, and Cellino called Giampaolo to serve again as ''rossoblu'' head coach.
However, Giampaolo, still linked to Cagliari by a contract, turned down the opportunity to return. The next day, the club announced that it had rejected Sonetti's resignation. Sonetti was ultimately sacked only a few days later, on December 27, following a crushing 5–1 loss to Fiorentina, and replaced by
Davide Ballardini, who served as Cagliari head coach in the early weeks of the
2005–06 season.
*Catania: on June 3, 2007
Silvio Baldini was announced as new head coach.
The team initially enjoyed a good shape, notably gaining a spot in the
Coppa Italia semi-finals, but lost position with time, being in 16th place as of Week 31, only three points ahead of last-placed Empoli, convincing Baldini to leave the club with mutual consent on March 31, 2008.
He was replaced the next day by
Walter Zenga, former head coach of
Red Star Belgrade
Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club), commonly referred to as Crvena zvezda () and colloquially referred to as Red Star Belgrade in anglophone media, is a ...
and
Steaua București, at his first coaching experience with a Serie A team.
*Empoli: on November 26, 2007 the Tuscan side chose to sack
Luigi Cagni, who achieved only ten points in fourteen matches (18th place in the league table) and failed to win the
2007–08 UEFA Cup first round, replacing him with
Alberto Malesani.
On March 31, 2008, after a 2–0 home loss to
Sampdoria which left Empoli alone in last place, the board decided to sack Malesani, reinstalling Cagni in charge.
*Juventus: on June 4, 2007 former
Parma
Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...
head coach
Claudio Ranieri
Claudio Ranieri (; born 20 October 1951) is an Italian professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who is the head coach of Serie A club AS Roma, Roma but will leave on 30 June 2025, followin ...
was unveiled as new boss.
*Livorno: on October 9, 2007
Fernando Orsi was sacked following a string of poor results that brought the team down to bottom place in the league with two points and no win after seven games.
The position was then filled by
Giancarlo Camolese the next day.
Camolese initially managed to improve Livorno's performances; however in the final part of the season Livorno entered into a deep result crisis that led them down to the league bottom, with three matches remaining, and Camolese being ultimately sacked on April 28, 2008, with Orsi re-appointed back at the helm of the ''amaranto''.
*Palermo: on June 7, 2007
Stefano Colantuono of
Atalanta
Atalanta (; ) is a heroine in Greek mythology.
There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology), Clymene and who is primarily known from the tales of the Caly ...
was announced to be the next ''rosanero'' boss for the 2007-08 season.
However, on November 26 Colantuono was sacked following a 5–0 defeat to
Juventus
Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...
, and club chairman
Maurizio Zamparini appointed
Francesco Guidolin as his replacement, inaugurating a fourth spell with Palermo for the tactician.
However, results did not improve under Guidolin, and three consecutive losses, followed by some controversial post-match comments in a 2–3 home loss to
Genoa
Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...
on March 22, 2008 led Zamparini to re-appoint Colantuono at the helm of the ''rosanero'' on March 24.
*Parma: on June 12, 2007
Domenico Di Carlo was announced as new boss following the departure of
Claudio Ranieri
Claudio Ranieri (; born 20 October 1951) is an Italian professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who is the head coach of Serie A club AS Roma, Roma but will leave on 30 June 2025, followin ...
.
However, as Parma struggled to keep themselves off the relegation battle, Di Carlo was sacked on March 10, 2008 following a 1–2 home defeat to
Sampdoria.
The next day the club announced to have appointed
Héctor Cúper as new head coach.
The
Argentine
Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...
boss did not manage to improve results, with Parma finding themselves in 18th place with only one remaining match to be played at home against first-placed Internazionale, only two points behind the last Serie A spot. On May 12 Parma chairman
Tommaso Ghirardi then surprisingly announced to have sacked Cúper, replacing him with youth team coach
Andrea Manzo for the final league matchday in a desperate attempt to escape relegation.
*Reggina: on June 23, 2007 news reports announced
Massimo Ficcadenti as new boss following the departure of
Walter Mazzarri. However, on June 27 Verona announced they were not giving Ficcadenti permission to leave the club and move to Reggina. On July 1, Reggina finally announced on their website to have appointed Ficcadenti as coach, after he successfully rescinded his contract with Verona.
Ficcadenti was however sacked on November 1, following a 3–1 home loss to last-placed
Livorno
Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 152,916 residents as of 2025. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn ...
and no wins in the first ten league days,
and veteran coach
Renzo Ulivieri was appointed to replace him.
However, on March 3, 2008 the club management decided to dismiss Ulivieri from his post following a 0–0 home draw to Palermo, as Reggina was filling the 19th place with 22 points, and replaced him with team scout and former youth team coach
Nevio Orlandi.
*Sampdoria: on May 31, 2007
Walter Mazzarri was named new Samp boss.
*Siena: on June 12, 2007
Andrea Mandorlini was confirmed new head coach following separation by mutual consent between the club and its boss
Mario Beretta.
However Mandorlini was sacked on November 12, after a 2–3 home loss to
Livorno
Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 152,916 residents as of 2025. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn ...
which left the team in last place, and Beretta accepted to return at Siena.
*Torino: on June 6, 2007 former
Sampdoria boss
Walter Novellino was announced head coach for the new season, replacing
Gianni De Biasi.
On April 16, 2008, following a string of disappointing results that left the ''granata'' only four points ahead the relegation zone, leading to heavy criticisms from the supporting fanbase, Torino president
Urbano Cairo chose to sack Novellino and reappoint De Biasi, a fan favourite, as head coach.
*Udinese: on June 5, 2007 former
Catania
Catania (, , , Sicilian and ) is the second-largest municipality on Sicily, after Palermo, both by area and by population. Despite being the second city of the island, Catania is the center of the most densely populated Sicilian conurbation, wh ...
boss
Pasquale Marino was officially unveiled as new head coach.
Footnotes
{{DEFAULTSORT:2007-08 Serie A
Serie A seasons
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
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