What’s At Stake In Italy’s Serie A And Serie B As Season Wraps Up

Italy’s top-two soccer divisions, Serie A and Serie B, are keeping fans glued to their television screen, as the end of the 2021/22 season has been filled with drama in both leagues.

In Serie A, the city rivals of AC Milan and Inter Milan are neck and neck in the much heated Scudetto race, while in Serie B, four teams are fighting to gain access to Italy’s prestigious top-flight.

As Serie A and Serie B prepare to wrap up, glory and financial rewards will serve as major motivators for clubs in the final games of the season.

Serie A has experienced one of Europe’s most intense championship fights this year, as only England’s Manchester City and Liverpool can be said to have put up a similarly thrilling show across the other major European soccer leagues.

To make the competition in Italy even more electrifying, it is the two Milan-based clubs, AC Milan and Inter Milan, that are battling it out for the much coveted Scudetto: With three matches left in the 2021/22 Serie A campaign, two points is all that is currently keeping the Rossoneri ahead of their Nerazzurri cousins.

While Inter are looking to hoist their second consecutive league title and the 20th in the club’s history, AC Milan are chasing their 19th Scudetto, which would be their first in over a decade.

Seven points behind league leaders AC Milan are Napoli. After a great start to the season, the Partenopei have gradually lost their title hopes and now have to watch themselves from Juventus, who are trailing by a single point. Both Napoli and Juventus have already clinched a spot in next year’s UEFA Champions League, the world’s most lucrative soccer tournament at the club level.

The Scudetto winners are set to collect the largest financial reward among all Italian teams, as they will be entitled to the biggest chunk of money from domestic broadcasting rights as well as the highest percentage of funds from the UEFA Champions League market pool.

Last year, for instance, Inter pocketed an estimated total of €33.4 million ($35.1m) for winning Serie A, more than any other team in Italy. To this amount, they added another €15.25m for having secured access to the UEFA Champions League group stage.

For AC Milan, the excitement for the potential Scudetto victory is invigorated by the enthusiasm stemming from the upcoming change in ownership.

According to various reports, Bahrain-based alternative asset manager InvestCorp is on the verge of acquiring AC Milan for €1 billion ($1.05b) from U.S. investment firm Elliott Management Fund, which had taken over the club back in 2018. If finalized, the deal would make AC Milan the first Serie A team with Middle Eastern ownership.

Italy’s second tier, Serie B, has likewise experienced many twists this season. Besides granting access to the highest level of Italian soccer, being promoted from Serie B comes with a substantial financial reward.

Teams that get to feature in Serie A will profit from its remunerative broadcasting agreements, which allocate to each of the 20 participating teams a minimum of €23.5 million ($24.7m).

It is a significant figure for clubs coming from lower divisions like Serie B, where the average wage bill across the 20 teams amounts to a gross €10.6m, as estimated by Gazzetta dello Sport.

Four clubs – Lecce, Monza, Cremonese and Pisa – are currently standing within four points on top of the Serie B table. In the final match day of the 2021/22 Serie B campaign, which will be played this upcoming Friday, May 6, they will desperately try to book one of the two available slots for a straight promotion to Serie A.

Those teams that get left out will have another shot at promotion via the league playoffs.