Lega Pro Prima Divisione is the name of the third highest football league in Italy. It consists of 33 teams, divided geographically into two divisions of 17 and 16 teams respectively for group A and B. Until 2008 it was known as Serie C1.
Before the 1978-79 season there were only three leagues of professional football in Italy, the third being Serie C. In 1978, it was decided to split Serie C into Serie C1 and Serie C2. Serie C2, the fourth highest professional league in the Italian system, was also renamed in 2008 and is now called Lega Pro Seconda Divisione.
During the regular season, teams play only other teams in their own division. Each opponent is played twice, once at home and once away, for a total of 34 matches. Games are scheduled such that in the first 17 matches, every opponent is played once. In the last 17 matches, the same opponents are played in the same order with the only difference being that the venue changes.
Serie C1, and its forerunner Serie C, is the lowest division where nine clubs have ever played: Bologna, Napoli, Genoa, Sampdoria (with its forerunners Liguria), Atalanta, Brescia, Udinese, Verona and Vicenza.
Read more about Lega Pro Prima Divisione: Promotion and Relegation, Complete Team List
Famous quotes containing the words pro and/or prima:
“It is sweet and honourable to die for one’s country.
[Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.]”
—Horace [Quintus Horatius Flaccus] (65–8 B.C.)
“Success can make you go one of two ways. It can make you a prima donna, or it can smooth the edges, take away the insecurities, let the nice things come out.”
—Barbara Walters (b. 1931)