Serie A is the top professional league within the Italian football pyramid and is considered one of Europe's leading five leagues.

Alongside the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga and Ligue 1, Serie A is known worldwide as one of the most competitive leagues and is often described as the most tactical of the continent's elite domestic competitions.

What	Serie A
Where	Various stadiums in Italy
When	August to May
How to watch	bet365's European Soccer Live Streaming Highlights and BT Sport
Odds	Inter Milan 2/1, Napoli 5/2, Juventus 3/1, AC Milan 6/1, Roma 10/1

When does Serie A start?

Like the other main leagues in Europe, the Serie A campaign runs from August to May, with every club playing each other twice, once at home and once away.

In common with most domestic top-flight leagues across the continent, games predominantly occur at the weekend, with the majority of Serie A's matches taking place on a Sunday.

With several Italian clubs playing in the European competitions, there are also occasional midweek fixture programmes throughout the campaign.

The History of Serie A

Serie A was launched in time for the 1929/30 campaign after organisers abandoned the regional championships.

Since 1923/24, the championship title has been referred to as the Scudetto, which is the Italian word for small shield. The winning team then wears a small coat of arms with the Italian tricolour on their jersey in the following campaign.

Structure of Serie A

For most of Serie A's history, there were 16 or 18 clubs, but since the 2004/05 campaign, the division has been made up of 20 clubs in total.

Since the 1994/95 campaign, teams are awarded three points for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss, but before this, teams were only given two points for a victory.

At the end of the campaign, the three lowest-placed teams are relegated to Serie B, with three then replacing them from the second tier.

How does European qualification work in Serie A?

As of 2023, Serie A is ranked as the fourth-best league by the UEFA coefficient. The top flights in England, Spain and Germany are ranked higher, but the top four teams in Serie A still qualify for the UEFA Champions League group stage.

The team that finishes fifth, as well as the Coppa Italia winner, then qualify for the UEFA Europa League.

The sixth-placed team will go into the qualification round of the UEFA Europa Conference League, which was introduced in the 2021/22 season.

Who has won Serie A on the most occasions?

Juventus are the most successful team in Serie A history, having won the Scudetto 36 times. They have finished as runners-up on 21 occasions and dominated the division for nearly a decade between 2012 and 2020.

The Turin giants won the title nine seasons in a row before Inter Milan ended their run in 2020/21. Inter and neighbours AC Milan have each won the Scudetto 19 times and the Milan rivals have also both finished second on 16 occasions.

Surprisingly, Genoa are the fourth most successful club in Serie A history although they have not lifted the trophy since the 1923/24 season.

Napoli claimed their third Scudetto in 2022/23, having previously won the league in 1986/87 and 1989/90, and they will be hoping to build on that success.

Who are the favourites this season?

Inter Milan reached the Champions League final in 2022/23, losing 1-0 to Manchester City, and they are 2/1 to win Serie A in 2023/24.

The Nerazzurri, champions of Italy in 2020/21, finished third in the table last season, two points behind Lazio and 18 adrift of runaway champions Napoli, who are 5/2 to retain the Scudetto.

Napoli won 21 of their first 24 league fixtures in 2022/23, blowing away their domestic rivals, but coach Luciano Spalletti, the mastermind of their stunning campaign, has stepped down so Rudi Garcia will be in charge of their title defence.

Juventus, who have finished seventh, fourth and fourth in the past three seasons, are 3/1 to bounce back to title-winning form in 2023/24 and AC Milan, beaten by Inter in the Champions League semi-finals, are 6/1.

There is plenty of depth in Serie A and Roma, who have won the Europa Conference League and reached the Europa League final in the last two campaigns, are 10/1 to finish top of the standings while last season's runners-up Lazio are 12/1.