1919–20 Prima Categoria

The 1919-20 Prima Categoria was the nineteenth edition of the Italian Football Championship and the thirteenth since the re-brand to Prima Categoria. It was the first Italian footbal championship after World War One. The 1919–20 Prima Categoria was the second national title won by Internazionale.

Prima Categoria

1919–20 Internazionale team
Season	1919–20
Champions	Internazionale 2nd title
← 1914–15 1920–21 →

Regulation

Struggles between minor and major clubs continued after four years of wartime break. The planned split between two national leagues had been forgotten, and the regional FAs became the lords of the tournament, which was expanded to 48 clubs. The championship was divided in a preliminary regional phase of ten matchdays, while the following national phase was split into a semifinal round of ten matchdays and a final round between three clubs.

The main tournament was split in eight groups of six clubs. First and second clubs, together with the third teams of Piedmont, advanced to the national championship. Worst clubs had to ask for re-election.

National championship was split in three groups of six clubs. Group winners advanced to the final group of three clubs. The whole tournament consequently had twenty-two matchdays.

The experimental Southern groups had their own special regulations.

Teams

Six clubs had collapsed during the war. However, Regional FAs agreed to expand the league to 48 clubs. They variously chose to promote, re-elect, or invite clubs to fill the spots they had been granted to.

Pre-league qualifications

Piedmont

Played on October 5, 1919, in Alessandria.

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Alessandrina	1-0	US Novarese

Lombardy

Played on October 5, 1919.

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Enotria Goliardo	2-0	Pro Patria et Libertate
Trevigliese	3-2	Monza
Atalanta	2-0	Soc. Bergamasca Ginnastica & Scherma

Liguria

All matches played on November 5, 1919, in Genoa. Three available spots.

Round 1

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Sampierdarenese	1-0	SPES Genova
GC Grifone	5-1	Sestrese

Round 2

Team 1	Score	Team 2
SPES Genova	3-0[1]	Sestrese

Emilia

Matches played on September 29 and October 5, 1919, in Bologna.

Round 1

Team 1	Score	Team 2
GS Bolognese	1-0	Audace

Round 2

Team 1	Score	Team 2
GS Bolognese	1-0	SPAL

Campania

Round 1

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Pro Caserta	6-0	Brasiliano
Savoia	3-2	Stabia

Round 2

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Pro Caserta	4-0	Savoia

Verdicts

Atalanta, Enotria Goliardo, Grifone GC, Sampierdarenese, GS Bolognese, Pro Caserta, SPES Genova, Trevigliese and Alessandrina were admitted to the 1a Categoria.

Amatori Giuoco Calcio Torino, Pastore, Ausonia Pro Gorla, Legnano, Saronno, Varese, Pavia, Carpi, Mantova, and Nazionale Emilia had been previously added to the championship by the Regional FAs.

Northern Italy

Qualifications

Piedmont - Group A

Classification

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Pro Vercelli	10	7	2	1	29	7	+22	16	Qualified
2	Juventus	10	6	4	0	25	5	+20	16
3	Torino	10	6	3	1	27	10	+17	15
4	Biellese	10	2	1	7	12	34	−22	5
5	Amatori Torino	10	1	2	7	7	24	−17	4	Relegation play-off
6	Alessandrina (E)	10	1	2	7	12	32	−20	4	Merged with Alessandria

Source: Panini
(E) Eliminated

Results table

Home \ Away	AMT	BIE	JUV	PVE	TOR	ALE
Amatori Torino		4–2	1–5	0–4	2–2	2–3
Biellese	1–0		0–3	1–6	2–9	4–2
Juventus	3–1	4–0		1–1	1–1	3–0
Pro Vercelli	8–1	3–0	0–0		1–0	2–0
Torino	3–0	3–2	1–1	4–0		3–1
Alessandrina	1–1	0–0	0–4	0–4	0–1

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio - La Storia 1898-2004, Panini Edizioni, Modena, September 2005 (in Italian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Relegation play-off

Played on February 2, 1920, in Novara.

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Amatori Torino	2-1	Alessandrina

Piedmont - Group B

Classification

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Alessandria	10	9	1	0	29	7	+22	19	Qualified
2	Casale	10	5	2	3	20	13	+7	12
3	Novara	10	5	1	4	25	14	+11	11
4	US Torinese	10	3	2	5	14	26	−12	8
5	Pastore Torino	10	3	1	6	21	28	−7	7
6	Valenzana (T)	10	0	3	7	5	26	−21	3	Re-elected

Source: Panini
(T) Qualified, but not yet for the particular phase indicated

Results table

Home \ Away	ALE	CSL	NOV	PAS	UST	VAL
Alessandria		4–2	3–0	4–1	1–0	6–0
Casale	1–1		3–0	3–2	1–1	3–1
Novara	0–1	1–0		8–1	6–1	5–1
Pastore Torino	1–2	1–2	1–4		3–1	2–0
US Torinese	2–5	2–1	2–0	3–8		2–1
Valenzana	0–2	0–4	1–1	1–1	0–0

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio - La Storia 1898-2004, Panini Edizioni, Modena, September 2005 (in Italian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Liguria

Classification

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Genoa	10	9	1	0	49	3	+46	19	Qualified
2	Andrea Doria	10	6	3	1	29	9	+20	15
3	GC Grifone (E)	10	3	2	5	11	35	−24	8	Disbanded
4	Sampierdarenese	10	2	3	5	12	28	−16	7
5	Savona	10	2	2	6	8	21	−13	6
6	SPES Genova (T)	10	2	1	7	5	18	−13	5	Re-elected

Source: Panini
(E) Eliminated; (T) Qualified, but not yet for the particular phase indicated

Results table

Home \ Away	ADO	GEN	GRI	SAM	SVN	SGE
Andrea Doria		1–1	6–0	4–1	3–1	4–0
Genoa	5–1		6–0	8–0	5–0	3–0
GC Grifone	0–7	0–8		3–1	1–1	1–0
Sampierdarenese	1–1	0–4	4–4		1–2	1–0
Savona	0–0	0–4	0–2	2–3		0–1
SPES Genova	0–2	1–5	2–0	0–0	1–2

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio - La Storia 1898-2004, Panini Edizioni, Modena, September 2005 (in Italian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Lombardy - Group A

Classification

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Internazionale	10	8	2	0	42	12	+30	18	Qualified
2	Brescia	10	6	2	2	21	16	+5	14
3	Juventus Italia	10	4	1	5	16	15	+1	9	Qualification play-off
4	Trevigliese	10	2	5	3	21	25	−4	9
5	A.C. Libertas	10	2	1	7	11	31	−20	5	Relegation play-off
6	Cremonese (T)	10	2	1	7	14	26	−12	5	Re-elected

Source: Panini
(T) Qualified, but not yet for the particular phase indicated

Results table

Home \ Away	BRE	CRE	INT	JIT	LMI	TVG
Brescia		1–0	1–1	4–0	4–0	3–3
Cremonese	2–4		0–2	0–3	5–3	3–1
Internazionale	6–0	5–2		4–2	6–0	8–2
Juventus Italia	2–0	2–0	2–4		0–1	0–1
Libertas Milano	0–1	4–1	0–3	0–4		3–3
Trevigliese	2–3	1–1	3–3	1–1	4–0

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio - La Storia 1898-2004, Panini Edizioni, Modena, September 2005 (in Italian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Qualification playoff

Played on January 4, 1920, in Brescia.

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Juventus Italia	2-0	Trevigliese

According to season 1919-20's FIGC rules in case of two teams sharing same position a playoff should have been played. When FIGC managers were noticed of too many matches programmed not for promotion or relegation sudden decided to change rules, just because of the few referees available for those matches, and upcoming matches (lower divisions) urged to get started. Later this playoff wasn't considered for the final table.

Relegation playoff

Played on February 15, 1920, in Brescia.

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Libertas Milano	2-0	Cremonese

Lombardy - Group B

Classification

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Milan	10	10	0	0	43	8	+35	20	Qualified
2	Enotria Goliardo	10	7	0	3	24	15	+9	14
3	Atalanta	10	4	1	5	11	16	−5	11[a]
4	Chiasso	10	3	2	5	15	18	−3	8
5	Pavia	10	2	1	7	11	19	−8	5
6	Ausonia Pro Gorla (T)	10	0	2	8	8	36	−28	2	Re-elected

Source: Panini
(T) Qualified, but not yet for the particular phase indicated
Notes:

1. 2 bonus points?

Results table

Home \ Away	ATA	AUS	CHI	ENO	MIL	PAV
Atalanta		2–0	1–0	0–2	0–4	1–0
Ausonia Pro Gorla	1–2		0–4	4–7	0–10	0–2
Chiasso	3–3	1–1		2–0	1–2	1–3
Enotria Goliardo	1–0	4–0	4–0		1–4	3–2
Milan	5–1	3–1	3–1	3–1		3–1
Pavia	0–1	1–1	1–2	0–1	1–6

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio - La Storia 1898-2004, Panini Edizioni, Modena, September 2005 (in Italian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Lombardy - Group C

Classification

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	US Milanese	10	8	2	0	35	8	+27	18	Qualified
2	Legnano	10	7	1	2	26	7	+19	15
3	Saronno	10	6	0	4	25	18	+7	12
4	Nazionale Lombardia	10	3	1	6	19	33	−14	7
5	Varese	10	1	2	7	15	30	−15	4	Relegation play-off
6	Como (T)	10	2	0	8	13	37	−24	4	Re-elected

Source: Panini
(T) Qualified, but not yet for the particular phase indicated

Results table

Home \ Away	COM	LEG	NLO	SAR	USM	VAR
Como		0–4	2–1	1–4	1–8	5–3
Legnano	4–0		4–1	2–0	0–1	3–0
Nazionale Lombardia	4–2	1–4		4–2	2–6	5–4
Saronno	4–2	3–1	4–0		0–3	5–1
US Milanese	3–0	1–1	4–0	3–1		2–2
Varese	2–0	0–3	1–1	1–2	1–4

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio - La Storia 1898-2004, Panini Edizioni, Modena, September 2005 (in Italian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Relegation play-off

Played on February 8, 1920, in Saronno.

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Varese	2-1[2]	Como

Veneto

Classification

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Padova	10	8	1	1	25	6	+19	17	Qualified
2	Venezia	10	5	3	2	13	9	+4	13
3	Petrarca Padova	10	5	1	4	24	20	+4	11
4	Vicenza	10	3	1	6	14	19	−5	7
5	Hellas Verona	10	2	2	6	15	26	−11	6	Relegation play-off
6	Udinese (T)	10	2	2	6	7	18	−11	6	Re-elected

Source: Panini
(T) Qualified, but not yet for the particular phase indicated

Results table

Home \ Away	HEL	PAD	PET	UDI	VEN	VIC
Hellas Verona		1–2	3–3	5–0	0–0	2–1
Padova	7–0		2–0[a]	3–1	0–1	4–0
Petrarca Padova	4–3	1–2		2–0	4–2	3–5
Udinese	3–1	1–1	1–2		0–0	0–2
Venezia	3–0	1–3	1–0	2–0		1–1
Vicenza	3–0	0–1	1–5	0–1	1–2

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio - La Storia 1898-2004, Panini Edizioni, Modena, September 2005 (in Italian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:

1. Forfeit

Relegation play-off

Played on March 14, 1920, in Venice.

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Hellas Verona	1-0	Udinese

Emilia

Classification

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Bologna	10	8	2	0	39	5	+34	18	Qualified
2	Modena	10	6	3	1	30	6	+24	15
3	Mantova	10	3	4	3	11	11	0	10
4	Carpi	10	3	1	6	9	22	−13	7
5	Nazionale Emilia	10	2	2	6	7	28	−21	6
6	GS Bolognese (T)	10	2	0	8	9	33	−24	4	Re-elected[3]

Source: Panini
(T) Qualified, but not yet for the particular phase indicated

Results table

Home \ Away	BOL	CRP	GSB	MAN	MOD	NEM
Bologna		2–0	8–0	0–0	4–0	9–0
Carpi	2–6		2–1	0–0	0–3	0–1
GS Bolognese	2–4	0–2		3–0	1–9	2–0
Mantova	1–3	2–1	2–0		0–0	5–1
Modena	0–0	6–0	4–0	2–0		5–0
Nazionale Emilia	0–3	1–2	2–0	1–1	1–1

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio - La Storia 1898-2004, Panini Edizioni, Modena, September 2005 (in Italian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Semifinals

The National semifinals had 18 clubs: six from Piedmont and Lombardy FAs, two from the other three Regional FAs.

Group A

Classification

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Genoa	10	9	1	0	24	6	+18	19	Qualified
2	Pro Vercelli	10	6	2	2	20	11	+9	14
3	Alessandria	10	5	1	4	13	11	+2	11
4	Milan	10	4	1	5	13	16	−3	9
5	Legnano	10	1	3	6	8	18	−10	5
6	Venezia	10	0	2	8	5	21	−16	2

Source: Panini

Results table

Home \ Away	ALE	GEN	LEG	MIL	PVE	VEN
Alessandria		0–2	2–0	2–0	1–1	3–1
Genoa	2–1		5–0	2–1	2–1	5–0
Legnano	1–2	0–1		1–1	2–1	1–1
Milan	3–0	0–2	3–1		1–2	2–1
Pro Vercelli	1–0	1–1	2–1	5–1		4–1
Venezia	0–1	0–2	0–0	0–1	1–2

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio - La Storia 1898-2004, Panini Edizioni, Modena, September 2005 (in Italian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Group B

Classification

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Juventus	10	8	1	1	21	4	+17	17	Qualified
2	US Milanese	10	7	1	2	14	10	+4	15
3	Modena	10	4	1	5	17	13	+4	9
4	Casale	10	2	4	4	7	8	−1	8
5	Brescia	10	2	2	6	4	14	−10	6
6	Padova	10	2	1	7	10	24	−14	5

Source: Panini

Results table

Home \ Away	BRE	CSL	JUV	MOD	PAD	USM
Brescia		0–0	0–0	2–1	1–2	0–1
Casale	3–0		0–1	0–2[a]	1–0	1–1
Juventus	2–0[a]	1–0		3–0	6–1	3–0
Modena	4–0	1–1	0–1		4–1	0–1
Padova	1–0	0–0	1–3	2–4		1–3
US Milanese	0–1	2–1	2–1	2–1	2–1

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio - La Storia 1898-2004, Panini Edizioni, Modena, September 2005 (in Italian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:

1. Forfeit

Group C

Classification

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Internazionale	10	7	2	1	37	13	+24	16	Qualified
2	Novara	10	6	1	3	22	15	+7	13
3	Bologna	10	6	1	3	20	14	+6	13
4	Torino	10	4	1	5	17	21	−4	9
5	Andrea Doria	10	2	1	7	14	21	−7	5
6	Enotria Goliardo	10	2	0	8	11	37	−26	4

Source: Panini

Results table

Home \ Away	ADO	BOL	ENO	INT	NOV	TOR
Andrea Doria		1–4	3–1	3–3	1–2	0–1
Bologna	2–0		7–1	0–1	2–0	2–1
Enotria Goliardo	3–1	1–2		1–5	0–5	2–0[a]
Internazionale	1–0	5–0	7–0		5–2	4–0
Novara	3–2	1–1	5–1	1–0		2–0[a]
Torino	1–3	3–0	2–1	6–6	3–1

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio - La Storia 1898-2004, Panini Edizioni, Modena, September 2005 (in Italian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:

1. Forfeit

Final round

Classification

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Internazionale	2	1	1	0	2	1	+1	3	Champions and qualified
2	Juventus	2	1	0	1	3	3	0	2
3	Genoa	2	0	1	1	3	4	−1	1

Source: Panini

Results

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Juventus	3–2	Genoa
Internazionale	1–0	Juventus
Internazionale	1–1	Genoa

Southern Italy tournament

Main article: Football in Southern Italy in 1919–20

An experimental amatorial tournament was played in Southern Italy.

Final round

Played on 13 June 1920, in Bologna.

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Livorno	3–2	Fortitudo Roma

Livorno qualified to the National Final.

National final

Played on 20 June 1920, in Bologna.

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Internazionale	3–2	Livorno