Serie A
A fantastic campaign from Juventus saw them finish at the top of Serie A in Italy, nine points clear of second place Fiorentina. Only eleven points separated Inter in third place from AS Roma in 8th, but while the standings were bunched, neither Leonardo at AC Milan (7th) nor Claudio Ranieri at Roma can be very comfortable with their seasons. A bright spot for Ranieri would be the play of Mirko Vucinic, who led the scoring table for the second consecutive year, and picked up player of the year honors as well.
Only Torino survived their first year in the top league, with Atalanta joining Mantova and Ascoli in returning to Serie B.
Top Goalscorer: 19. Mirko Vucinic (Roma)
Top Rated Player: 8.02. Giorgio Chiellini (Genoa)
Chiellini’s teammate, Domenico Criscito, had a solid year following his top rated season last year.
Serie B
Livorno handled relegation with grace and power, finishing as champions of Serie B and returning to the top flight of Italian football. They are joined by Brescia and Cesena, led by the brilliance of young Milan Djuric; leaving Bari and Chievo to spend another year in the second division. Only Lumezzane—who finished in the top half of the table—will remain of the four clubs promoted to Serie B last season: Modena join Foggia, Novara, and Valle del Giovenco in being dispersed into the third level of play.
Top Goalscorer: 31. Milan Djuric (Cesena)
Top Rated Player: 7.71. Milan Djuric (Cesena)
Last year’s leading scorer, Edgar Çani, returned to Palermo from his season on loan, but was unable to see more than a handful of games in Serie A while AlbinoLeffe’s Simon Laner, the top ranked player last year, was solid again in midfield.
Serie C1/A and C1/B
Ravenna, Piacenza, Rimini, and Taranto move up while Spezia, Giulianova, Reggiana, Lecco, Foligno, and Gubbio are relegated. This means that none of the top scorers and none of the top rated players in either division were able to move their teams forward, with Perugia and Frosinone both losing in the promotion playoffs.
Top Goalscorer: 20. Felice Evacuo (Benevento) & Paolo Rossi (Cosenza); 21. Jefferson (Frosinone)
Top Rated Player: 7.85. Andrea Rossi (Perugia); 7.63. Younès Belhanda (Frosinone)
Arezzo’s Mohmed Fofana contributed 14 goals during the season after leading Serie C1/A last season while C1/B’s defending leading goalscorer, Federico Piovaccari, added 17 for Ravenna. Benevento’s Argentine veteran, Maximiliano Cejas (last year’s best player in Serie C1/A) missed half the season with a torn calf muscle while Rimini’s Pierre Giorgio Regonesi was barely edged out by Belhanda in his effort to repeat as the best in C1/B.
Serie C2/A, C2/B and C2/C
After the profound disappointment of last season, Pro Vercelli made no mistakes this year finishing well clear in Serie C2/A and earning promotion along with Portosummaga, Cavase, Cisco, Igea Virtus, and San Marino. At the other end, the storybook return of Venezia to league play lasted only a year as they join Pro Belvedere, Casale, Pisa, Montevarchi, Viterbese, Colligiana, Angri, and Messina in relegation.
Top Goalscorers: 33. Anderson (Pro Vercelli); 20. Daniel Ciofani (Cisco); 19. Roberto Palumbo (Nocerina)
Top Rated Player: 7.80. Anderson (Pro Vercelli); 7.63. Fabio Tinazzi (Andria); 7.59 Gianluca Vasile (Alghero)
Once again, Anderson proved himself to be the class of his league: the question is can the 27 year old Brazilian continue his success at higher levels? If Melfi’s Luis Arcamone is an example, he will struggle a bit: Arcamone was the best player in Serie C2/C last season, but while Melfi managed to finish mid-table after promotion, Arcamone saw his performance drop. Serie C2/B’s best players were both there on loan, and both Pescara’s Daniele Fruci and Parma’s Stefano Crisci found success—and playing time—to be elusive upon returning to their parent clubs.
MKNN 