59 Fun Facts About Serie a

Árpád Weisz, who coached the first Serie A champions in 1929-30, came from which country?

Hungary's Árpád Weisz was 34 when he won that first title; because he was Jewish, Italy's 1938 racial laws drove him abroad, and he was murdered at Auschwitz in 1944.

Which club won the first Italian Football Championship, played in Turin in a single day in 1898?

Genoa won the final 2-1 after extra time and took six of the first seven titles, yet their ninth championship, in 1924, is still their last.

Which name did Internazionale carry when they won the inaugural Serie A season?

Ambrosiana was a name imposed for political reasons: in 1928 the Fascist regime made Inter merge with US Milanese and drop the word Internazionale, which returned only in 1945.

Which Frenchman did Juventus sell to Real Madrid in 2001 for a world-record fee?

Zinedine Zidane's fee stood as the world record for eight years, and Juventus, rebuilt around the players bought that summer, won the Serie A title the very next season.

The 'scudetto' worn by champions the following season means what in Italian?

Little shield is the literal meaning, but the badge gave Italian its word for the title itself: to 'win the scudetto' is simply to win the league.

Which Italian poet is generally credited with inventing the scudetto?

Gabriele D'Annunzio had players wear a tricolour badge for a match in occupied Fiume in February 1920, and the federation adopted the idea for its champions in 1924.

A gold star above a Serie A club's crest marks which achievement?

Ten league titles earn a star: Juventus sewed on the first in 1958 after their tenth championship, and clubs around the world have since copied the idea.

Which Juventus playmaker was Serie A's top scorer three seasons running from 1983?

Michel Platini's arrival in 1982 cost Liam Brady his place, because Italian clubs could then field only two non-Italian players and Juventus had just signed Zbigniew Boniek as well.

Who was Serie A's top scorer as Napoli won the 2022-23 title?

Victor Osimhen scored 26 league goals in the protective mask he had worn since a clash of heads fractured his eye socket in 2021; it became his trademark.

Why was the 1947-48 Serie A season played with an unusual 21 teams?

Post-war tensions with Yugoslavia over Trieste led the federation to reprieve relegated Triestina, making 21 teams; the spared side then finished joint second.

If the first half of a Serie A season is the andata, what is the second?

The second half is the ritorno, the return leg of every fixture; the two halves used the same order until an asymmetrical calendar arrived in 2021-22.

The only play-off ever needed to decide the Serie A champion, in 1963-64, was won by which club?

Bologna beat Inter 2-0 in Rome after both finished on 54 points; three weeks earlier a doping ruling that had docked Bologna points was annulled on appeal.

Serie A adopted which change in 1994-95?

Three points for a win was meant to stop teams settling for draws: the Football League adopted it in 1981 after Jimmy Hill lobbied for it, and Serie A followed in 1994-95.

Which Italian energy giant became Serie A's title sponsor in 2024, taking over from TIM?

Eni put the name of its fuel and mobility arm on the competition, which became Serie A Enilive, ending the phone company TIM's long run as title sponsor.

Which UK broadcaster showed live Serie A as 'Football Italia' from 1992 to 2002?

Channel 4's Saturday companion show had presenter James Richardson leafing through Italy's sports papers at a cafe table, usually with a cappuccino or an ice cream.

The 2004-05 title was revoked from Juventus after which scandal?

Calciopoli, the 2006 scandal over wiretapped calls about referee appointments, also sent Juventus down to Serie B for the first time in their history.

Which Juventus general manager's wiretapped calls were at the centre of the 2006 refereeing scandal?

Luciano Moggi's wiretapped calls to the officials who appointed referees were the core of the 2006 case; he was later banned from football for life.

Which goalkeeper stayed with Juventus for their 2006-07 season in Serie B?

Gianluigi Buffon stayed weeks after winning the World Cup while stars such as Patrick Vieira and Lilian Thuram left, and Juventus went straight back up as champions.

Which defender won all nine of Juventus's consecutive titles from 2012 to 2020?

Giorgio Chiellini won all nine in a row, a record for any player; Leonardo Bonucci missed one by spending the 2017-18 season at AC Milan before returning.

Which striker, signed from Manchester City, was Juventus's top scorer in 2013-14?

Carlos Tevez scored 19 league goals in the number 10 shirt left vacant since Alessandro Del Piero's exit, as Juventus won 33 of their 38 games.

Which playmaker steered Juventus to an unbeaten Serie A title in 2011-12?

Andrea Pirlo joined on a free transfer after ten years at Milan, and Juventus went all 38 games unbeaten, the first side to manage it in a season that long.

Fabio Capello's AC Milan side of the early 1990s was known by what nickname?

The Invincibles went 58 league games unbeaten, including the whole of Fabio Capello's first season in 1991-92, until a Faustino Asprilla goal beat them in March 1993.

Which entrepreneur bought AC Milan in 1986, saved it from bankruptcy and hired Arrigo Sacchi?

Silvio Berlusconi chose Sacchi after the coach's second-division side twice beat Milan in the Coppa Italia, then signed Gullit, Van Basten and Rijkaard for him.

AC Milan was founded in 1899 by an expatriate from which country?

Herbert Kilpin, from Nottingham in England, founded the club in December 1899 and chose red for fire and black for the fear the team would strike into opponents.

Football Club Internazionale was formed in 1908 by a group who left Milan over what issue?

The name Internazionale advertised the point: the breakaway club was founded on accepting foreigners, unlike the Milan Cricket and Football Club they had left.

The Milan derby is named after which landmark?

The Duomo's statue of the Madonnina names the Derby della Madonnina; by tradition nothing in Milan may stand higher, so its tallest towers carry replicas of her.

Journalist Gianni Brera coined which name in 1967 for matches between Inter and Juventus?

Derby d'Italia was Brera's label for a meeting of two clubs from different cities and regions whose supporters are spread all over the country.

In the Rome derby, which end of the Stadio Olimpico do Lazio's ultras traditionally occupy?

Lazio's ultras fill the Curva Nord while their city rivals take the Curva Sud; the sfottò, teasing about each other's origins, is part of the ritual.

Who is Serie A's all-time top scorer with 274 goals?

Silvio Piola's record has stood since his last game in 1954; the stadiums in Vercelli and Novara, the cities where his career began and ended, both now bear his name.

Which Argentine striker's goals fired Roma to the 2000-01 Serie A title?

Gabriel Batistuta was in tears after scoring against the club he had just left, saying he could take no joy in beating his former team-mates.

The award for Serie A's top scorer, the capocannoniere, has since 2021 been named after which player?

Paolo Rossi, hero of Italy's 1982 World Cup win, died in December 2020, and the players' association put his name on its top-scorer award the following year.

Which Swedish striker won the capocannoniere five times with AC Milan in the 1950s, a record?

Gunnar Nordahl won Olympic gold with Sweden in 1948, then gave up international football to join Milan, because Sweden's national team was closed to professionals.

Which two players share the record of 36 goals in a single Serie A season?

Gonzalo Higuaín and Ciro Immobile both hit 36: Higuaín's final-day hat-trick for Napoli in 2016 broke a record that had stood since 1950, and Immobile matched it in 2020.

Which coach led AC Milan to the 2021-22 Serie A title?

Stefano Pioli took over in October 2019, the day after Marco Giampaolo was sacked seven league games into the season, and sealed the title on the final day of 2021-22.

Zdeněk Zeman's 'Zemanlandia' side of the early 1990s played for which club?

Foggia under Zdeněk Zeman, promoted in 1991, played a wild 4-3-3 that earned the nickname Zemanlandia and launched Giuseppe Signori and Francesco Baiano.

Which two one-club men share the record of 25 seasons in Serie A?

Paolo Maldini and Francesco Totti never changed clubs: Milan retired Maldini's number 3 unless one of his sons should wear it, and Totti scored in 23 seasons running.

Which goalkeeper made 332 consecutive Serie A appearances, a record, 330 of them for Juventus?

Dino Zoff's run began with his last games for Napoli in May 1972 and ended only when he retired at 41: he never missed a league match in eleven seasons at Juventus.

Who scored the fastest goal in Serie A history, inside seven seconds of a match in December 2020?

Rafael Leão finished a kick-off routine AC Milan had rehearsed in training: Hakan Çalhanoğlu carried the ball straight through midfield and slipped him in on goal at Sassuolo.

Who became Serie A's oldest goalscorer at 41 years and 166 days in March 2023?

Zlatan Ibrahimović scored from a retaken penalty at Udinese after his first effort was saved; it was his first goal since coming back from major knee surgery.

Which coach won seven Serie A titles with Juventus and Inter between 1977 and 1989?

Giovanni Trapattoni won two European Cups as an AC Milan player, then took six titles as Juventus coach and a seventh with Inter in 1989, all for Milan's rivals.

Which coach won a record five consecutive Serie A titles, all with Juventus?

Massimiliano Allegri was hired in July 2014 the day after Antonio Conte resigned, then won the title in each of the next five seasons, four times adding the Coppa Italia.

Who coached Napoli to the 2022-23 Serie A title at the age of 64?

Luciano Spalletti ended Napoli's 33-year wait for the title, then stepped down within weeks, saying he was tired and wanted a year away from the game.

Diego Maradona, who led Napoli to their first title, joined in 1984 for a record fee from which club?

Barcelona sold him after two seasons marred by a broken ankle and a cup-final brawl, and tens of thousands filled Napoli's stadium simply to watch him being presented.

Which club won its only Serie A title in 1984-85 under coach Osvaldo Bagnoli?

Hellas Verona, lifted by new signings Preben Elkjær and Hans-Peter Briegel, remain the only Serie A champions from a city that is not a regional capital.

At which club did Roberto Baggio play the last four seasons of his career?

Brescia was where Roberto Baggio wound down under coach Carlo Mazzone; he left the San Siro pitch to a standing ovation in his final match, in May 2004, aged 37.

Which club suffered a record 29 defeats in a 38-game Serie A season, in 2017-18?

Benevento lost 29 of 38 games in 2017-18, their first top-flight season; goalkeeper Alberto Brignoli's stoppage-time header against Milan earned their first point.

Who made his AC Milan debut at 15 years and 260 days in November 2023?

Francesco Camarda became Serie A's youngest player only after Milan obtained special permission from the federation, because under-16s are normally barred from first teams.

Which Croatian midfielder made his Serie A debut for AC Milan at 39 in August 2025?

Luka Modrić arrived on a free transfer after 13 years at Real Madrid, joining the club where Zvonimir Boban, the Croatian who inspired him as a boy, had made his name.

Which goalkeeper holds the Serie A record for penalties saved, 26?

Samir Handanović passed Gianluca Pagliuca's old mark of 24 in the October 2020 Milan derby with a save whose rebound was scored anyway, and retired on 26.

Serie A and Germany's Bundesliga both brought in which innovation at the start of the 2017-18 season?

Video replays, in the form of the video assistant referee, went live in both leagues in August 2017 after Serie A had spent a season testing the system behind closed doors.

In the late 1990s, Italian football's 'seven sisters' were Juventus, the Milan clubs, Roma, Lazio and which two others?

Parma and Fiorentina completed the set, then both crashed: Fiorentina went bankrupt in 2002 and Parma's owner, the dairy giant Parmalat, collapsed the following year.

Which coach led Inter to Italy's first treble in 2010?

José Mourinho won Serie A, the Coppa Italia and the Champions League in a single season, then walked away that summer to take charge of Real Madrid.

Juventus have been owned by which family since 1923?

Agnelli control began when Edoardo Agnelli, son of Fiat's founder, became president in 1923; under the family Juventus soon won five straight titles, from 1931 to 1935.

Which Serie A club won the 2023-24 Europa League final in Dublin?

Atalanta beat Bayer Leverkusen 3-0 with an Ademola Lookman hat-trick, ending the German champions' run of 51 games unbeaten.

Which AC Milan striker was named FIFA World Player of the Year in 1995?

George Weah also won the Ballon d'Or that year, the first in which players from outside Europe were eligible, and he later became president of Liberia.

Which club was stripped of the 1926-27 Italian championship over a bribery case?

Torino lost the 1926-27 title after the federation ruled that a club official had paid Juventus defender Luigi Allemandi to throw the derby, though he was rated among the best players on the pitch.

Which network and streaming service began showing Serie A in the US from 2021-22?

CBS Sports and Paramount+ took exclusive US rights from 2021-22, putting all 380 matches a season on a streaming service that already carried the Champions League.

Which Brazilian won the 2007 Ballon d'Or after inspiring AC Milan to the Champions League title?

Kaká was the competition's top scorer with ten goals, three of them in the semi-final against Manchester United, as Milan avenged their 2005 final defeat by Liverpool.

In 2002 the FIGC gave which club a special decoration for winning the 1944 wartime championship?

Spezia played that wartime tournament as the local fire brigade's team and finished ahead of the era's dominant side; the 2002 honour lets them wear a permanent tricolour badge.