"Premier League–Football League gulf In English football, a gulf has arisen between the finances of clubs from the Premier League and English Football League since the First Division clubs broke away to form the Premier League in 1992. Some have argued that this disparity is wider than in other European leagues where the top flight is combined with at least one division below in a league, such as Germany's Bundesliga, Italy's Serie A and Spain's La Liga. However, England has five tiers of single national divisions, compared to only two in Spain and Italy and three in Germany. Since the"
"years before England. The Lega Pro was brought back in 2014, abolishing Serie C1 and Serie C2. On 25 May 2017 the Lega Pro assembly unanimously approved the return to the original name of the competition to Serie C. The first tier of Italian football is Serie A, which is governed by the Lega Nazionale Professionisti Serie A and is made up of 20 teams. Next is the Serie B, which is organised by the Lega Nazionale Professionisti Serie B. Both of these leagues cover the whole of Italy. The third tier is the Serie C, formerly Lega Pro. It"
"on to win four in a row. However, it is Juventus, Milan and Internazionale that have dominated the league since World War II, having won the title in 57 of the 72 seasons. The current league system dates back to 1978, when semi-professional sector was disbanded. In that year, the current Lega Pro (then known as ""National Semiprofessional League"") which ruled Serie C and Serie D, turned in a fully professional league organizing new Lega Pro Prima Divisione (Serie C1) and Lega Pro Seconda Divisione (Serie C2). Italy so became the only country having two distinct professional football leagues, 14"
"Italian football league system The Italian football league system, also known as the Italian football pyramid, refers to the hierarchically interconnected league system for the association football in Italy, that consists of 1008 divisions having 7594 teams in which all divisions are bound together by the principle of promotion and relegation, with one team from San Marino also competing. The system has a hierarchical format with promotion and relegation between leagues at different levels, allowing even the smallest club the theoretical possibility of ultimately rising to the very top of the system. A certain number of the most successful clubs"
"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 formation in 1992. Subsequently, on 1 July 2010, the Lega Calcio has officially ceased to exist and replaced by the two newly formed leagues, Lega Serie A and Lega Serie B. Lega Nazionale Professionisti The Lega Nazionale Professionisti (Italian for ""National League of Professionals""), commonly known as Lega Calcio (""Football League""), was the governing body that ran the two"
"Premier League The Premier League (often referred to as the English Premier League (EPL) outside England) is the top level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football League (EFL). The Premier League is a corporation in which the member clubs act as shareholders. Seasons run from August to May with each team playing 38 matches (playing each other home and away). Most games are played on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. The Premier League has featured 47 English and two Welsh clubs since its inception,"
"mini-league involving the second- through fifth-place teams, under the following conditions: In 2004-05, Italy's professional league introduced a promotion playoff to its second tier of football, Serie B. It operates almost identically to the system currently used in England. The top two clubs in Serie B earn automatic promotion to Serie A with the next four clubs entering a playoff to determine who wins the third promotion place, as long as fewer than 10 points separate the third and fourth-placed teams (which often occurs). Like the English playoffs, the Italian playoffs employ two-legged semi-finals, with the higher finisher in the"
"Coppa Italia Primavera and the Supercoppa Primavera. The Nike is the official match football of the Lega Serie A and is used by all 20 teams in league games. The same football is used in all Coppa Italia games and the Supercoppa Italiana. Lega Serie A The Lega Nazionale Professionisti Serie A (Italian for ""National League of Professionals Serie A""), commonly known as commonly known as LNPA or Lega Serie A (""Serie A League""), is the governing body that runs the major professional football competitions in Italy, most prominently the Serie A. It was founded on 1 July 2010. In"
"Italian Football League Italian Football League (IFL) is an American football league in Italy. The league was founded in 2008, taking over previous league's significance (National Football League Italy). The league was born as a result of the escape of several of the best clubs of the old championship organized by the Italian federation, such as Milano Rhinos, Parma Panthers, Bologna Doves and Bolzano Giants. However some of the historic Italian clubs have not joined the new league and continue to participate in different tournaments organized by other federations. This is the case of Legnano Frogs, Torino Giaguari, etc. In"
"(Italian: Lega Nazionale Dilettanti) and all ""Divisions"" (Divisioni in Italian) were converted into ""Categories"" (Categorie in Italian) and First Division (Prima Divisione) become Seconda Categoria. With the reform of the Lega Pro before the 2014-2015 season in which the Lega Pro Prima Divisione and Lega Pro Seconda Divisione were unified restoring Serie C as the new third national level, the championship became the eighth national level, but remained the fourth highest regional competition. Seconda Categoria Seconda Categoria is a level of football in Italy. It is the 8th level (since 2014-15) in the Italian football league system. Each individual league"
"Serie A Serie A (), 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"
"Cups (1927–30 and 1933–35). Italy's top domestic league, the Serie A, is one of the most popular professional sports leagues in the world and it is often depicted as the most tactical national football league. Italy's club sides have won 48 major European trophies, making them the second most successful nation in European football. Serie A hosts three of the world's most famous clubs as Juventus, Milan and Inter, all founding members of the G-14, a group which represented the largest and most prestigious European football clubs; Serie A was the only league to produce three founding members. Juventus, Milan"
"introduced for the 1923-24 champions Genoa. Because of the fascist Carta di Viareggio, in 1926 the Prima Divisione championship was renamed as Divisione Nazionale ""(National Division)"", merging the best southern clubs into the Northern League. The second level of the Italian football consequently took the name of Prima Divisional, as it happened in England in 1992. In 1929 with the creation of the Serie A and Serie B championships the Prima Divisione became the third level of the Italian Football. In 1935 with the creation of the Serie C championship the Prima Divisione became the fourth level of the Italian"
"Promozione Promozione is a level of football in Italy. It is the sixth level (since 2014-15) in the Italian football league system. Each individual league winner within the Promozione level progresses to their closest regional league in the Eccellenza level. Depending on each league's local rules, a number of teams each year are relegated from each league, to the 7th level of Italian football, the Prima Categoria. This level of Italian football is completely amateur and is run on a regional level. In the past, from 1904 to 1912, the Seconda Categoria had been the second level of Italian local"
"Certainly the Italian league appeared to be falling way behind their major rivals; A decade previously, the total €900,000 million revenue of Serie A had been not far behind the English Premier League's €1.1 billion, with the income of the Bundesliga, La Liga and French Ligue 1 trailing a long way behind at around €500 million each. Now, while Premier League revenues had surged to €2.4 billion, the Bundesliga and La Liga's earnings had now both caught up with Serie A at €1.5 billion, with Ligue 1 not far behind at €1.2 billion Particularly worrying was the state of Juventus',"
"Lega Serie A The Lega Nazionale Professionisti Serie A (Italian for ""National League of Professionals Serie A""), commonly known as commonly known as LNPA or Lega Serie A (""Serie A League""), is the governing body that runs the major professional football competitions in Italy, most prominently the Serie A. It was founded on 1 July 2010. In the past the television rights of the Serie A clubs were sold separately, and the league ""Serie A"" had to financially support Serie B through divided part of the Serie A TV revenues to Serie B clubs. On 30 April 2009, Serie A"
"reach these milestones will receive a presentation box from the Premier League containing a special medallion and a plaque commemorating their achievement. In 2012, the Premier League celebrated its second decade by holding the 20 Seasons Awards: Premier League The Premier League (often referred to as the English Premier League (EPL) outside England) is the top level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football League (EFL). The Premier League is a corporation in which the member clubs act as shareholders. Seasons run from August"
"equal rights and responsibilities. Bobby Zamora (English footballer) and Obafemi Martins (Nigerian footballer) are the only two players who have scored penalties with both their feet in the Premier League. Although the oldest league in the world, the English Football League (EFL) now ranks second in the hierarchy of English football since the split of England's top clubs in 1992 to form the FA Premier League. The EFL has 72 member clubs evenly divided among three divisions, currently named the Championship, League One and League Two. Despite the organisational split, promotion and relegation of clubs still takes place between the"
"single division of the Premier League (Level 1, which is often referred to as the ""top flight""), containing 20 clubs, all of which, up to the 2010–11 season, were based in England. However, two Welsh teams (Swansea City and Cardiff City) have since played in the league. Below the Premier League is the English Football League (EFL), which is divided into three divisions of 24 clubs each: The Championship (Level 2), League One (Level 3) and League Two (Level 4). The 92 clubs in the Premier League and English Football League are all full-time professional clubs. They are often referred"
"A was the world's second-strongest national league in 2014 according to IFFHS Italian clubs have reached the final of the competition on 27 occasions, winning the title 12 times. Serie A is ranked third among European leagues according to UEFA's league coefficient, behind La Liga, Premier League, and ahead of Bundesliga 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"
"Lega Nazionale Professionisti The Lega Nazionale Professionisti (Italian for ""National League of Professionals""), commonly known as Lega Calcio (""Football League""), was the governing body that ran the two highest football divisions in Italy, namely Serie A and Serie B, from 1946 to 2010. 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 and Lega Serie B respectively. The Lega Calcio was founded as the Lega Nazionale (""National League"") in 1946, after the Second World War, and its"
"Italy's Serie A with two wins each (see table here). Note that some Premier League clubs are not based in England. Because they are members of the Football Association of Wales (FAW), the question of which country clubs like Cardiff City and Swansea City should represent in European competitions has caused long-running discussions in UEFA. Despite being a member of the FAW, Swansea took up one of England's three available places in the UEFA Europa League in 2013–14, thanks to winning the League Cup in 2012–13. The right of Welsh clubs to take up such English places was in doubt"
"editions. At the beginning it was only open to a certain few clubs from some European countries that were promoting trade and not an open football tournament. However, it is the official predecessor of UEFA Cup - Europa League (by UEFA) and recognized by FIFA (and FIGC) as a major trophy. Additionally, the Alta Italia Championship—also knowns as ""Campionato di guerra"" (War Championship)—, won by the Vigili del Fuoco della Spezia in 1944 (the only edition ever held), was recognised by FIGC in 2002 as the equivalent to the Serie A championship of that year. Football records in Italy This"
"the following years a lot of teams moved to the FIDAF (the federation where the IFL belongs to) and most of the biggest teams are now part of the IFL that is the First Division or in the other 2 divisions. † defunct ♦ due to league expansion the Napoli team can play the 2015 IFL season and is not relegated to the second division ‡ Roma Grizzlies won the second division championship and earned the right to play the 2015 IFL season Until 2014 the championship game was called ""Superbowl italiano"". Italian Football League Italian Football League (IFL) is"
"each. Below this, the levels have progressively more parallel divisions, which each cover progressively smaller geographic areas. The first leagues were started by English immigrants in the 1890s in Italy. The first club was ""Genoa Cricket and Athletic Club"" (now ""Genoa Cricket & Football Club""). Initially there were separate leagues for Italians and foreigners, they merged around 1897. In March 1898, the Italian Football Federation (""Federazione Italiana del Football"", later re-called ""Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio"", FIGC) was set up in Turin. With four clubs joining - Genoa, ""FC Torinese"", ""Internazionale di Torino"" and the ""Società Ginnastica di Torino"" (""Gymnastic Society"
"of a top-level ""amateurs"" (now Eccellenza) by reducing the sections composing the Prima Categoria. F.I.G.C. gave again this top regional level the old name ""Promozione"". This category now is the second level of regional amateur leagues (change was made at beginning of season 1991-92). With the reform of the Pro League before the 2014-2015 season in which the Lega Pro Prima Divisione and Lega Pro Seconda Divisione were unified restoring Serie C as the new third national level, the championship became the sixth national level, but remained the second highest regional competition. Promozione Promozione is a level of football in"
"11 Golden Lions and 7 Golden Bears. The most popular sport in Italy is, by far, football. Italy's national football team (nicknamed ""Gli Azzurri"" – ""the Blues"") is one of the world's most successful team as it has won four FIFA World Cups (1934, 1938, 1982 and 2006). Italian clubs have won 48 major European trophies, making Italy the second most successful country in European football. Italy's top-flight club football league is named Serie A and ranks as the third best in Europe and is followed by millions of fans around the world. Other popular team sports in Italy include"
"Prima Categoria Prima Categoria is a level of football in Italy. It is the seventh level (since 2014–15) in the Italian football league system and is organized by the National Amateur League by the Regional Committees. Each individual league winner within the Prima Categoria level progresses to their closest regional league in the Promozione level. Depending on each league's local rules, a number of teams each year are relegated from each league, to the eighth level of Italian football, the Seconda Categoria. This level of Italian football is completely amateur and is run on a regional level. Originally, the first"
"Italian Volleyball League The Italian Male Volleyball League is structured in several levels of importance; the highest of them is ""SuperLega"" (former ""Serie A1""). Since the early 1980s, many among the best volleyball players in the world play in Superlega and the overall level of competition is considerably high. As of 2016-17 season, the Italian volleyball championships are parted in this way: SuperLega is the highest level club competition in Italian professional male volleyball. It is organized by Federazione Italiana Pallavolo (FIPAV) and Lega Pallavolo Serie A. It was known as Serie A between 1946 and 1977, then as Serie"
"Derby d'Italia The Derby d'Italia (English: Derby of Italy) is the name given to football matches between Internazionale of Milan and Juventus of Turin. The term was coined back in 1967 by Italian sports journalist Gianni Brera. As the teams are from the two biggest cities in Northwest Italy, the derby has also come to represent a regional rivalry. Incidents from this fixture have occasionally made its way into political debates as Turin and Milan are regional capitals and their respective regions of Piedmont and Lombardy have mostly been ruled by various opposing parties. The matchup between Juventus and Inter"
"new standards set by UEFA. Based on the English model for stadiums, San Siro is specifically designed for football matches, as opposed to many multi-purpose stadiums used in Serie A. It is therefore renowned in Italy for its fantastic atmosphere during matches owing to the closeness of the stands to the pitch. The frequent use of flares by supporters contributes to the atmosphere, but the practice has occasionally also caused problems. Inter is one of the most supported clubs in Italy, according to an August 2007 research by Italian newspaper ""La Repubblica"". Historically, the largest section of Inter fans from"
"Italia Primavera, which are organized by the Lega Serie B and Lega Serie A respectively. Lega B The Lega Nazionale Professionisti B (Italian for ""National League of Professionals 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 previously known as Lega Nazionale Professionisti Serie B or just Lega Serie B. It was founded on 7 July 2010, following a split between Serie A and Serie B clubs, which led to the dissolution of the Lega Calcio and creation of"
"English Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league competition featuring professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in world football. It was the top-level football league in England from its foundation until 1992, when the top 22 clubs split away to form the Premier League. The three leagues below the Premier League are known as the Championship, League One and League Two, with 24 clubs in each division (72 in total). Promotion and relegation between these divisions is a central feature of the"