Serie B facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Serie B

Organising body	Lega B
Founded	1929; 96 years ago (1929) (pilot in 1922)
Country	Italy
Confederation	UEFA
Number of teams	20
Level on pyramid	2
Promotion to	Serie A
Relegation to	Serie C
Domestic cup(s)	Coppa Italia
International cup(s)	UEFA Europa League (via winning Coppa Italia)
Current champions	Parma (1st title) (2023–24)
Most championships	Genoa (6 titles)
Most appearances	Luigi Cagni (483)
Top goalscorer	Stefan Schwoch (135)
TV partners	Sky Sport DAZN
Website	legab.it

The Serie B is the second-highest football league in Italy. It comes right after the Serie A, which is the top league. The Serie B has been around for more than 90 years, starting in the 1929–30 season.

For a long time, it was organized by a group called Lega Calcio. But since 2010, the Lega Serie B has been in charge. People sometimes call the league campionato cadetto or cadetteria. This is because cadetto means "junior" in Italian.

What is Serie B?

Serie B is a professional football league in Italy. It is the second most important league in the country. Teams play here to try and get promoted to the top league, Serie A.

How the Competition Works

In Serie B, there are 20 teams. During the season, each team plays every other team twice. They play one game at home and one game away. This means each team plays a total of 38 games.

Teams get points for their games:

• Three points for winning a match.
• One point for a draw (a tie).
• Zero points for losing a match.

The team with the most points at the end of the season wins the league. From 2006 to 2020, the winner received the Ali della Vittoria (Wings of Victory) cup. Since 2021, they get the Coppa Nexus trophy.

The number of teams in Serie B has changed over the years:

• 18 clubs: 1929–1933, 1935–1936, 1938–1943, 1952–1958
• 16 clubs: 1936–1937
• 17 clubs: 1937–1938
• 19 clubs: 2018–2019
• 20 clubs: 1958–1967, 1968–2003, 2019–present
• 21 clubs: 1950–1951, 1967–1968
• 22 clubs: 1948–1950, 1951–1952, 2004–2018
• 24 clubs: 2003–2004
• 26 clubs (in two groups): 1933–1934
• 32 clubs (in two groups): 1934–1935
• 54 clubs (in three groups): 1947–1948
• 60 clubs (in three groups): 1946–1947

Moving Up and Down (Promotion and Relegation)

At the end of each season, teams can either move up to Serie A (promotion) or move down to Serie C (relegation).

How Teams Get Promoted

• The top two teams in Serie B automatically move up to Serie A.
• The third-place team also gets promoted automatically, but only if they are more than 14 points ahead of the fourth-place team.
• If the third-place team is not far enough ahead, then teams from third to eighth place play in a special mini-tournament called a play-off. This play-off decides the third and final team that gets promoted.

The play-off works like this:

• First Round: The 5th plays the 8th, and the 6th plays the 7th. These are single games. If it's a tie after extra time, the team that finished higher in the regular season wins.
• Semi-finals: The winners from the first round play against the 3rd and 4th placed teams. These are two-game matches. If the total score is tied, the team that finished higher in the regular season moves on.
• Final: The two semi-final winners play a two-game final. If the total score is tied, the team that finished higher in the regular season gets promoted. If both finalists finished with the same points in the regular season, then extra time and penalties are used to decide the winner.

How Teams Get Relegated

• The last three teams (18th, 19th, and 20th place) are automatically moved down to Serie C.
• If the 16th-place team is 5 or more points ahead of the 17th-place team, then the 17th-place team is also automatically moved down. This makes them the fourth team to be relegated.
• If the point difference is less than 5, then the 16th and 17th-place teams play a special two-game match called a play-out. The winner stays in Serie B, and the loser is the fourth team to be relegated to Serie C. If the total score is tied, the 16th-place team stays up, unless they finished with the same points in the regular season. In that case, extra time and penalties decide.

Teams in Serie B

The map shows where the teams playing in the 2023–24 Serie B season are located in Italy.

Champions and Promotions

^a Not promoted for Serie A reduction.

^b Modena and Novara were both awarded champions in 1937–38.

^c Six teams were promoted in 2003–04 due to the expansion of Serie A from 18 to 20 teams.

Top Scorers (Since 2000)

This table shows the players who scored the most goals in each Serie B season since the year 2000.

Season	Top scorer(s)	Club(s)	Goals
1999–2000	Cosimo Francioso	Genoa	24
2000–01	Nicola Caccia	Piacenza	23
2001–02	Luís Oliveira	Como	23
2002–03	Igor Protti	Livorno	23
2003–04	Luca Toni	Palermo	30
2004–05	Gionatha Spinesi	Arezzo	22
2005–06	Cristian Bucchi	Modena	29
2006–07	Alessandro Del Piero	Juventus	20
2007–08	Denis Godeas	Mantova	28
2008–09	Francesco Tavano	Livorno	24
2009–10	Éder	Empoli	26
2010–11	Federico Piovaccari	Cittadella	24
2011–12	Ciro Immobile	Pescara	28
2012–13	Daniele Cacia	Verona	24
2013–14	Matteo Mancosu	Trapani	26
2014–15	Andrea Cocco	Vicenza	19
2015–16	Gianluca Lapadula	Pescara	23
2016–17	Giampaolo Pazzini	Verona	23
2017–18	Francesco Caputo	Empoli	26
2018–19	Alfredo Donnarumma	Brescia	25
2019–20	Simy	Crotone	20
2020–21	Massimo Coda	Lecce	22
2021–22	Massimo Coda	Lecce	20
2022–23	Gianluca Lapadula	Cagliari	21
2023–24	Joel Pohjanpalo	Venezia	22

See also

In Spanish: Serie B (Italia) para niños

• Italian football league system
• List of football clubs in Italy
• Sports league attendances