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37-665: The Serie D ( Italian pronunciation: [ˈsɛːrje ˈdi] ) is the highest level of semi-professional football in Italy. The fourth tier of the Italian league system, the competition sits beneath the third professional league, Serie C . It is administered by the Lega Nazionale Dilettanti and is organized by the Roman Comitato Interregionale (Interregional Committee), a "league in
74-459: A promotion playoff involving the three group runners-up). Meanwhile, nine teams are relegated to Serie D : the last-placed team from each group go down directly, whereas teams between 16th and 19th from each group place play a relegation playoff (officially referred to as play-out ), with the two losing teams from each group also relegated. In May 2017, the Lega Pro assembly unanimously approved
111-400: Is bigger than eight points. Serie D does not use head-to-head results to order teams that are tied in points in certain situations, single-game tie-breakers are held at neutral sites instead. Those situations are the following: Head-to-head results are used in all other situations, such as when all the teams involved are qualified in the promotional playoffs, or all teams are participating in
148-419: Is directly promoted and qualifies for Supercoppa di Serie C . Teams which have finished in the bottom of the league are directly relegated. The other divisional changes are determined through a complex system of promotion and relegation play-offs. 28 teams compete to achieve the only available spot for Serie B. 27 of them are the teams which have finished in the 2nd to 10th positions (9 per group). The 28th team
185-951: Is relegated directly. To encourage the development of homegrown players, all Lega Pro clubs were capped to use no more than 16 players in their squads that were older than 23 years of age (in 2019–20 season, player born before 1 January 1997), plus two wildcards for long serving players of the clubs. The clubs could use an unlimited number of under-23 players. 10 teams from Lombardy , 6 teams from Veneto , 2 teams from Piedmont , 1 team from Friuli-Venezia Giulia and 1 team from Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol . 4 teams from Tuscany , 3 teams from Emilia-Romagna , 3 teams from Umbria , 2 teams from Abruzzo , 2 teams from Liguria , 2 teams from Marche , 1 team from Sardinia , 1 team from Lombardy , 1 team from Veneto and 1 team from Molise . 7 teams from Campania , 5 teams from Puglia , 3 teams from Sicily , 2 teams from Basilicata , 1 team from Lazio , 1 team from Calabria and 1 team from Piedmont . This
222-412: Is the complete list of the clubs that took part in the 38 Serie C seasons played from the 1935–36 season until the 1977–78 season (participation in the editions of the 1945–46 , 1946–47 and 1947–48 seasons, championships that due to World War II, are excluded from the list as they were divided into two completely independent leagues), the three Lega Pro seasons played from the 2014–15 season until
259-399: Is the fifth level (since 2014–15) of Italian football . It is a regional league, composed of 28 divisions divided geographically. All 20 regions are represented by at least one division except for Piedmont and Aosta Valley which share 2 divisions. Veneto, Tuscany, Sicily, Emilia-Romagna and Campania also have 2 divisions each, while the regions of Lombardy and Lazio have 3 divisions. After
296-414: Is the winner of Coppa Italia Serie C . There are a total of six rounds: First round and Second round consist in single-leg games and, if teams are tied after regular time, the higher-placed team advances. 6 teams (2 per group) advance to the next round. Third round and Quarter-finals consist in two-legged games, with seeded team playing at home for second leg, and, if teams are tied on aggregate,
333-497: The 2016–17 season , and from the 2017–18 season . The teams in bold competed in Serie C in the 2021–22 season. For Serie C1 and Lega Pro Prima Divisione winners, see Lega Pro Prima Divisione and for Serie C2 and Lega Pro Seconda Divisione winners, see Lega Pro Seconda Divisione between 1978–79 and 2013–14 Serie C Lega Pro Serie C Eccellenza The Eccellenza ( [ettʃelˈlɛntsa] , "excellence")
370-600: The Coppa Italia Serie D winner qualifies for the 4th semi-final spot. The semi-finals are a two-legged tie, with the winners qualifying for a one-game final match played at a neutral site. The playoff results provide the league with a list from which it may choose teams to fill vacancies in Serie C. The number of teams promoted through this method can vary each year; for example in 2007–08, the top 5 placed play-off teams were selected to fill vacancies, however, in 2006–07, no teams were needed to fill vacancies. After
407-781: The Direttorio Divisioni Inferiori Nord (Northern Directory of Lower Divisions) was set up in Genoa , while football activity in the southern part of the country was run by the Direttorio Divisioni Inferiori Sud which later became the Direttorio Meridionale (Southern Directory). These leagues did not last long; after another reform they were disbanded between 1930 and 1931. Some bigger clubs who owned large pitches with dimensions of 100x60 metres were promoted to
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#1732793246507444-519: The Lega Nazionale Dilettanti . From 1992 to 1999 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 moved up by one level in the pyramid system, reducing
481-644: The Serie B and Serie A . The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing body that operates the Serie C. The unification of the Lega Pro Prima Divisione and the Lega Pro Seconda Divisione as Lega Pro Divisione Unica (often also abbreviated as Lega Pro) in 2014 reintroduced the format of the original Serie C that existed between 1935 and 1978 (before the split into Serie C1 and Serie C2). In May 2017,
518-511: The 2014–15 season) that need to be filled. For example, in the 2007–08 season there were nine such failures, and thus, nine Lega Pro Seconda Divisione spaces were created. Four of those spaces were filled by calling back teams that had played in Seconda Divisione but were relegated to Serie D for the next season. The other five vacancies were filled by Serie D teams that had participated in the Serie D playoffs. Playoffs are held at
555-433: The 5th-placed team is matched against the 2nd-placed team, and the 4th-placed team is matched against the 3rd-placed team. Round two matches together the two winners. At the end of round two, one team from each division survives and the nine winners are grouped into 3 groups of three and play each team in their own group once (one at home and one away). The three group winners qualify for the play-off semi-finals. Since 2007–08,
592-464: The First Division (Prima Divisione); a league defined and structured as the "National Championship". The Second Division had no relegations to regional leagues as most teams were reelected at the beginning of each new season. Once a critical threshold was reached the Italian federation decided to close the two leagues and move all teams to the "Direttori Regionali" (Regional Committees) so that
629-607: The Lega Pro assembly unanimously approved renaming the competition to its original name, Serie C. A third division above the regional leagues was first created in Italy in 1926, when fascist authorities decided to reform the major championships on a national basis, increasing the number of teams participating by promoting many regional teams from the Third Division (Terza Divisione) to the Second Division (Seconda Divisione). A new league running this Second Division,
666-592: The Serie D championships had to opt for semi-professional status, by signing a specially issued status attribution form. The championship was thus included in the Lega Nazionale Semiprofessionisti , today known as Lega Pro . Serie D was re-organized in 1981 when championships were reduced. The league name changed into the Interregional . Players lost semi-pro status and converted to amateurs. The championship subsequently passed into
703-443: The conclusion of the regular season and involve teams placed second through fifth in each division. The first two rounds are single game elimination matches played at the home of the higher-classified team. Games ending in ties are extended to extra time. Since the 2007–08 season, if games are still tied after extra time, the higher classified team is declared the winner. No penalty shootout takes place. In round one, for each division,
740-443: The distribution by region was as follows: The first-placed team from each division is promoted to Serie C each year, replacing 9 teams from Lega Pro relegated to Serie D. If a newly promoted Serie D team fails to meet the requirements, Lega Pro asks the second-placed team in that Serie D team's division to fill the vacancy. Failing that, the third-placed team may fill the vacancy, and so on. In recent years, one or more teams from
777-423: The first one adopting a format of three groups of 20 teams each. In 1978 the semiprofessional sector was abolished; Serie D became an amateur section while Serie C was divided into two professional divisions ( Serie C1 and Serie C2 ), and the league changed its name to Lega Professionisti Serie C . On 20 June 2008, the league was restructured and took its current name Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico . After
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#1732793246507814-575: The labour-intensive job of organisation was delegated to more efficient and organised regional staff. The most successful teams coming from the Second Divisions in 5 years (from 1926–27 to 1930–31) composed 6 ever-growing sections of the First Division (Prima Divisione) which at the beginning had just a few teams in just one section from southern Italy. This championship was organized by the same league governing Serie A and Serie B (the "Direttorio Divisioni Superiori"), even if, as opposed to
851-554: The league reform of 2014, the two previous divisions of Lega Pro Prima Divisione and Lega Pro Seconda Divisione were ultimately merged into a new league; the Lega Pro Divisione Unica or more informally addressed as just Lega Pro . This is the league structure currently in operation; comprising 60 teams that are divided geographically in three groups of 20 each. At the end of each season, four teams are promoted to Serie B (three group winners, plus one coming from
888-590: The league" inside the LND. In 1948 the three leagues running Division 3 (Serie C) had to be reorganized due to an ever-growing number of regional teams. FIGC decided not to relegate the excess 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 joined the new Promozione , which changed its name in 1952 into IV Serie (Fourth Division) and then in 1959 into Serie D . From 1959 each player in
925-412: The national playoff participant. Once the 28 national playoff participants are finalized, they are paired in a double-leg series, and the 14 winners participate in a second round double-leg series. The 7 winners of the second round are promoted to Serie D as well. One more place to Serie D is allowed to the winner of the " Coppa Italia Dilettanti " (Amateur Italian Cup), a year-long competition between all
962-406: 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 , there were 166 teams. Two groups ( B and C ) were formed of 20 teams. In the 2013–14 season the number was 161 and one group ( H ) comprised 17 teams. For 2014–15
999-418: The professional leagues have normally failed to meet the regulatory or financial requirements in order to participate. This usually creates vacancies that get announced in the summer rest period as the new season is being organized. As teams move up to fill the void created by these failed teams or teams in the lowest professional division fail, spaces are created in Serie C (or Lega Pro Seconda Divisione prior to
1036-457: The regular season is complete, bottom teams in each division play a double-leg series (6th-last vs 3rd-last, 5th-last vs 4th-last). The winners remain in Serie D for the following season. The two losers are relegated to Eccellenza , a regional amateur league below this, for a total of 4 relegations in each division, 36 in total for the league. There are no play-out if the difference between 6th-last vs 3rd-last and that between 5th-last vs 4th-last
1073-417: The regular season is completed, the first-placed team for each division is automatically promoted to Serie D . Each division also admits one other team to participate in national playoffs that take place in late May and early June. Some divisions select the second-placed team directly, while other divisions schedule a series of divisional playoff games among the top teams in that division in order to determine
1110-447: The relegation playoffs. Each year, at the end of the regular season, the winners of the nine Serie D divisions qualify for a championship tournament in order to assign the so-called Scudetto Dilettanti (amateur champions' title). Round one divides the nine teams into three groups of three teams each where each team plays a single game against each of its other two opponents. The three group winners and best second-placed team advance to
1147-413: The return to the original name Serie C. The 2017–18 Serie C season includes 19 teams in each of the three divisions after adjustments were made for excluded clubs. Serie C is composed of 60 teams divided equally into three groups split horizontally in geographical terms, from north to south. During the regular season, teams play in a round-robin format solely within their group, with the two halves of
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1184-412: The season having exactly the same order of fixtures. Three points are awarded for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss. At the end of the regular season one table per group is determined, based on points. If two or more teams are tied on points, the following tie-breaking criteria apply: A total of 4 teams are promoted to Serie B and 9 teams are relegated to Serie D . The winner team of each group
1221-458: The seeded team advances. The four winning teams reach the Final four , composed of: Final four fixtures are drawn, all games are two-legged and, if teams are tied on aggregate, the winner is decided by extra-time and a penalty shootout if required. In order to determine the best-placed team , the following criteria apply: If the winner of Coppa Italia Serie C: The number of teams which play
1258-490: The semifinals. The first scudetto dilettanti was assigned in 1952–1953, when the Serie D was still called IV Serie (fourth division). Its assignment was suspended from 1958–1959 to 1991–1992. Serie C The Serie C ( Italian pronunciation: [ˈsɛːrje ˈtʃi] ), officially known as Serie C NOW for sponsorship purposes, is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after
1295-419: The so called play-out in the Italian football is variable. Usually, fixtures pair the 16th v 19th and 17th vs 18th-placed teams. Matches are two-legged, the higher-placed team plays at home for second leg and, if teams are tied on aggregate, the lower-placed team is relegated to Serie D. However, if the higher-placed team finishes 9 or more points ahead of the lower-placed team, play-out is canceled and team
1332-469: The two higher divisions, it was structured in local groups with geographical criteria. The number of clubs belonging to the Prima Divisione continued to increase every year, until FIGC decided to rename it Serie C (at the beginning of the 1935–36 season) while a subsequent large reduction in 1948 led to the creation of a sole national division in 1952–53. The reform that created the actual league
1369-489: Was decided by Bruno Zauli in 1959 as he built on the incomplete work started by the former president Ottorino Barassi to make professional football fully recognised and organised. While Lega Calcio had a stated mission of organising professional and national divisions, the new Lega Nazionale Semiprofessionisti based in Florence had to regulate the two semiprofessional and subnational divisions: Serie C and Serie D , with
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