Serie D
 |
|
| Country |
 Italy
|
|---|---|
| Confederation | UEFA |
| Founded | 1948 as Promozione 1981 as Campionato Interregionale |
| Divisions | 9 |
| Number of teams | 162 |
| Level on pyramid | 4 |
| Promotion to | Lega Pro |
| Relegation to | Eccellenza |
| Domestic cup(s) | Coppa Italia Serie D |
| Current champions |
Viterbese (2015–16) |
| Most championships | Robur Siena (2 titles) |
| Website | http://www.lnd.it |
 2016–17 Serie D
|
|
Serie D (Italian pronunciation: [ˈsɛːrje ˈdi]) is the top level of the Italian non-professional football association called Lega Nazionale Dilettanti. The association represents over twelve thousand football players and four hundred football teams across Italy. Serie D ranks just below Lega Pro (the 3rd and last professional league since 2014–15), and is thus considered the 4th ranked league in the country. It is organized by the Roman Comitato Interregionale (Interregional Committee), a "league in the league" inside the LND.
When in 1948 the three leagues running Division 3 (Serie C) had to be reorganized due to an ever growing number of regional teams joining, FIGC decided not to relegate the exceeding teams to regional championships. It chose the winners and a few runners-up from the 36 Serie C championships to be added to the new third division set up into 4 groups. The rest of the teams attended the new Promozione which changed name in 1952 into Quarta Serie (Fourth Division) and then in 1959 into Serie D.
From 1959 each player attending the Serie D championships had to opt for semi-professional status by signing a specially issued status attribution form. The championship was so included in the Lega Nazionale Semiprofessionisti, today known as Lega Pro. Serie D had to be re-organized in 1981 when championships had to be reduced so that league name changed too into the new name Interregionale and players lost semi-pro status and converted to amateurs. The championship consequently passed into the Lega Nazionale Dilettanti. From 1992 to 1999 had the name changed into Campionato Nazionale Dilettanti before eventually returning to the current Serie D name. With the merger of the Lega Pro's two divisions at the end of the 2013–14 season (as decided by the FIGC and Lega Pro in November 2012) to reestablish Serie C, Serie D and the leagues below it will move up by one level in the pyramid system, reducing the number of leagues in Italian football to nine.
Since the early 1990s, Serie D has consisted of 162 teams split into 9 regional divisions (Gironi), usually formed of 18 teams each divided geographically.
For the 2012–13 season, the teams were 166 and two groups (B and C) were formed of 20 teams; in the 2013–14 season the number was 161 and one group (H) was formed of 17 teams. For 2014–15 their distribution by region is as follows:
...
Wikipedia