Serie B (women's football)

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Serie B

Founded	1970; 54 years ago (1970)
Country	Italy
Confederation	UEFA
Number of clubs	16
Promotion to	Serie A
Relegation to	Serie C
Domestic cup(s)	Coppa Italia Supercoppa Italiana
Website	www.figc.it/it/femminile
Current: 2024–25 Serie B (women)

The Serie B (Italian pronunciation: [ˈsɛːrje ˈbi]) is the second division of women's football in Italy. Established in 1970, it has been run by the Italian Football Federation and currently features 16 teams.^[1] The team which finishes Serie B in the top position is promoted directly to the Serie A, the team in the second position enters a promotion/relegation playoff with the second to last placed Serie A team, while the bottom three are relegated directly to the Serie C. Since 2015 it has been decreed by the Italian Football Federation all male Serie B teams must provide women's teams also.^[2][3]

This league was created in 1970. Until 1972, it was the second and last division of women's football in Italy because it was organized by the regional committees. In 1973, it was transformed into an interregional championship and, until 2002, it was the second highest tier, equivalent to the men's Serie B. In 2002, with the creation of the new Serie A2 championship, the category became the third tier, while remaining an amateur and national category, placing itself between the A2 and the regional Serie C.

In 2011, Serie B was dissolved to make way for the A2. With the reform implemented in June 2013, Serie A2 was transformed into Serie B. From the 2013/14 season to the 2017/18 season, the championship was organized in four groups by the geographical distribution of the participating teams, while the transition to a single group was announced starting from the 2018/19 season.^[4]

Starting from the 2018/19 season, the organization of the Serie B championship, as well as that of Serie A, has been delegated to the Women's Football Division within the FIGC.

The Serie B championship has had different formats over the years, maintaining the division of the participating teams into several groups according to geographical distribution until the 2017/18 season. The number of groups over the years has varied from two (from 1989/90 to 1995/96) to six (2005/06). Promotion to Serie A or Serie A2 (from 2003 to 2011) was assigned either to the winners of the individual groups or via special play-offs.

In the years in which Serie B was the third tier of Italian football, the league format consisted of four or five groups of 12 teams each on average. The first in each group were promoted to Serie A2, while the bottom three teams were relegated to Serie C, the organization of which was entrusted to the Regional Committees of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC). For the 2010/11 season, the format had been changed in view of the dissolution of the division: 33 teams divided into three groups of 12 (group A), 11 (group B) and 10 teams (group C), with 14 promotions divided as follows: the first 4 of each group, plus two winners of the play-offs between fifth and sixth of groups A and B. Only 3 teams were relegated to Serie C, i.e. the bottom of each group.

From the 2013/14 season to the 2017/18 season, the teams were divided into 4 groups according to geographical distribution. The first team in each group (4 teams in total) were promoted to Serie A and the bottom two were relegated to Serie C.

In the 2018/19 and 2019/20 seasons, there were 12 participating teams playing in one group with round-trip matches for a total of 22 matchdays. The top two teams are promoted to Serie A.^[5] The teams in the last two positions are relegated directly to Serie C.^[5] The teams in ninth and tenth place play a play-out, on neutral ground in a single match, against the two teams in Serie C who lost the promotion play-offs, for another two places in Serie B.^[5] In the 2020/21 season, the number of participating teams was increased to 14, while the total number of matchdays rose to 26. The number of teams promoted to Serie A remained at two, while the bottom 4 were relegated to Serie C.

The following ten clubs are competing in the 2023–24 season.^[6]

¹ The winners of Serie B are indicated in bold.
² The teams promoted to Serie A are indicated in bold.

¹ The teams promoted to Serie A are indicated in bold.

¹ The teams promoted to Serie A are indicated in bold.

• Official website