Divisione Nazionale ''(National Division)'' was the name of the first level of the

Italian Football Championship Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

from 1926 to 1929.

History

The competition was the evolution of former Prima Divisione ''(First Division)'' which had two main problems: it was divided between the northern and the southern part of the country, and was formally faithful to the amatorial directories of

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

. The

fascist regime Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hie ...

would not accept a championship based on local groups, so in 1926 it took the direct control of

FIGC The Italian Football Federation (, ; FIGC ), known colloquially as (), is the governing body of football in Italy. It is based in Rome and the technical department is in Coverciano, Florence. It manages and coordinates the Italian football l ...

with

Leandro Arpinati Leandro Arpinati (29 February 1892 – 22 April 1945) was an Italian politician. Biography Arpinati was born at Civitella di Romagna. Before World War I, he was originally an individualist-anarchist and, together with his friend Benito Mussolini ...

as president, who merged two

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

clubs and newborn

Napoli Naples ( ; ; ) is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its province-level municipality is the thir ...

into the

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

-based Northern League, which consequently changed its name into Direttorio Divisioni Superiori ''(Directory of Higher Divisions)'', and it formed a Prima Divisione Sud championship ''(Southern First Division)'' which would promote a southern club into the renamed Divisione Nazionale every year. Players' purchase and salary were also allowed, even if Italian football did not officially turn into a professional system until 1960. Divisione Nazionale was based, as previous Lega Nord, on two groups, now composed of only ten clubs each, the best teams playing a final group for the

scudetto The ''scudetto'' (; Italian for 'little shield') is a decoration having the colors of the flag of Italy which is sewn onto the jersey of the Italian sports clubs that won the highest level championship of their respective sport in the previous ...

. In 1927, the championship was provisionally enlarged to 22 clubs, due to the re-admittance of

A.S. Roma Associazione Sportiva Roma (''Rome Sport Association''; Italian pronunciation: ) is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its exis ...

and

S.S.C. Napoli Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli (), commonly known as SSC Napoli or simply Napoli, is an Italian professional football club based in Naples, Campania that currently competes in the Serie A, the highest league of Italian football. Napoli are am ...

, which had been formally relegated at the end of the 1926–27 campaign. In 1928, Arpinati decided a historical reform, which lasts still today, creating the new

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

and

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

, even if, for a transitional year, the two series had still to be played merged in a last Divisione Nazionale season.

History

Winners

References

See also