- Serie A
Infobox football league
pixels = 150
country = Italy
confed = UEFA|
founded = 1898
teams = 20
relegation =Serie B
levels = 1|
domest_cup =Coppa Italia Supercoppa Italiana
confed_cup = Champions LeagueUEFA Cup
Intertoto Cup|
champions =F.C. Internazionale Milano
season = 2007-08|
most successful club =Juventus F.C. (27 titles)|
website = http://www.lega-calcio.it
current = 2008-09 seasonSerie A (officially known as the Lega Calcio Serie A TIM for
sponsorship reasons) is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top echelon of theItalian football league system . It is widely regarded as one of the elite leagues of the footballing world. Historically, Serie A has produced the highest number of European Cup finalists. In total Italian clubs have reached the final of the competition on a record of twenty-five different occasions, winning the title eleven times. [Cite web
url = http://www.uefa.com/competitions/ucl/news/kind=1/newsid=542188.html
publisher = UEFA.com
accessdate = 2007-08-13
date = 2007-05-24
author = Kevin Ashby
title = Serie A reiterates star quality] As of 2008, Serie A is ranked third among European leagues by UEFA, based on the performance of Italian clubs in the Champions League and theUEFA Cup . [ [http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/uefa/data/method3/crank2009.html UEFA Country Ranking 2008] ]In its current format, the
Italian Football Championship was revised from having regional and interregional rounds, to just one solid league for the 1929–30 season onwards; the Serie A system carries on today. The championship titles won before 1929 are officially recognised byFIGC as a championship in the same way the ones since then are.The league hosts some of the world's most famous clubs: Juventus, Milan, Inter, Roma, Lazio and Napoli. Juventus, Milan and Inter were all founding members of the
G-14 a group representing the largest and most prestigious European football clubs; Serie A was the only league to produce three founding members. [cite web | url=http://www.g14.com/G14members/index.asp | title=G-14's members | work=g14.com | accessdate=12 September | accessyear=2006] More players have won the coveted "Ballon d'Or " award while playing at a Serie A club than any other league in the world. [cite web | url=http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/europa-poy.html | title=European Footballer of the Year ("Ballon d'Or") | work=RSSSF.com | accessdate=17 December | accessyear=2007] AC Milan is the club with the most official international titles in the world. [cite web | url=http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/dec16g.html | title=Milan top of the world! | work=Channel4.com | accessdate=17 December | accessyear=2007] Juventus, the most winning Italian team, is the third in Europe and sixth in the world in the same ranking. They are, also, the only club on the planetcite web|url=http://www.fifa.com/classicfootball/clubs/club=31085/detail.html|title=FIFA Classic Clubs: Juventus FC|accessdate=2007-08-31|publisher=FIFA Official Website] to have won all official club competitions.cite web|url=http://www.uefa.com/printoutfiles/competitions/supercup/2006/e/e_84343_pk.pdf|title=UEFA club competitions press kit (.PDF archive, page 23)|accessdate=2006-08-25|publisher=UEFA Official Website]Format
For most of Serie A's history there have been 16 or 18 clubs competing at the top level; however since 2004–05 there have been 20 clubs altogether. Below is a complete record of how many teams have played in each season throughout the league's history;
The bolded teams compete in Serie A currently. Inter is now the only team to have played Serie A football in every season, following Juventus' FIGC-imposed relegation to Serie B after the 2005–06 season.erie A members for 2008–09
The following twenty clubs will be competing in Serie A during the 2008–09 season.
Records
:main|Football records in Italy
References and notes
ee also
*
List of foreign Serie A players External links
* [http://www.lega-calcio.it Official Site]
* [http://www.figc.it/ FIGC Official Site]; History
* [http://www.resultsfromfootball.com/seriea-seasons.html Serie A] — All results since 1929.
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