Serie A is the top professional league within the Italian football pyramid and it is known as 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 |
| When | August - May |
| How to watch | BT Sport and bet365's European Soccer Live Streaming Highlights |
| Odds | Napoli 1/2, AC Milan 6/1, Juventus 6/1, Inter Milan 13/2 |
When is Serie A?
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.
As with other leagues across the continent, games predominantly occur at the weekend, with the majority of Serie A's matches taking place on a Sunday.
With 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.
Related Serie A News
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The Greatest Serie A Players: Kaka
The Greatest Serie A Players: Pavel Nedved
How does European qualification work in Serie A?
As of 2022, 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.
Those that finish in sixth and seventh join the qualification round of the UEFA Europa Conference League, which started ahead of the 2021/22 season.
Who has won Serie A on the most occasions?
Juventus are the leading team in Serie A, having won the Scudetto 36 times. They have finished as runners-up on 21 occasions, and they dominated the division for nearly a decade.
The Old Lady won the title nine seasons in a row between 2012-2020 before Inter Milan ended their run in 2020/21.
Inter and neighbours AC Milan have won the Scudetto 19 times each, while they have also finished second on 16 occasions.
Surprisingly, Genoa are the fourth most successful club in Serie A history, but they have not lifted the trophy since the 1923/24 season.
Who are the favourites this season?
Luciano Spalletti's Napoli are the favourites to win this year's title at 1/2 To Win Outright, largely down to their seven-point cushion at the top of the table.
Gli Azzurri have won 14 of their 17 matches, losing just once, that defeat coming to Inter in their first game back after the World Cup break.
Napoli have been the standout team in Italy's top flight this season, but they have only ever won two league titles, with their last success coming in 1990. Diego Maradona helped Napoli win both, the other coming in 1987, and Spalletti's side will hope to clinch their third crown later this year.
As defending champions, AC Milan are available at 6/1 To Win Outright, and they have once again been hard to beat under Stefano Pioli.
After a slow start to the campaign, Juventus are available at the same price of 6/1 To Win Outright, while Inter are 13/2.
