Serie A

History

Founded in 1898, the Italian championship was initially characterized by amateur organization and limited public interest. During its first two decades, Genoa, the first team to win the Italian championship, and Pro Vercelli were the dominant clubs, winning most of the titles between them. The Italian Football Federation (FIGC) organized the championship from its first edition, except in the 1921–22 season. After the clubs failed to reach an agreement over the proposed progetto Pozzo, two separate tournaments were held, one of which was organized by the Italian Football Confederation (CCI). The following season, the Colombo Compromise ended the split and reunited the competitions.

Until the end of the 1920s, the Italian championship was organized through multiple geographically based groups followed by knockout stages. Since the introduction of the Scudetto patch in 1925, the championship has also commonly been referred to as the "Scudetto" by metonymy. From the 1929–30 season onward, the championship adopted a single round-robin format, which had already been briefly used in the 1909–10 season, and the name Serie A.

The 1930s marked a significant change in Italian football, both in sporting terms and in its social significance. The period saw the emergence of a sustained dominance by three major clubs, Juventus, Inter Milan, and AC Milan, with Juventus becoming the most successful club in Italy and Inter the only club to have remained continuously in the top flight. Football also attracted an increasingly large following among fans and the mass media, establishing itself as Italy's national sport and overtaking cycling.

The dominance of the Milan–Turin axis was periodically challenged during the interwar period and the postwar period by Bologna and Torino. In subsequent decades, clubs including Fiorentina, Lazio, Roma, and Napoli also won top-flight titles. Roma's 1941–42 championship was the first won by a club from Central or Southern Italy. Other clubs achieved isolated title successes, including Casale and Novese in the early 20th century, the latter during the split between the FIGC and CCI, and Cagliari, Verona, and Sampdoria in the second half of the 20th century.

Serie A experienced a period of decline following the decision by the Lega Nazionale Professionisti to restrict the signing of players and coaches from foreign leagues after the national team's defeat at the 1966 FIFA World Cup in England. The situation was further affected fourteen years later by the first major Italian football betting scandal. The decline continued into the early 1980s, when Italy's top division ranked 12th in Europe for the 1981–82 season, behind leagues such as those of Belgium, the Soviet Union, East Germany, and Czechoslovakia.

Format

For most of Serie A's history, there were 16 or 18 clubs competing at the top level. Since 2004–05, however, there have been 20 clubs in total. One season (1947–48) was played with 21 teams for political reasons, following post-war tensions with Yugoslavia. Below is a complete record of how many teams played in each season throughout the league's history:

18 clubs: 1929–1934

16 clubs: 1934–1943

20 clubs: 1946–1947

21 clubs: 1947–1948

20 clubs: 1948–1952

18 clubs: 1952–1967

16 clubs: 1967–1988

18 clubs: 1988–2004

20 clubs: 2004–present

During the season, which runs from August to May, each club plays each of the other teams twice; once at home and once away, totalling 38 games for each team by the end of the season. Thus, in Italian football a true round-robin format is used. In the first half of the season, called the andata, each team plays once against each league opponent, for a total of 19 games. In the second half of the season, called the ritorno, the teams play another 19 games, once more against each opponent, in which home and away matches are reversed. The two halves of the season had exactly the same order of fixtures until the 2021–22 season, when an asymmetrical calendar was introduced, following the format of the English, Spanish and French leagues. Since the 1994–95 season, teams are awarded three points for a win, one point for a draw, and no points for a loss. Prior to this, a win was worth two points. The three lowest-placed teams at the end of the season are relegated to Serie B, and three Serie B teams are promoted to replace them for the next season.

European qualification

In 2023–24, Serie A was ranked as the best league by UEFA coefficient. This was due to a combination of all seven Serie A teams progressing into the knockout stages in European competition, picking up extra coefficient points. Additionally, Atalanta won the Europa League Final and Fiorentina were losing finalists in the UEFA Europa Conference League. This continued a strong recent record where five of the six European club finals have featured at least one Serie A side over the past two seasons. As a result of this ranking the top 5 clubs in Serie A qualify for the Champions League in 2024.

Tiebreaking

If after all 38 games, two teams are tied on points for either first place or for 17th (the last safety spot), the outcome is decided by a single-legged play-off match. This match consists of 90 minutes of regulation time followed by penalties if necessary (no extra time). The game is to be held at a neutral venue, with the designated "home" team determined by the performance-based criteria listed below. In cases where there are at least three teams tied for one of these positions, a mini table is created using the same tiebreakers to determine which two teams will play in the decider. For ties concerning all other league positions, the following tiebreakers are applied:

Head-to-head points

Goal difference of head-to-head games

Goal difference overall

Higher number of goals scored

Play-off game at a neutral venue if relevant to decide European qualification or relegation; otherwise by coin flip

Between 2006–07 and 2021–22, the tiebreakers currently used for all places to decide the scudetto winner if necessary, though this was never needed. Before 2005–06, a play-off would immediately be used if teams were tied for first place, a European qualification spot, or a relegation spot. In some past years, the playoff was a single game at a neutral site while in others it was a two-legged tie decided by aggregate score.

The only time a playoff was used to decide the champion occurred in the 1963–64 season when Bologna and Inter both finished on 54 points. Bologna won the playoff 2–0 at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome to win the scudetto. Playoff games have been used on multiple occasions to decide European competition qualifications (most recently in 1999–2000) and relegation (most recently in 2022–23).

Clubs

Before 1929, many clubs competed in the top level of Italian football as the earlier rounds were competed up to 1922 on a regional basis then interregional up to 1929. Below is a list of Serie A clubs who have competed in the competition since it has been a league format (68 in total).

2026–27 season

The following 20 clubs compete in the Serie A during the 2026–27 season.

Current teams shown in green.

Seasons in Serie A

There are 68 teams that have taken part in 95 Serie A championships in a single round that was played from the 1929–30 season until the 2026–27 season. The teams in bold compete in Serie A currently. The year in parentheses represents the most recent year of participation at this level. Inter Milan is the only team that has played Serie A football in every season.

Logos

Serie A had logos that featured its sponsor Telecom Italia Mobile (TIM). The logo that was introduced in 2010 had a minor change in 2016 due to the change of the logo of TIM itself. In August 2018, a new logo was announced, and another one in August 2019.

On 5 February 2024, Serie A signed a new sponsor deal with Eni, otherwise known as Enilive, to take the main sponsor role of the Serie A.

Television rights

In the past, individual clubs competing in the league had the rights to sell their broadcast rights to specific channels throughout Italy, unlike in most other European countries. Currently, the two broadcasters in Italy are the satellite broadcaster Sky Italia and streaming platform DAZN for its own pay television networks; RAI is allowed to broadcast only highlights (exclusively from 13:30 to 22:30 CET).

This is a list of television rights in Italy (since 2021–22):

Sky Italia (3 matches per week)

DAZN (all matches, including the previous 3)

OneFootball (highlights)

Since the 2010–11 season, Serie A clubs have negotiated television rights collectively rather than on an individual club basis, having previously abandoned collective negotiation at the end of the 1998–99 season.

International broadcasters

In the 1990s, Serie A was at its most popular in the United Kingdom when it was shown on Football Italia on Channel 4, although it has actually appeared on more UK channels than any other league, rarely staying in one place for long since 2002. Serie A has appeared in the UK on BSB's The Sports Channel (1990–91), Sky Sports (1991–1992), Channel 4 (1992–2002), Eurosport (2002–2004), Setanta Sports and Bravo (2004–2007), Channel 5 (2007–2008), ESPN (2009–2013), Eleven Sports Network (2018), Premier, FreeSports (2019–2021) and currently BT Sport (2013–2018; 2021–present).

In the United States, Serie A is currently shown on CBS Sports and its streaming network Paramount+. Prior to 2021–22 it was shown on the ESPN family of networks.

For the 2024–29 cycle, the Serie A sold its international rights to the Infront agency (except in United States and MENA), which is in charge of reaching an agreement with the interested companies.

Champions

The FIGC officially recognises 29 Italian Football Championships held prior to the 1929 reorganisation of the top division into Serie A. The most successful club in terms of national championships is Juventus, with a total of 36 titles. The second most successful club is Inter Milan, with 21 championships, followed by AC Milan, with 19 titles. In recognition of domestic success, the FIGC awards a star for every ten championships won, which may be displayed on a club's jersey.

No national titles were awarded for the 1926–27 and 2004–05 seasons. In both instances, the championships were revoked from Torino and Juventus respectively, due to their involvement in football-related scandals.

Notes

Bold denotes clubs competing in the 2025–26 Serie A season.

In 2002, the FIGC awarded Spezia a special decoration for their victory in the 1944 wartime championship. However, the federation clarified that this recognition does not constitute an official scudetto.

Records

Boldface indicates a player still active in Serie A. Italics indicates a player active outside Serie A.

Most appearances

As of 4 June 2023

Most goals

As of 25 January 2026

Players

Non-EU players

Unlike La Liga, for example, which has long imposed a quota on the number of players able to play for each club who hold passports from countries that are not in the European Union, Serie A has undergone many rule changes concerning the number of non-EU players clubs could sign.

During the 1980s and 1990s, most Serie A clubs signed a large number of players from foreign nations (both EU and non-EU members). Notable foreign players to play in Serie A during this era included Irish international Liam Brady, England internationals Paul Gascoigne and David Platt, France's Michel Platini and Laurent Blanc, Lothar Matthäus and Jürgen Klinsmann from Germany, Dutchmen Ruud Gullit and Dennis Bergkamp, and Argentina's Diego Maradona.

In the middle of the 2000–01 season, the old quota system, which limited each team to having no more than five non-EU players and using no more than three in each match, was abolished. Concurrent with the abolishment of the quota, the FIGC had investigated footballers that used fake passports. Alberto and Warley, Alejandro Da Silva and Jorginho Paulista of Udinese; Fábio Júnior and Gustavo Bartelt of Roma; Dida of Milan; Álvaro Recoba of Inter; Thomas Job, Francis Zé, Jean Ondoa of Sampdoria; and Jeda and Dede of Vicenza were all banned in July 2001 for lengths ranging from six months to one year. However, most of the bans were subsequently reduced.

At the start of the 2003–04 season, a quota was imposed on each of the clubs limiting the number of non-EU, non-EFTA and non-Swiss players who may be signed from abroad each season, following provisional measures introduced in the 2002–03 season, which allowed Serie A and B clubs to sign only one non-EU player in the 2002 summer transfer window.

The rule underwent minor changes in August 2004, June 2005, June 2006, and June 2007.

The number of non-EU players was reduced from 265 in 2002–03 season to 166 in 2006–07 season. This reduction also included players who received EU status after their respective countries joined the EU (see 2004 and 2007 enlargement), which made players such as Adrian Mutu, Valeri Bojinov, Marek Jankulovski and Marius Stankevičius EU players.

Homegrown players

Serie A also imposed Homegrown players rule, a modification of Homegrown Player Rule (UEFA). Unlike UEFA, Serie A at first did not cap the number of players in first team squad at 25, meaning the club could employ more foreigners by increasing the size of the squad. However, a cap of 25 (under-21 players were excluded) was introduced to 2015–16 season (in 2015–16 season, squad simply require 8 homegrown players but not require 4 of them from their own youth team). In the 2016–17 season, the FIGC sanctioned Sassuolo for fielding ineligible player, Antonino Ragusa. Although the club did not exceed the capacity of 21 players that were not from their own youth team (only Domenico Berardi was eligible as youth product of their own) as well as under 21 of age (born 1995 or after, of which four players were eligible) in their 24-men call-up, It was reported that on Lega Serie A side the squad list was not updated.

In 2015–16 season, the following quota was announced.

FIFA World Players of the Year

Lothar Matthäus: 1991 (Inter Milan)

Marco van Basten: 1992 (AC Milan)

Roberto Baggio: 1993 (Juventus)

George Weah: 1995 (AC Milan)

Ronaldo: 1997, 2002 (Inter Milan)

Zinedine Zidane: 1998, 2000 (Juventus)

Fabio Cannavaro: 2006 (Juventus)

Kaká: 2007 (AC Milan)

Serie A Player of the Month

The Serie A Player of the Month recognises the best player each month in Serie A, which is usually done via online voting out of the five nominees.

As of 2026