Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio

Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio

founding	March 16, 1898
FIFA accession	1905
UEFA accession	1954
president	Gabriele Gravina
Secretary General	Michele Uva
National teams	Men's national team , U-21 , U-20 , U-19 , U-18, U-17 , U-16, U-15, Futsal women's national team , U-23, U-20, U-19, U-17 , U-15,
Homepage	www.figc.it

The Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio (abbreviated FIGC ; German Italian Football Association ) is the Italian football umbrella organization. He organizes the game operations of the Italian leagues in the professional and amateur area as well as the national teams .

history

The founding date is March 16, 1898, when the engineer Mario Vicary founded a football association in Turin under the name Federazione Italiana Football to organize games and championships after work. Interest in football quickly increased after football clubs had existed in the large northern Italian cities of Genoa and Turin for several years (e.g. Genoa 1893 , Juventus Turin ). The first championship took place that same year in the Piedmontese capital, where the first Italian champions were played one afternoon.

In 1905, FIF joined the World Football Association - just one year after it was founded. In 1909 the association was renamed and received its current name Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio . It was not until 1913 that the first national championship was held. The Italian national team has also existed since 1910 ; more precisely: The Squadra Azzurra played their first game on May 15, 1910 in Milan against France (6: 2).

The next big change began in 1930. For the first time, the national championship was held in an all-Italian league. The players in this championship also received a reward for their work on the soccer field for the first time ; the first soccer world championship was played in Uruguay . The next World Cup in 1934 took place in Italy and was promptly won. The successes were repeated at the 1936 Olympic football tournament and the 1938 World Cup in France .

In 1954, the European football association UEFA was founded in Basel . The Italian association was among the founding members. The first European Championship title followed in 1968 .

In 1982 the FIGC fell into a serious crisis - despite the triumph at the World Cup in Spain . A betting scandal shook the association badly and brought Italian football into disrepute. In the course of this affair, AC Milan also had to be relegated.

In 1990 the association hosted the last major football event in Italy to date. From June 8th to July 8th the 14th World Cup took place in twelve Italian stadiums . The national team itself failed in the semi-finals.

In 2003 the FIGC issued new rules in national football. Comprehensive innovations reformed the amateur system ( Series D ), the youth departments and regulations for order in the stadiums (keyword violence in the stadiums). Above all, however, balance sheet checks and stricter regulations, including license revocation for the football clubs, were introduced.

In 2006 Italy finally won the World Cup in Germany with a final victory against France 6: 4 ae.

In October 2012, the FIGC offices in Rome were searched and a scandal about transfer contracts was triggered.

League system

In Italy there are two pan-Italian professional leagues ( Lega Nazionale Professionisti ), the Series A and Series B . Among them is the Lega Pro ( Lega Professionisti ), which is a professional league, but is divided into three regional groups (Group A, Group B and Group C). Together with 23 other national professional league associations, the Lega Nazionale Professionisti is a founding member of the international World Leagues Forum founded in Zurich in February 2016 , the aim of which is, among other things, to bundle the interests of the professional leagues and express their common views in front of FIFA and other institutions To represent sport and politics.

The Series D is the highest amateur class and is itself divided into nine local divisions. This includes numerous local circular leagues, which however no longer have a “ series ” structure. Series D is organized by the Lega nazionale dilettanti (National Amateur League), which also regulates women's football and the lower leagues at regional league level.

step	League / Division (s)
1	Lega Nazionale Professionisti Serie A 20 clubs
2	Lega Nazionale Professionisti Series B 22 clubs
4th	Lega Professionisti Girone A 18 clubs			Lega Professionisti Girone B 18 clubs			Lega Professionisti Girone C. 18 clubs
5	Series D Girone A 18 clubs	Series D Girone B 18 clubs	Series D Girone C 18 clubs	Series D Girone D 18 clubs	Series D Girone E 18 clubs	Series D Girone F 18 clubs	Series D Girone G 18 clubs	Series D Girone H 18 clubs	Series D Girone I 18 clubs
6-10	Leagues at regional and provincial level.

The Series A

Serie A is the top division. Since the 2004/05 season, it has consisted of 20 football clubs that play the Italian champions among themselves. The last three teams are relegated at the end of the season. The rounds are played from the beginning of September to the end of May with a short winter break (usually mid-December to January 6th).

The series B

Serie B is the second highest national professional league. Since the 2004/05 season it has consisted of 22 clubs (see below). The two best teams and a third promoted team, determined in the playoff, will be promoted to Serie A at the end of the season, the last four will be relegated to Serie C1, two in Group A and two in Group B.

The series C

The series C (2008 - 2017: Lega Pro) is the third highest professional league in Italy. It is divided into three groups, Group A, Group B and Group C (in Italian: Girone A , Girone B and Girone C ). The division is roughly divided into a north, central and south Italian league, but this is not mandatory and is sometimes broken by the football association.

The best-placed team in each of the three groups is promoted directly to Series B; the teams in positions 2–4 play off the fourth promoted team in play-offs. The last placed will be relegated directly; the teams in places 14–17 play the two other relegated teams in each group to Serie D.

The series D

Serie D is the highest non-professional league. A total of 162 clubs play in it. Series D is divided into nine regional groups, each consisting of 18 clubs. The first placed moves up to the C2 series. The second to fifth placed clubs play playoffs, but the respective winner of this elimination round does not receive a promotion guarantee. This can only be exercised if the license is withdrawn from other clubs in higher leagues, or if these clubs cannot play for other reasons.

UEFA five-year ranking

Placement in the UEFA five-year ranking ( previous year's ranking in brackets ). The abbreviations CL and EL after the country coefficients indicate the number of representatives in the 2019/20 season of the Champions League and the Europa League .

01. ( 1 ) Spain ( league , cup ) - coefficient: 103,569 - CL: 4, EL: 30Spain
02. ( 3 ) England ( league , cup , league cup ) - coefficient: 85,462 - CL: 4, EL: 30England
03. ( 4 ) Italy ( league , cup ) - coefficient: 74,725 - CL: 4, EL: 30Italy
04. ( 2 ) Germany ( league , cup ) - coefficient: 71,927 - CL: 4, EL: 30Germany
05. ( 5 ) France ( league , cup , league cup ) - coefficient: 58,498 - CL: 3, EL: 30France