Serie A

Serie A is the top division of the Italian Football League, the highest football league in Italy. The division consists of 20 clubs from the 2004-05 season, with each team competing against each other team twice, round-robin style, for a total of 38 matches per season. The bottom three clubs in the league table are relegated to Serie B. The top two clubs from Serie B are promoted automatically, while the third- through sixth-place clubs enter a promotion playoff for the final place in Serie A. The promotion playoff, similar to that used for years in England's Football League, is new for 2004-05.

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Serie A, as it is structured today, began in 1929. From 1898 to 1929 the competition was organised into regional groups. No title was awarded in 1927 after Torino were stripped of the championship by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC). Torino were declared champions in the 1948-49 season following a plane crash near the end of the season in which the entire team was killed.

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The Serie A Championship is often referred to as the Scudetto (small shield) because the winning team will bear a small coat of arms with the Italian tricolour on their uniform in the following season. The most successful league club is Juventus with 28 championships, followed by A.C. Milan (17), Internazionale (13) and Genoa C&FC (9). Each ten titles won allow the team to wear a golden star, so Juventus has two stars, while Milan and Internazionale have one star.

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Serie A related Images and Photos (experimental)

Untitled from Serie Jacqueline c.1996