Serie A

Serie A is the top-flight professional football championship in Italy. It has been running since 1929. 20 clubs take part in the competition each year, all competing for a scudetto (a "small shield" in Italian).

Serie A is currently ranked fourth in UEFA's league coefficient, behind Spain's La Liga, the English Premier League, and the Bundesliga in Germany.

From the 1929 season onwards, when Serie A was inaugurated, the format of the top-flight league competition was changed to a single-tier. It had previously been regionalised across the country.

Juventus have been the most successful team in Italy, with 29 league championships to their name, whilst Milan and Internazionale both sit in second on 18 titles. 
When Serie A began in 1929 there were just 18 clubs involved. It was only as recently as 2004 that this number increased to 20 in order to replicate a lot of the other top European leagues.

The season in Italy begins in September and ends in May. Each team plays each other home and away, and there are three points on offer for a win, and a single point for a draw.

The top three teams in Serie A at the end of each season qualify for the UEFA Champions League. Those who finished first and second in the league table qualify straight into the group stage of the competition, while the third placed side goes into the qualifying round.

There are also spots available in the UEFA Europa League for the clubs that end the campaign in fourth and fifth.

Paolo Maldini holds the record for the most appearances in Serie A. He featured for Milan between 1984 and 2009, and racked up 647 appearances.

Silvio Piola still holds the accolade for the most goals. He hit the back of the net 274 times during his spells at Pro Verclli, Lazio, Juventus and Novara between 1929 and 1954.

Serie A has produced seven FIFA World Player of the Year winners. Lothar Matthaus was the first to win back in 1991. The 90s was a golden period for the Italian league, as Marco van Basten and Roberto Baggio followed in the German's footsteps over the next couple of years.

George Weah, Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane all won the award in the late 90s, whilst in the next decade Zidane and Ronaldo both won the award for the second time along with success for Fabio Cannavaro and Kaka in 2006 and 2007 respectively.

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