http://www.seriealeague.com en-us Wed, 07 Jan 2009 04:49:08 -0500 http://www.seriealeague.com/serie-a-2006-2007-season/ The 2006/2007 Season eventually did not start as planned. First match was played only in September. Everything was postponed due to a corruption scandal in 2006.

By the way, it was the first ever championship without Juventus, who were relegated due to that scandal. The champions were once again Inter, who managed to get a huge handicap during the season. Their closest rivals were Roma.

Following the Serie A scandal of 2006, Juventus F.C., ACF Fiorentina and S.S. Lazio were relegated to Serie B, whereas A.C. Milan were deducted 15 points but were not relegated, and consequently U.S. Lecce, F.C. Messina Peloro and Treviso F.B.C. 1993, originally slated for relegation to Serie B, were to have been retained in Serie A, thereby keeping the top table at 20 teams.

Fiorentina, Juventus, Lazio and Milan all lodged appeals. As a result, Fiorentina and Lazio were reinstated to the Serie A, but with 19 points and 11 points deductions for each team respectively. Milan's penalty was reduced to 8 points. Juventus remained relegated to Serie B with a points deduction of 17, reduced again on appeal to 9 points. Lecce and Treviso returned to Serie B, while Messina remained in Serie A to replace Juventus. The points deduction imposed on Fiorentina and Lazio was again reduced on appeal to 15 and 3 points respectively.

As part of another inquiry, Reggina Calcio was handed a 15-point penalty, but was allowed to remain in Serie A. This penalty was reduced to 11 points on appeal. The inquiry is continuing to investigate Messina, Lecce, and A.C. Siena.

With their victory over Siena on April 22, 2007, Internazionale captured the 2006-07 Serie A title (the 15th Scudetto in the team's history) by moving 16 points clear of second-place Roma with 5 matches to play. Internazionale's dominant effort marked the defense of the title they were awarded in the wake of the Calciopoli scandal, and their first Scudetto claimed on the field since May 28, 1989. Clinching with five matches remaining, Internazionale tied the Serie A record for earliest title claim (alongside with Torino FC in the 1948).

The captain of Roma, Totti, was the main goalscorer that season, netting 26 goals! ]]> Sat, 09 Aug 2008 03:01:50 -0400 http://www.seriealeague.com/serie-a-2006-2007-season/ http://www.seriealeague.com/seria-a/ Serie 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 the Italian 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.

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 by FIGC 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 and Roma. 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. More players have won the coveted Ballon d'Or award while playing at a Serie A club than any other league in the world. AC Milan is the club with the most official international titles in the world. Juventus, third in Europe and sixth in the world in the same ranking, is also, the only club on the planet to have won all official club competitions.

Serie A, as it is structured today, began in 1929. From 1898 to 1922 the competition was organised into regional groups. Because of ever growing teams attending regional championships, FIGC split the CCI (Italian Football Confederation) in 1921. When CCI teams rejoined the FIGC created two interregional divisions renaming Categories into Divisions and splitting FIGC sections into two North-South leagues. In 1926 due to internal crises FIGC changed internal settings adding southern teams to the national divisions which lead to 1929-30 final settlement. 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.

The Serie A Championship title is often referred to as the scudetto (small shield) because since the 1924-25 season the winning team will bear a small coat of arms with the Italian tricolour on their strip in the following season. The most successful club is Juventus F.C. with 27 championships, followed by A.C. Milan (17), Internazionale Milano (16) and Genoa C&FC (9). From 2004-05 onwards an actual trophy was awarded to club on the field after the last turn of the championship. The trophy, called Coppa Campioni d'Italia, is official since the 1960-61 season, but between 1961 and 2004 it was consigned to the winning clubs at the offices of Lega calcio in Milan.

As of 2007 individual clubs competing in the league have the rights to sell their broadcast rights to specific channels in Italy, unlike in most other European countries. The three broadcasters in Italy are the satellite channel, Sky Italia, along with terrestrial broadcasters Mediaset and La7 (owned by Telecom Italia).

In countries outside of Italy, the league is broadcast on Five as Football Italiano and some on Setanta (United Kingdom), RAI International (numerous countries in several continents), Trans 7 (Indonesia), Telelatino (Canada), FSC (United States), TV Esporte Interativo, Rede Bandeirantes, ESPN Brasil (Brazil) and ESPN Latin America (Latin America).

In Australia the Serie A is currently available on Setanta Sports although only home games of certain teams. The last 2 rounds of the 2007/2008 session ESPN was also televising games in addition of Setanta there was a press release on ESPN website on the 22 May that they have acquired the MP & Silva Rights to Italy's Serie A for the next two sessions. ]]> Mon, 09 Jun 2008 14:22:52 -0400 http://www.seriealeague.com/seria-a/