retired_ariana07

It's intriguing how so many top class players are still in these clubs, even though they don't play even league football.

retired_jasminens

2011-12 Recap

Serie A

A return to normal? Fiorentina completed their jump from D to C2 to C1 to B to a scudetto win in Serie A. The only managed a one point advantage over Pomigliano for the title. Parma only managed a fifth place finish.

Nuova Verolese, Lucrezia and Crevalcore will drop to Serie B.

Leading goal scorer in the league was Emanuele Calaio of Pomigliano, who finished with 20 goals.

Serie B

Torino will make their return to the top flight after their 15 point league win in Serie B. Also making the jump are couple other former Serie A sides in Catania and Lecce.

Nothing all that exciting spotted in the lower leagues, and no "known" teams will be making the jump into the leagues for the 12-13 season.

Coppa Italia

Pomigliano did the double in second place finishes, losing the Coppa Italia final to Quinto, 2-1.

Pomigliano was able to take the season opening SuperCoppa over Arenzano.

European Competition

Italian teams still struggled in Champions League play. Arenzano made it out of the 3rd qualifying round, but they along with Pomigliano went no further than the group stage.

In UEFA Cup action, Akragas went on another nice run. Entering the competition in the 2nd qualifying round, they went until the quarterfinals once again before being blasted by Saint Etienne. Ronchi got through to the group stage, while Corsico crashed out in the first round.

National Team

Italy were able to make it to the quarterfinals of Euro 2012 before being destroyed by France 4-1. Donadoni is starting to count on a few more Italian based players in his squad, with the number of "outsiders" down to 12. Four players from Akragas were on the Euro squad. Juventus are still represented by one player (Buffon) on the squad, while Milan, Inter and Roma have no players on the national squad.

As for the coefficients, Italy is now down to 15th in rankings, but still have the same amount of spots in Europe.

retired_jasminens

Scratch that about coefficients. New update, Italy down to 17th, with only one CL spot, but 3 UEFA Cup spots.

retired_Cliffc

I'd imagine the reason the old top teams still have all their players is because Italy is the only active league, so there is not much transfer activity abroad, while the domestic teams will have no chance at affording them.

retired_jasminens

2012-13 Recap

Serie A

For the first time, a repeat winner. Fiorentina edged Pomigliano by three points at the top of the table to take their second consecutive title, and their fourth overall.

Leading goal scorer in Serie A was Cristiano Lucarelli, playing with Pomigliano. He finished with 18 goals.

Catania and Lecce both will drop back down to Serie B, along with Virtus Castelfranco.

Serie B

Lucrezia will return to Serie A after only a year in B, thanks to their league title. Joining them in promotion are Firenze Ovest and Acilia.

Coppa Italia

The Coppa Italia was won by Akragas, with a 1-0 win in the final over Petacciato.

Fiorentina won the season opening Supercoppa, with a 3-0 triumph over Quito.

European Competition

With spots in Europe diminishing every year, it was really time for some Italian teams to step up.

In Champions League play, both Fiorentina and Pomigliano made it past the 3rd qualifying round to make it to the group stage, where, again, both advanced. In the first knockout round, they both had impressive wins, with Fiorentina getting by Barcelona and Pomigliano sneaking past Chelsea. In the quarter final, Pomigliano saw their European campaign ended by Man Utd, while Fiorentina needed penalties to get by Sevilla. Fiorentina's European season ended with a thrashing at the hands of Sporting in the semi's.

In the UEFA Cup, Arenzano and Quinto had to start in the 2nd qualifying round, where they both advanced. Joining Akragas in the first round, all three got through to the group stage. Quinto went without a win in group play, but both Arenzano and Akragas made it through. Akragas' UEFA season ended with an away goals loss to Bayer Leverkusen in the first knockout round. Arenzano made it one step further, losing to CSKA Moscow by away goals in the second knockout round.

National Team

Italy are undefeated through six games in World Cup qualifying. The amount of players from outside Italy on the national team is creeping up again, with 16 on the latest squad.

retired_jasminens

Loan debt watch.

Not surprisingly under the format these leagues came to be, most clubs have big loan debts.

Serie A

Akragas - $55 million
Arenzano - $119 million, in receivership
Arzanese - $100 million
Fiorentina - $92 million
Petacciato - $104 million, in receivership
Quinto - $216 million(!), in receivership
Ronchi - $110 million
Succivo - $81 million
Torino - $56 million

Serie B

AM Goricizza - $141 million, in receivership
Atletico Calcio - $103 million, in receivership
Montenero - $98 million
Pievecella - $91 million, in receivership
Ponte San Pietro - $67 million
Pozzuolo - $80 million
Sarone - $87 million
Vallagarina - $95 million
Virtus Castelfranco - $92 million

A further six teams in Serie C1 are bankrupt as well.

retired_dttyr12

Is there no promotion from non league to league in Italy?

I would have thought if so, the biggies would have started to move up by now

retired_jasminens

Probably could have sorted all this in one post, but whatever.

Couple interesting managers in Serie A currently..

- Claude Makalele is manager at Akragas.

- Fabio Cannavaro is manager at Fiorentina.

jman1114

Very interesting thread, KUTGW!

Im surprised at the number of teams in debt (I take it the ones in receivership get points deductions at the start of the season?), and also that none of the giants have been promoted into the C2 leagues.

retired_jasminens

No teams have gotten points taken away yet.