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Founded |
1898 1929 (as round-robin) |
(officially)
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Country |
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Confederation | UEFA |
Number of teams | 20 |
Level on pyramid | 1 |
Relegation to | Serie B |
Domestic cup(s) |
Coppa Italia Supercoppa Italiana |
International cup(s) |
UEFA Champions League UEFA Europa League |
Current champions |
Juventus (34th title) (2017–18) |
Most championships | Juventus (34 titles) |
Most appearances | Paolo Maldini (647) |
Top goalscorer | Silvio Piola (274 goals) |
TV partners |
SKY Italia DAZN |
Website | legaseriea.it |
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Serie A (Italian pronunciation: [ˈsɛːrje ˈa]), also called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Coppa Campioni d'Italia. It has been operating for over eighty years since the 1929–30 season. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, when the Lega Serie A was created for the 2010–11 season.
Serie A is regarded as one of the best football leagues in the world and it is often depicted as the most tactical national league. Serie A was the world's second-strongest national league in 2014 according to IFFHS and has produced the highest number of European Cup finalists: Italian clubs have reached the final of the competition on a record 27 occasions, winning the title 12 times. Serie A is ranked third among European leagues according to UEFA's league coefficient, behind La Liga, the Premier League and ahead of the Bundesliga and the Ligue 1, which is based on the performance of Italian clubs in the Champions League and the Europa League during the last five years. Serie A led the UEFA ranking from 1986 to 1988 and from 1990 to 1999.
In its current format, the Italian Football Championship was revised from having regional and interregional rounds, to a single-tier league from the 1929–30 season onwards. The championship titles won prior to 1929 are officially recognised by FIGC with the same weighting as titles that were subsequently awarded. However, the 1945–46 season, when the league was played over two geographical groups due to the ravages of WWII, is not statistically considered, even if its title is fully official. All the winning teams are recognised with the title of Campione d'Italia ("Champion of Italy"), which is ratified by the Lega Serie A before the start of the next edition of the championship.