2004–05 Serie A
| Season | 2004–05 |
|---|---|
| Champions | Not awarded (Juventus were stripped of their title due to match fixing) |
| Relegated |
Bologna Brescia Atalanta |
| Champions League |
Juventus (Group stage) Milan (Group stage) Internazionale (Third qualifying round) Udinese (Third qualifying round) |
| UEFA Cup |
Sampdoria Palermo Roma |
| Matches played | 380 |
| Goals scored | 960 (2.53 per match) |
| Top goalscorer | Cristiano Lucarelli (24) |
| Highest scoring | Livorno 4–6 Parma |
| Average attendance | 26,098 |
|
← 2003–04
2005–06 →
|
|
In the 2004–05 season, the Serie A, the highest professional football league in Italy, was expanded to contain 20 clubs, which played 38 matches against each other, rather than the 34 matches in previous seasons.
The first two teams qualified directly to UEFA Champions League, teams ending in the 3rd and 4th places had to play Champions League qualifications, teams ending in the 5th and 6th places qualified to UEFA Cup (another spot was given to the winner of Coppa Italia), while the last three teams were to be relegated in Serie B, the Italian second division.
Juventus finished as champions, although they were later stripped of the title due to their involvement in the 2006 Serie A scandal. Runners-up AC Milan were also implicated in the scandal, and as a result that season's title was not awarded to any club. Udinese qualified for the UEFA Champions League for the first time in its history; Palermo, in its first Serie A campaign in over 30 years, finished in 6th place, qualifying for the UEFA Cup for the first time in its history; Roma qualified for the UEFA Cup as the runners-up in the Coppa Italia because the cup winner, Internazionale, already qualified for the Champions League.
Two teams, Brescia and Atalanta, were directly relegated to Serie B, while the third relegation place was to be decided among three teams, Fiorentina, Bologna, and Parma; counting only the so-called classifica avulsa, that is the table composed solely by the six matches between the three teams, Bologna and Parma had fewer points, and played the relegation tiebreaker; the tiebreaker was won by Parma, defeated 0–1 at home but winning 0–2 away in the return match. This method of classifying teams on equal points totals was abolished for the 2005–06 season.
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