Serie A
Serie A (officially known as the Lega Calcio Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top echelon of the Italian football league system. It is widely regarded as one of the elite leagues of the footballing world. Historically, Serie A has produced the highest number of European Cup finalists. In total Italian clubs have reached the final of the competition on a record of twenty-five different occasions, winning the title eleven times.[1] As of 2008, Serie A is ranked third among European leagues by UEFA, based on the performance of Italian clubs in the Champions League and the UEFA Cup. [2]
In its current format, the Italian Football Championship was revised from having regional and interregional rounds, to just one solid league for the 1929–30 season onwards; the Serie A system carries on today. The championship titles won before 1929 are officially recognised by FIGC as a championship in the same way the ones since then are.
The league hosts some of the world's most famous clubs: Juventus, Milan, Inter, Roma, Lazio and Napoli. Juventus, Milan and Inter were all founding members of the G-14 a group representing the largest and most prestigious European football clubs; Serie A was the only league to produce three founding members.[3] More players have won the coveted Ballon d'Or award while playing at a Serie A club than any other league in the world.[4] AC Milan is the club with the most official international titles in the world.[5] Juventus, the most winning Italian team, is the third in Europe and sixth in the world in the same ranking. They are, also, the only club on the planet[6] to have won all official club competitions.[7]
Since Italy is currently rated as one of the top three European countries in terms of club football ratings, the top four teams in the Serie A qualify for the UEFA Champions League. The top two teams qualify directly to the group phase, while the third and fourth placed teams enter the competition at the third qualifying round and must win a two-legged knockout tie in order to enter the group phase. Teams finishing 5th and 6th qualify for the UEFA Cup Tournament. A third UEFA Cup spot is reserved for the winner of the Coppa Italia. If the Coppa Italia champion has already qualified for one of the two European tournaments by placing in the top six of Serie A, the third UEFA Cup spot goes to the losing finalist. If both Coppa Italia finalists finish among the top six teams in Serie A, the 7th classified team in Serie A is awarded the UEFA Cup spot. The three lowest placed teams are relegated to Serie B.
The Serie A Championship title is often referred to as the scudetto (small shield) because since the 1924-25 season the winning team will bear a small coat of arms with the Italian tricolour on their strip in the following season. The most successful club is Juventus F.C. with 27 championships, followed by A.C. Milan (17), Internazionale Milano (16) and Genoa C&FC (9). From 2004-05 onwards an actual trophy was awarded to club on the field after the last turn of the championship. The trophy, called Coppa Campioni d'Italia, is official since the 1960-61 season, but between 1961 and 2004 it was consigned to the winning clubs at the offices of Lega calcio in Milan.
