The Lega Nazionale Professionisti (Italian for National Professionals League), commonly known as Lega Calcio (Football League), was the governing body that ran the two highest

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

divisions in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, namely

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 ...

, from 1946 to 2010. The league also ruled the

Serie C The Serie C (), officially known as Serie C NOW for sponsorship purposes, is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing ...

from 1948 to 1959. It has ceased to exist since 1 July 2010, following a split between Serie A and Serie B clubs, which led to the creation of two new leagues, the

Lega Serie A The Lega Nazionale Professionisti Serie A (Italian for ''National Professionals League Serie A''), commonly known as LNPA or Lega Serie A (Serie A League), is the governing body that runs the major professional Association football, football com ...

and

Lega Serie B The Lega Nazionale Professionisti B (Italian for National Professionals League B), commonly known as LNPB or Lega B (B League), is the governing body that runs the second tier of professional football competitions in Italy, the Serie B. It was p ...

respectively. The Lega Calcio was founded as the Lega Nazionale (''National League'') in 1946, after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and its name was changed in 1960, shortly after Italy fully recognized professional status for the players of the top divisions. Its predecessor during the

fascist 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 soci ...

era, between 1926 and 1944, was the

Direttorio Divisioni Superiori The Direttorio Divisioni Superiori ( Italian for ''Directory of Higher Divisions'') was the ruling body of the major Italian football championships during the fascist era. v ''Treccani'' (Italian)/ref> History The Directory was established throu ...

(''Directory of Higher Divisions''), a committee whose president was appointed by the FIGC. Earlier still before, the first football league in Italy was the ''Lega Nord'' (Northern League), which was composed of the major clubs of

Northern Italy Northern Italy (, , ) is a geographical and cultural region in the northern part of Italy. The Italian National Institute of Statistics defines the region as encompassing the four Northwest Italy, northwestern Regions of Italy, regions of Piedmo ...

from 1921 to 1926. Promotion and relegation between the divisions were a central feature of the league: at the end of the season the bottom clubs of Serie B switched with the top clubs of the Lega Serie C (or its predecessors), thus integrating the League into the

Italian football league system The Italian football league system, also known as the Italian football pyramid, refers to the hierarchically interconnected league system for association football in Italy. It consists of nine national and regional tournaments, the first three b ...

. Besides, the Lega Calcio also organized the main Italian cup competition, the

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

and the

Supercoppa Italiana The Supercoppa Italiana, also known as the Italian Super Cup, is an annual super cup tournament in Italian football. Founded in 1988 as a two-team competition, it has featured four teams since 2023 (the winners and runners-up of the previous ...

Competition

League

The member clubs of the Lega Calcio were grouped into two divisions: the

and

. In any given season a club played each of the others in the same division twice, once at their home stadium and once at that of their opponents. Clubs gained three points for a win (two before 1994) one for a draw, and none for a defeat. At the end of each season, the club with the most points in the Serie A was crowned champion. If points were equal, the head-to-head records determined the winner (tie-breakers were also used in the past). If still equal, the goal difference and then goals scored became the deciding factors. As for Serie B, at the top end two, three or four clubs won promotion to Serie A, with the bottom Serie A clubs taking their places. At the lower end, three or four club were relegated to the

, while teams from the Lega C joined in their place.

Promotion and relegation Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

were determined by final league positions, but to sustain interest for more clubs over the length of the season in the later years one promotion place from Serie B was decided according to a playoff between four clubs, which took place at the end of the season. It was therefore possible for a team finishing sixth in the championship to be promoted rather than the clubs finishing immediately above them in the standings. Likewise, one relegation place to the

Serie C1 Serie C1 was the third highest football league in Italy. It consisted of 36 teams, divided geographically into two divisions. History Before the 1978–79 season, there were only three professional football leagues in Italy, the third being Se ...

was decided according to a playoff between two clubs. Youth teams of Lega Calcio clubs played in the Campionato Nazionale Primavera, as well as competing in their own cup competitions, such as the Coppa Italia Primavera and the Supercoppa Primavera.

Cup

The Lega Calcio organised a cup competition, the

, open to all Serie A and Serie B clubs and some clubs from the

Supercup

The Lega Calcio also organised the

, between the champions of the Serie A and the winners of the Coppa Italia.

2010 split

On 30 April 2009, after divisions between Serie A and Serie B clubs regarding the future of the league, 19 of 20 top flight clubs (the only exception being U.S. Lecce) agreed on plans to split from Serie B to form another governing and financing body, with the same name Serie A, in a move reminiscent of England's

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

formation in 1992. Subsequently, on 1 July 2010, the Lega Calcio has officially ceased to exist and replaced by the two newly formed leagues,

and

List of Lega Nazionale Professionisti presidents

*1946–50 Piero Pedroni *1950–57 Saverio Giulini *1958–59 Giuseppe Pasquale (interim) *1959–62 Giuseppe Pasquale *1962–64 Giorgio Perlasca *1964–65

Artemio Franchi Artemio Franchi (; 8 January 1922 – 12 August 1983) was an Italian Association football, football administrator. Biography He served as President of the Italian Football Federation (1967–1976, 1978–1980), president of the UEFA (1973� ...

(interim) *1965–73 Aldo Stacchi *1973–76 Franco Carraro *1976–77 Antonio Griffi *1977–78 Franco Carraro (interim) *1978–81 *1982–87 Antonio Matarrese *1987–96 Luciano Nizzola *1997–2001 Franco Carraro *2002–06 Adriano Galliani *2006–09 Antonio Matarrese *2009 Giancarlo Abete (interim) *2009–10 :: interim commissioner appointed directly by the

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

Official Match Ball

*2007–08 Nike T90 Aerow II *2008–09 Nike T90 Omni *2009–10 Nike T90 Ascente

References

External links

Lega Nazionale Professionisti official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lega Calcio Serie A Serie B 1946 establishments in Italy 2010 disestablishments in Italy Football governing bodies in Italy