2002–03 Serie B

The 2002–03 Serie B was the 71st season since its establishment in 1929. It is the second highest football league in Italy.

Serie B TIM

Season	2002–03
Promoted	Siena (1st title) Sampdoria Lecce Ancona
Relegated	Cosenza (bankruptcy)
Matches played	380
Goals scored	961 (2.53 per match)
Top goalscorer	Igor Protti (23 goals)[1]
Longest winning run	Vicenza 7 matches
Longest unbeaten run	Vicenza 14 matches
← 2001–02 2003–04 →

Ancona

Ascoli

Bari

Cagliari

Catania

Cosenza

Genoa
Sampdoria

Lecce

Livorno

Messina

Napoli

Palermo

Salernitana

Siena

Ternana

Triestina

Venezia

Verona

Vicenza

Serie B 2002-03 team distribution

Teams

Livorno, Ascoli, Triestina and Catania had been promoted from Serie C, while Hellas Verona, Lecce, and Venezia had been relegated from Serie A and Fiorentina had lost their national professional licence.

Personnel and sponsoring

Team	Manager	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Ancona	Luigi Simoni	Devis	Banca Marche
Ascoli	Giuseppe Pillon	Uhlsport	Carisap
Bari	Marco Tardelli	Lotto	asbari.com
Cagliari	Gian Piero Ventura	A-Line	Terra Sarda
Catania	Vincenzo Guerini	Galex	SP Energia Siciliana
Cosenza	Antonio Sala	Sport Point	Provincia di Cosenza
Genoa	Rino Lavezzini and Vincenzo Torrente	Erreà	Costa Cruises
Hellas Verona	Alberto Malesani	Lotto	Clerman
Lecce	Delio Rossi	Asics	Salento d'amare
Livorno	Roberto Donadoni	Asics	CR Livorno
Messina	Bruno Bolchi	Asics	Jonax Group
Napoli	Franco Colomba	Diadora	Peroni
Palermo	Nedo Sonetti	Lotto	Provincia di Palermo
Salernitana	Franco Varrella	Garman	Zip Jeans & Casual
Sampdoria	Walter Novellino	Asics	Erg
Siena	Giuseppe Papadopulo	Lotto	Monte Paschi Vita
Ternana	Mario Beretta	Erreà	None
Triestina	Ezio Rossi	Asics	Acegas
Venezia	Gianfranco Bellotto	Sportika	Emmezeta
Vicenza	Andrea Mandorlini	Biemme	Caffè Vero

Final classification

In June 2003, Catania was at the centre of a controversy that led to the enlargement of Serie B from 20 to 24 teams, known as Caso Catania. The club claimed that Siena fielded an ineligible player in a 1–1 tie, a result which saw Catania relegated, whereas the two extra points from a victory would have kept them safe. They were awarded a 2–0 victory before the result was reverted because the guilty player was a substitute which did not play the match, then Catania appealed to the judges of the Autonomous Region of Sicily who re-awarded the victory again. In August, the FIGC decided to let Catania, along with Genoa and Salernitana, stay in Serie B; the newly reborn Fiorentina were also added for the 2003–04 season. The ruling led to protests and boycotts by the other Serie B clubs that delayed the start of the season, until the intervention of the Italian government.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Siena (P, C)	38	17	16	5	46	26	+20	67	Promotion to Serie A
2	Sampdoria (P)	38	17	16	5	53	31	+22	67
3	Lecce (P)	38	15	18	5	46	33	+13	63
4	Ancona (P)	38	16	13	9	53	40	+13	61
5	Triestina	38	16	10	12	54	46	+8	58
6	Palermo	38	15	13	10	45	42	+3	58
7	Ternana	38	14	13	11	45	37	+8	55
8	Cagliari	38	14	12	12	47	46	+1	54
9	Vicenza	38	13	15	10	55	50	+5	54
10	Livorno	38	12	13	13	48	43	+5	49
11	Bari	38	10	19	9	38	37	+1	49
12	Venezia	38	12	12	14	41	47	−6	48
13	Ascoli	38	13	9	16	46	52	−6	48
14	Hellas Verona	38	10	16	12	42	42	0	46
15	Messina	38	10	16	12	51	54	−3	46
16	Napoli	38	10	15	13	42	49	−7	45
17	Catania (T)	38	12	7	19	45	60	−15	43	Readmitted[a]
18	Genoa (T)	38	9	12	17	47	51	−4	39
19	Cosenza (R, E, R)	38	10	6	22	29	52	−23	36	Relegation to Serie D[b]
20	Salernitana (T)	38	4	11	23	28	63	−35	23	Readmitted[a]

Source: Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio - La Storia 1898-2004, Panini Edizioni, Modena, September 2005
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head goals scored; 5) goal difference; 6) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (E) Eliminated; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated; (T) Qualified, but not yet for the particular phase indicated
Notes:

1. Relegated and later readmitted to Serie B after Caso Catania.
2. Lost professional licence for bankruptcy and joined 2003–04 Serie D with a new club.

Results

Home \ Away	ANC	ASC	BAR	CAG	CTN	COS	GEN	LCE	LIV	MES	NAP	PAL	SAL	SAM	SIE	TER	TRI	VEN	HEL	VIC
Ancona	—	1–1	1–2	2–1	2–0	1–0	1–0	1–3	1–0	2–1	3–2	4–2	3–1	1–1	1–1	1–1	3–0	2–1	1–1	3–1
Ascoli	1–0	—	3–2	1–1	2–1	3–0	1–1	1–0	2–1	1–0	4–0	1–2	3–0	0–0	2–1	2–0	2–2	1–2	0–0	1–4
Bari	0–0	2–0	—	0–0	2–1	1–0	2–1	1–1	0–3	1–0	0–1	0–1	1–1	1–1	0–0	2–1	0–0	0–1	1–1	1–1
Cagliari	2–1	1–0	1–0	—	1–2	3–0	1–0	1–1	1–1	0–2	2–2	2–2	2–0	1–0	2–3	1–1	2–0	1–0	2–1	3–0
Catania	0–0	1–1	1–0	2–1	—	0–2	3–2	2–1	3–2	1–1	0–2	2–0	2–1	0–0	2–0	3–1	1–2	0–2	2–1	2–1
Cosenza	0–0	1–0	0–2	1–1	3–1	—	2–1	1–2	0–2	3–3	1–0	1–2	0–0	1–3	0–0	0–3	1–0	1–2	0–1	2–1
Genoa	4–2	1–2	0–0	1–3	2–0	3–0	—	0–0	3–1	1–1	3–1	1–1	3–0	0–2	1–3	1–0	2–2	0–0	2–2	0–2
Lecce	2–1	2–1	1–0	1–1	1–0	0–0	2–1	—	1–0	1–1	1–1	3–0	2–1	1–0	1–1	0–0	1–1	3–1	1–1	1–1
Livorno	1–1	2–0	2–2	1–0	2–1	4–2	2–0	1–2	—	4–1	1–1	2–2	0–0	1–1	1–1	1–2	2–0	2–1	1–1	2–2
Messina	1–1	3–2	2–2	2–2	3–3	1–0	2–1	0–2	2–1	—	1–1	2–1	2–0	3–3	0–0	2–2	2–2	1–1	2–1	3–1
Napoli	1–1	2–0	1–1	2–0	1–0	1–2	2–2	1–1	0–1	1–0	—	0–0	2–1	1–1	1–2	1–0	2–1	1–1	0–0	2–1
Palermo	0–1	2–2	2–2	1–1	3–3	1–0	0–0	2–0	1–0	2–1	2–1	—	1–1	0–0	1–0	2–1	1–0	0–2	2–0	1–0
Salernitana	0–2	1–2	1–2	1–2	0–0	1–2	2–2	2–1	2–1	0–0	2–0	3–1	—	0–1	1–1	0–3	2–2	1–1	1–3	0–1
Sampdoria	2–1	3–0	1–1	3–1	1–0	2–1	2–1	4–2	2–0	1–1	2–0	1–0	1–0	—	0–0	1–2	1–1	4–0	3–2	0–0
Siena	0–0	4–0	1–1	1–0	4–3	1–0	2–1	0–0	2–0	1–0	2–0	2–1	3–0	1–0	—	0–1	1–0	0–0	0–0	0–0
Ternana	1–0	2–1	2–1	0–1	3–1	1–0	1–3	0–0	1–1	1–0	1–1	0–0	4–0	1–1	1–1	—	1–2	1–1	1–0	1–1
Triestina	3–2	3–1	1–2	3–0	4–0	1–0	1–0	0–1	1–0	2–1	2–1	2–1	2–0	2–2	2–1	4–3	—	1–2	3–1	1–1
Venezia	2–4	1–1	1–1	3–0	2–1	0–2	0–1	2–2	1–1	0–2	2–1	0–2	1–0	3–1	1–3	0–0	1–0	—	1–1	1–2
Hellas Verona	0–1	1–0	1–1	1–1	2–0	1–0	2–2	1–1	0–1	4–1	2–2	0–0	2–0	0–0	1–2	0–1	1–0	1–0	—	4–2
Vicenza	1–1	2–1	1–1	4–2	2–1	3–0	1–0	1–1	0–0	2–1	3–3	1–3	2–2	1–2	1–1	1–0	1–1	2–1	4–1	—

Source: Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio - La Storia 1898-2004, Panini Edizioni, Modena, September 2005
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.