The Lega Italiano Calcio Professionistico (Italian for Professional Football Italian League), commonly known as Lega Pro (Pro League), is the governing body that runs the third tier of professional

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 ...

competitions in Italy, the

Serie C The Serie C (), officially known as Serie C NOW for sponsorship purposes, 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 ...

. It used several names in the past, including Lega Professionisti Serie C. It is a full member of European Leagues.

History

The league was created in 1959 as Lega Nazionale Semiprofessionisti by the FIGC Commissioner Bruno Zauli on the base of the old Lega IV Serie. The League managed three

and six

Serie D The Serie D () is the highest level of semi-professional football in Italy, and the fourth tier of the Italian national league system. It sits beneath the third and lowest fully professional league, Serie C, and feeds in to it through promotion ...

groups with 162 clubs.look
/ref> The league was intermediate between professionals and amateurs. Former C clubs protested for their lost Lega Calcio membership, and they spent the following twenty years to regain a professional status. The league, led by

Artemio Franchi Artemio Franchi (; 8 January 1922 – 12 August 1983) was an Italian Association football, football administrator. Biography He served as President of the Italian Football Federation (1967–1976, 1978–1980), president of the UEFA (1973� ...

, was expanded in 1967 to 222 clubs. A new reform in 1978 abolished the Serie D and divided the C into two fully professional championships, the Serie C1 and the Serie C2, with 108 members in six groups. The new name was Lega Nazionale Serie C, and its status became professional. After 2000 the Serie C2 was reduced and later abolished in 2014, to give way to a

in three groups.

References

External links

website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lega Pro Serie C C 1959 establishments in Italy Professional sports leagues in Italy