Full Name: Lega Nazionale Professionisti Serie B TIM Founded: 1929 Tier: 2 Number of Teams: 22
Description:
The 2nd tier of Italian football is known as Serie B TIM, named after the title sponsor Italian mobile phone company TIM.
Italian Serie B Map:
League Format:
The Italian Serie B season begins in August and ends in May or early June with no winter break.
The 22 teams play each other twice (home and away) for a total of 42 matches.
3 points are awarded for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for a loss.
Final league position is based on the total number of points earned over the full season.
The team with the most points is considered the league champion and is automatically promoted to the first-tier Serie A along with the team finishing 2nd.
If the team finishing 3rd is 10 or more points ahead of the 4th team they are automatically promoted. If not they enter a playoff with the teams finishing 4th-6th to determine one further team to be promoted. All series are 2 leg, home and away and in case of a tie the team finishing higher in the regular season advance.
The bottom three teams are automatically relegated to the third-tier Lega Pro Prima Divisione (Girone A or Girone B).
If the team finishing 19th is 5 or more points behind the team finishing 18th they are also automatically relegated. If not they enter a playoff with the team finishing 18th to avoid relegation. This is typically called a playout in Italy. All series are 2 leg, home and away and in case of a tie the team finishing higher in the regular season advance.
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