The 2008–09

Lega Pro Prima Divisione Serie C1 was the third highest football league in 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 ...

season is the thirty-first since its renaming to

Serie C1 Serie C1 was the third highest football league in Italy. It consisted of 36 teams, divided geographically into two divisions. History Before the 1978–79 season, there were only three professional football leagues in Italy, the third being Se ...

in 1978, and the first edition since the renaming from Serie C1 to Lega Pro. It was divided into two phases: the

regular season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of S ...

, played from September 2008 to May 2009, and the playoff phase from May to June 2009. The league was composed of 36 teams divided into two divisions of 18 teams each, whose teams was divided mainly according to geographical principles. Teams will play only other teams in their own division, once at home and once away for a total of 34 matches. Teams finishing first in the regular season, plus one team winning the playoff round from each division, were promoted to

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie 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 season. It had b ...

; teams finishing last in the regular season, plus two relegation playoff losers from each division was relegated to

Lega Pro Seconda Divisione Serie C2 was the fourth highest football league in Italy, the lowest with a professional status. History Before the 1978–79 season, there were only three professional football leagues in Italy, the third being Serie C. The league menaging ...

. In all, four teams was promoted to Serie B, and six teams were relegated to Lega Pro Seconda Divisione.

Events

Start of season

The league was to feature four teams relegated from

in 2007–08;

Avellino Avellino () is a city and ''comune'', capital of the province of Avellino in the Campania region of southern Italy. It is situated in a plain surrounded by mountains east of Naples and is an important hub on the road from Salerno to Benevento. ...

Ravenna Ravenna ( ; , also ; ) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire during the 5th century until its Fall of Rome, collapse in 476, after which ...

Spezia La Spezia (, or ; ; , in the local ) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second-largest city in the Liguri ...

, and

Cesena Cesena (; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy; and - with Forlì - is the capital of the Province of Forlì-Cesena. Served by Autostrada A14 (Italy), Autostrada A14, and located near the Apennine M ...

. Two vacancies were created with the re-admission of Avellino to Serie B, and the bankruptcy of Spezia. It featured six teams promoted from

2007–08 Serie C2 The 2007–08 Serie C2 season was the thirtieth football (soccer) league season of Italian Serie C2 since its establishment in 1978 . It was divided into two phases: the regular season, played from September 2007 to May 2008, and the playoff phas ...

: Pergocrema, Reggiana,

Benevento Benevento ( ; , ; ) is a city and (municipality) of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill above sea level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino (or Beneventano) and the Sabato (r ...

Lumezzane Lumezzane (, locally ) is a town and (municipality) in the province of Brescia, in the Italian region of Lombardy. With a population of 22,255 (), it is one of the largest towns in its province. It is situated in the Gobbia Valley, which is a s ...

, Portosummaga, and Marcianise. The remaining 26 teams were to come from the teams that played in 2007–08 Serie C1 that were neither promoted nor relegated. Of those, Lucchese (8th in Girone B), and Massese (13th in Girone B) were also banned creating two more vacancies. Three of the four vacancies were filled by Virtus Lanciano, Pro Patria and

Lecco Lecco (, , ; ) is a city of approximately 47,000 inhabitants in Lombardy, Northern Italy, north of Milan. It lies at the end of the south-eastern branch of Lake Como (the branch is named ''Branch of Lecco'' / ''Ramo di Lecco''). The Bergamasqu ...

which had lost in last year's Serie C1 relegation playoffs and were destined to play in Lega Pro Seconda Divisione. The fourth vacancy was filled by

SPAL Società Polisportiva Ars et Labor, commonly referred to by the acronym SPAL (), is a professional football club based in Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. During the 2024–25 season the team played in Serie C, the third tier of the Italian foot ...

, which lost in last year's Serie C2 promotional playoffs and was thus destined to remain there.

Promotions

won direct promotion to Serie B for the 2009–10 season by finishing first in Girone A. Just one year ago Cesena was directly relegated from the same

for finishing in last place.

Gallipoli The Gallipoli Peninsula (; ; ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles strait to the east. Gallipoli is the Italian form of the Greek name (), meaning ' ...

also won direct promotion to Serie B by being crowned champions in Girone B. It was Gallipoli's third consecutive year in Lega Pro Prima Divisione/C1 after winning promotion from Serie C2 in 2005–06.

Relegations

Legnano Legnano (; or ''Lignàn'') is a town and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Milan, province of Milan, about from central Milan. With 60,259, it is the thirteenth-most populous township in Lombardy. Legnano is located in the ...

and

Potenza Potenza (, ; ; , Potentino dialect: ''Putenz'') is a ''comune'' in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata (former Lucania). Capital of the Province of Potenza and the Basilicata region, the city is the highest regional capital and one of ...

were the first two teams relegated by finishing last in their respective divisions. Both teams had been in Prima Divisione/C1 for two consecutive years after winning promotion from 2006–07 Serie C2. Four teams were relegated by losing in the relegation playoffs. Pro Sesto was relegated after 4 seasons in Prima Divisione/C1, winning promotion from C2 in 2004–05. Pro Sesto was forced to play in the playouts two other times, winning one and losing the other in 2006, but asked to remain in C1 to fill vacancies. Sambenedettese also lost in the Girone A playouts after 7 seasons in Prima Divisione/C1, winning promotion from C2 in 2001–02. In Girone B,

Pistoiese Football Club Pistoiese SSD, commonly known as Pistoiese, is an Italian association football club, based in Pistoia, Tuscany. Currently, Pistoiese plays in Serie D. Originally founded on 21 April 1921, the club has also played Serie A on a num ...

and

Juve Stabia Società Sportiva Juve Stabia is an Italian professional football club based in Castellammare di Stabia, Campania. Juve Stabia plays in Serie B, the second tier of Italian football system, following their promotion ahead of the 2024–25 seas ...

lost in the relegation playoffs. Pistoiese had been in 2001–02 Serie B, and after being relegated that year, spent the next 7 years in Prima Divisione/C1. Juve Stabia was promoted from C2 2004–05, spending the next four seasons in C1/Lega Pro.

Teams

On 14 August 2008 the following clubs were confirmed to be competing in the division:

Girone A

Girone B

League tables

Girone A

Girone B

Promotion and relegation playoffs

Girone A

Promotion

:''Promotion playoff semifinals'' :''First legs played 31 May 2009; return legs played 7 June 2009'' :''Promotion playoff finals'' :''First legs played 14 June 2009; return legs played 21 June 2009'' :''Padova promoted to

Relegation

:''Relegation playoffs'' :''First legs played 31 May 2009; return legs played 7 June 2009'' :''Pro Sesto and Sambenedettese relegated to

Girone B

Promotion

Relegation

:''Relegation playoffs'' :''First legs played 31 May 2009; return legs played 7 June 2009'' :''Juve Stabia and Pistoiese relegated to

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2008-09 Lega Pro Prima Divisione Lega Pro Prima Divisione 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 ...