Lega Pro facts for kids
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Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico
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| Abbreviation | LICP |
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| Predecessor | Lega IV Serie |
| Founded | 1959 |
| Headquarters | Florence |
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Region served
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Italy |
| Products | Serie C Coppa Italia Serie C Campionato Primavera 3 |
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Membership
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60 clubs |
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President
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Matteo Marani |
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Parent organization
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FIGC |
| Website | LegaPro.com |
The Lega Pro is a special organization in Italy. Its full name is Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico, which means "Italian Professional Football League." It helps manage professional football (soccer) in Italy. Lega Pro is in charge of the third level of professional football, called Serie C. Over the years, it has had different names, like Lega Professionisti Serie C. It is also part of a bigger group called European Leagues.
History of Lega Pro
The Lega Pro was started in 1959. It was first called Lega Nazionale Semiprofessionisti. This means "National Semi-Professional League." It was created by Bruno Zauli, who was a commissioner for the FIGC (the main Italian football federation). The new league was built on an older one called Lega IV Serie.
When it began, the league managed many football clubs. It had three groups for Serie C and six groups for Serie D. There were 162 clubs in total. This league was seen as a step between fully professional and amateur (non-professional) football. Some clubs that used to be in Serie C were not happy. They had lost their professional status. For the next 20 years, they worked to become fully professional again.
In 1967, the league grew even bigger. It was led by Artemio Franchi and had 222 clubs. A big change happened in 1978. The Serie D league was removed. The Serie C was then split into two completely professional championships. These were called Serie C1 and Serie C2. There were 108 clubs in these two new leagues, divided into six groups.
With these changes, the league got a new name: Lega Nazionale Serie C. It officially became a professional league. After the year 2000, the Serie C2 league became smaller. It was eventually removed in 2014. This led to the current Serie C format, which has three main groups of teams.
