History of the Serie A Football League
With Italy’s win in the 2006 World Cup, the spotlight will shine
even brighter on Italy’s domestic football league, Serie A. Established
for the 1929-30 season, Serie A is one of the most closely watched
domestic competitions in Europe, and many of the world’s top players
have competed on Italian pitches.
Several of the world’s top clubs are part of the Serie A
competition, including Juventus (based in Turin), and two Milan-based
clubs, AC Milan and Internazionale (Inter Milan). These three Italian
football clubs have dominated Serie A play. Juventus has captured the
scudetto (league crown) 27 times, followed by 14 league championships
for AC Milan and 11 for Inter. Since the 1991-92 season, Juventus and
AC Milan have won all but two league titles; Lazio in 1999-2000 and AS
Roma in 2000-01 were the lone interlopers at the top.
Throughout the extensive history of Serie A play, 61 football clubs
have played in the top division, which has consisted of 16, 18 (the
current figure), or 20 teams at various times in its history. After the
recent verdict in the match-fixing scandal, which relegated Juventus,
Lazio, and Fiorentina to Serie B for the 2006-07 season, Inter Milan
stands alone as the only side that has never been relegated to the
second division. Treviso made its first-ever appearance in Serie A
competition in 2005-06.