Serie A

Serie A is the top professional division in Italy. It has run as a single national league since 1929 and is an open structure, sharing promotion and relegation with Serie B below it.

Italian football carries a long reputation for tactical planning and organised defending — the term catenaccio came out of this league. The playing styles on show today are far more varied than that shorthand suggests, but the emphasis on tactical preparation is still one of the first things a viewer notices.

Twenty clubs play each other home and away: 38 matches per club, 380 across the season, with three points for a win and one for a draw.

When clubs finish level on points, Serie A looks first at the head-to-head record between them, as LaLiga does, rather than starting from goal difference as the Premier League does. Overall goal difference is only consulted if the head-to-head does not separate them.

Where a tie decides something outright — the title or relegation — Italian football has historically been willing to settle it with an additional deciding match, rather than on statistics alone.

Clubs finishing near the top qualify for UEFA competitions, from the Champions League down through the Europa League and Conference League. The number of places depends on the league's coefficient standing, and is affected by who wins the Coppa Italia.

The bottom three are relegated to Serie B. Three come up in return: the top two automatically, and a third through a play-off.

The season runs from mid-August to May, with a winter break across late December and early January — longer than England's, shorter than Germany's.

Alongside the league there is the Coppa Italia and the Supercoppa, which in recent seasons has been staged abroad. Clubs going deep in those competitions face a congested calendar in stretches.

The tabs above separate fixtures, results and the table, which shows points, goal difference and each club's last five results.

Kick-off times are converted to your local zone, and the live scores page updates during matches without needing a refresh.