2009–10 Serie B

The 2009–10 Serie B season is the seventy-eighth edition since its establishment in 1929. Serie B is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It is contested by 22 teams and organized by the Lega Calcio.

Serie B TIM

Season	2009–10
Champions	Lecce (1st title)
Promoted	Lecce Cesena Brescia (by Play-off)
Relegated	Salernitana Gallipoli (bankruptcy) Mantova (bankruptcy) Ancona (bankruptcy)
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1,146 (2.48 per match)
Top goalscorer	Éder (26 goals)
Biggest home win	Cittadella 6–0 Mantova
Biggest away win	Gallipoli 0–5 Vicenza
← 2008–09 2010–11 →

A total of 22 teams contest the league, 15 of which returned from the 2008–09 season, four of which have been promoted from Lega Pro Prima Divisione, and three relegated from Serie A.

Teams

AlbinoLeffe

Ancona

Ascoli

Brescia

Cesena

Cittadella

Crotone

Empoli

Frosinone

Gallipoli

Grosseto

Lecce

Mantova

Modena

Padova

Piacenza

Reggina

Salernitana

Sassuolo

Torino

Triestina

Vicenza

Location of (qualified) teams in Serie B 2009–10

Stadiums and locations

Club	City	Stadium	Capacity	2008–09 season
AlbinoLeffe	Albino and Leffe (playing in Bergamo)	Atleti Azzurri d'Italia	26,393	9th in Serie B
Ancona	Ancona	del Conero	26,000	19th in Serie B
Ascoli	Ascoli Piceno	Cino e Lillo Del Duca	20,000	16th in Serie B
Brescia	Brescia	Mario Rigamonti	27,547	4th in Serie B
Cesena	Cesena	Dino Manuzzi	23,860	Lega Pro Prima Divisione – A Champions
Cittadella	Cittadella	Pier Cesare Tombolato	7,623	17th in Serie B
Crotone	Crotone	Ezio Scida	9,631	Lega Pro Prima Divisione – B Playoff Winners
Empoli	Empoli	Carlo Castellani	19,795	5th in Serie B
Frosinone	Frosinone	Matusa	9,680	11th in Serie B
Gallipoli	Gallipoli (playing in Lecce[1])	Via del Mare[1]	33,876	Lega Pro Prima Divisione – B Champions
Grosseto	Grosseto	Carlo Zecchini	9,909	6th in Serie B
Lecce	Lecce	Via del Mare	33,876	20th in Serie A
Mantova	Mantua	Danilo Martelli	14,844	13th in Serie B
Modena	Modena	Alberto Braglia	20,507	15th in Serie B
Padova	Padua	Euganeo	32,336	Lega Pro Prima Divisione – A Playoff Winners
Piacenza	Piacenza	Leonardo Garilli	21,668	10th in Serie B
Reggina	Reggio Calabria	Oreste Granillo	27,454	19th in Serie A
Salernitana	Salerno	Arechi	37,245	14th in Serie B
Sassuolo	Sassuolo (playing in Modena)	Alberto Braglia	20,507	7th in Serie B
Torino	Turin	Olimpico di Torino	27,994	18th in Serie A
Triestina	Trieste	Nereo Rocco	32,454	8th in Serie B
Vicenza	Vicenza	Romeo Menti	17,163	12th in Serie B

Personnel and kits

Team	President	Manager	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
AlbinoLeffe	Gianfranco Andreoletti	Emiliano Mondonico	Acerbis	UBI Assicurazioni, Studio Casa Agenzie Immobiliari
Ancona	Flavio Mais	Sandro Salvioni	Legea	Kerself (1) / Twice SIM (2, 7-8, 10, 12, 14, 17) / H6 (3, 9) / RSM Italy (4) / Kinexia (5) / University.it (6) / Fisioclub Ancona (11) / Ecoware (13) / Società Italiana Sviluppo & Impresa (15) / Sartoria Paolorossi (16) / Centro Carni Villa Musone (18, 20, 26, 42) / Impero (21) / La Stafferia (22) / Brainspark Investment Group (29-30) / Dentro e Fuori Service (31) / La Cantina di Palazzo Bello (33, 35, 39) / La Gramigna Srl (34) / Radio Tua (38), Maracanà Sport Store (31)
Ascoli	Roberto Benigni	Giuseppe Pillon	Legea	Carisap, CIAM
Brescia	Gino Corioni	Giuseppe Iachini	Mass	UBI Banco di Brescia, Bresciani Cover All
Cesena	Igor Campedelli	Pierpaolo Bisoli	Lotto	Phytum Ton
Cittadella	Andrea Gabrielli	Claudio Foscarini	Garman	Siderurgica Gabrielli
Crotone	Salvatore Gualtieri	Franco Lerda	Zeus	Città di Crotone, Ceramica Gres 2000
Empoli	Fabrizio Corsi	Salvatore Campilongo	Asics	Limonta Sport, Computer Gross
Frosinone	Maurizio Stirpe	Guido Carboni	Legea	Banca Popolare del Frusinate, Provincia di Frosinone
Gallipoli	Daniele D'Odorico	Ezio Rossi	Garman	D'Odorico Group/Caroli Hotels, Italcantieri
Grosseto	Piero Camilli	Maurizio Sarri	Erreà	Industria Lavorazione Carni Ovine, Banca della Maremma
Lecce	Giovanni Semeraro	Luigi De Canio	Asics	HAITI - SMS 48541/Better, Lachifarma
Mantova	Fabrizio Lori	Michele Serena	Joma	Nuova Pansac
Modena	Alfredo Amadei	Luigi Apolloni	Givova	CPL Concordia, Immergas
Padova	Marcello Cestaro	Carlo Sabatini	Lotto	Famila, Cassa di Risparmio del Veneto
Piacenza	Fabrizio Garilli	Massimo Ficcadenti	Macron	UNICEF
Reggina	Pasquale Foti	Roberto Breda	Onze	Stocco&Stocco/Guglielmo Caffè/Ipac/La Gru, Stocco&Stocco
Salernitana	Antonio Lombardi	Ersilio Cerone	Givova	Lombardi Costruzioni
Sassuolo	Carlo Rossi	Stefano Pioli	Sportika	Mapei
Torino	Urbano Cairo	Stefano Colantuono	Kappa	MG.K VIS/Il Buon Riso/Il Buon Riso Firma/Italporte/Dolmar Makita/Maniva Oligominerale/Škoda Yeti/Be-Total/Stylo Rent a Car, Dahlia TV
Triestina	Stefano Fantinel	Daniele Arrigoni	Mass	Fantinel, Testa & Molinaro
Vicenza	Sergio Cassingena	Rolando Maran	Max Sport	FIAMM

Managerial changes

Before the start of the season

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of appointment
Ascoli	Franco Colomba[2]	Contract expired	4 June 2009	Alessandro Pane[3]	17 June 2009
Vicenza	Angelo Gregucci[4]	Contract expired	5 June 2009	Rolando Maran[5]	16 June 2009
Piacenza	Stefano Pioli[6]	Contract expired	5 June 2009	Fabrizio Castori[7]	2 July 2009
Sassuolo	Andrea Mandorlini[8]	Mutual consent	10 June 2009	Stefano Pioli[9]	12 June 2009
Reggina	Nevio Orlandi[10]	Contract expired	11 June 2009	Walter Novellino[10]	11 June 2009
Triestina	Rolando Maran[11]	Mutual consent	15 June 2009	Luca Gotti[12]	25 June 2009
Torino	Giancarlo Camolese[13]	Contract expired	15 June 2009	Stefano Colantuono[13]	15 June 2009
Empoli	Silvio Baldini[14][15]	Sacked	16 June 2009	Salvatore Campilongo[14][15]	16 June 2009
Gallipoli	Giuseppe Giannini[16]	Mutual consent	16 June 2009	Giuseppe Giannini	13 August 2009
Mantova	Mario Somma[17]	Contract expired	17 June 2009	Michele Serena[17]	17 June 2009
Crotone	Francesco Moriero[18]	Mutual consent	22 June 2009	Franco Lerda[19]	27 June 2009
Frosinone	Piero Braglia[20]	Contract expired	24 June 2009	Francesco Moriero[20]	24 June 2009

During the season

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of appointment
Salernitana	Fabio Brini[21]	Sacked	19 September 2009	Marco Cari[22]	19 September 2009
AlbinoLeffe	Armando Madonna[23]	Sacked	28 September 2009	Emiliano Mondonico[23]	28 September 2009
Brescia	Alberto Cavasin[24]	Sacked	4 October 2009	Giuseppe Iachini[24]	4 October 2009
Triestina	Luca Gotti[25]	Sacked	6 October 2009	Mario Somma[25]	6 October 2009
Reggina	Walter Novellino[26]	Sacked	24 October 2009	Ivo Iaconi[27]	24 October 2009
Salernitana	Marco Cari[28]	Sacked	2 November 2009	Gianluca Grassadonia[28]	2 November 2009
Piacenza	Fabrizio Castori[29]	Sacked	10 November 2009	Massimo Ficcadenti[30]	11 November 2009
Ascoli	Alessandro Pane[31]	Sacked	22 November 2009	Giuseppe Pillon[31]	22 November 2009
Torino	Stefano Colantuono[32]	Sacked	29 November 2009	Mario Beretta[32]	29 November 2009
Torino	Mario Beretta[33]	Sacked	10 January 2010	Stefano Colantuono[33]	10 January 2010
Reggina	Ivo Iaconi[34]	Sacked	8 February 2010	Roberto Breda[35]	8 February 2010
Padova	Carlo Sabatini[36]	Sacked	8 February 2010	Nello Di Costanzo[37]	9 February 2010
Triestina	Mario Somma[38]	Sacked	9 February 2010	Daniele Arrigoni[citation needed]	10 February 2010
Salernitana	Gianluca Grassadonia[39]	Removed from managerial duties	14 March 2010	Ersilio Cerone	14 March 2010
Gallipoli	Giuseppe Giannini[40][41]	Resigned	22 March 2010	Giovanni Di Pasquale (caretaker)[41]	22 March 2010
Grosseto	Elio Gustinetti[42]	Sacked	24 March 2010	Maurizio Sarri[43]	24 March 2010
Vicenza	Rolando Maran[44]	Sacked	28 March 2010	Nedo Sonetti[44]	28 March 2010
Gallipoli	Giovanni Di Pasquale[45]	End of caretaker spell	30 March 2010	Ezio Rossi[45]	30 March 2010
Padova	Nello Di Costanzo[46]	Sacked	10 April 2010	Carlo Sabatini[46]	10 April 2010
Vicenza	Nedo Sonetti[47]	Sacked	15 April 2010	Rolando Maran[47]	15 April 2010
Frosinone	Francesco Moriero[48]	Sacked	25 April 2010	Guido Carboni[48]	25 April 2010

• ^1 Giuseppe Giannini left Gallipoli by mutual consent in June 2009, only three weeks after having won promotion to Serie B with the club, due to uncertainty regarding the club future. He successively agreed to return at Gallipoli two months later, and only ten days before the season kick-off, after Udine-based D'Odorico Group completed the club takeover. During the time Giannini did not act as head coach, no replacement was appointed.
• ^2 Salernitana under-19 coach Gianluca Grassadonia was appointed to replace Marco Cari in November 2009 despite not having the required coaching badges. In December, Ersilio Cerone was appointed "official" head coach to fulfil the requirement for a UEFA A coaching graduate,^[49] with Grassadonia appearing as assistant but being usually referred as the "real" manager. Grassadonia was later announced to have been removed from the first team coaching staff on March 14, 2010, whereas Cerone was confirmed as head coach, this time on a real basis.

The list does not include Giuseppe Giannini's resignation from Gallipoli, who were announced on February 8, 2010^[50] and withdrawn two days later following a meeting with club chairman Daniele D'Odorico.^[51]

Events

The 2009–10 Serie B season will feature the return of seven-times Italian champions Torino, who were relegated from Serie A. Other teams relegated from the top flight include Reggina (after seven consecutive seasons in the Serie A) and Lecce (after only one season in the highest tier).

Four teams were promoted from Lega Pro Prima Divisione: Cesena, Crotone, Padova and newcomers Gallipoli. As of 10 August, Gallipoli did not manage to organize a squad for the league and were even without a head coach due to club issues (the club chairman being in talks with several third parties regarding a possible takeover); this also forced the club to play the Under-19 team for the second round of the Coppa Italia tournament, lost 6–1 to lower league outfit Lumezzane. The following day, Giuseppe Giannini returned to coach Gallipoli after a company from Udine took over the club.

On 23 September 2009, the Football League committee point deductions of respectively two and one points for clubs Crotone and Gallipoli due to administrative and financial breaches.^[52] The one point deduction for Gallipoli was later canceled by the Federal Court of Justice on October 22, with the two-point penalty regarding Crotone being instead confirmed.^[53]

An analogous one-point penalty involving Ancona was ratified by the National Disciplinary Committee on 18 February 2010 due to not having paid a number of salaries in June and July 2009;^[54] such deduction was extended to two points by the Federal Court of Justice later on 12 March.^[55]

The season also experienced a suspension for the 3 March match between Cesena and Sassuolo, which was not completed due to heavy snow at the 73rd minute, with the result being 0–0. As per Italian league rules, only the remaining 17 minutes were played, and an unusual mini-game was therefore rescheduled on 16 March during which Sassuolo managed to score a goal (at the second minute of the match replay) to record a 1–0 win.^[56]

Later, on 19 March, Salernitana were docked six points due to matchfixing regarding a Serie C1 league game held in April 2008 against Potenza.^[57] Salernitana were also the first team to get mathematically relegated, after a 5–2 loss to Empoli left the Campanian club with a 23-point gap between them and 19th-placed Padova with seven games to the end of the season.^[58]

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Lecce (C, P)	42	20	15	7	66	47	+19	75	Promotion to Serie A
2	Cesena (P)	42	20	14	8	55	29	+26	74
3	Brescia (O, P)	42	21	9	12	60	44	+16	72	Qualification to play-offs
4	Sassuolo	42	18	15	9	60	42	+18	69
5	Torino	42	19	11	12	53	36	+17	68
6	Cittadella	42	18	12	12	62	43	+19	66
7	Grosseto	42	14	19	9	66	63	+3	61
8	Crotone[a]	42	17	11	14	53	50	+3	60
9	Ascoli	42	15	12	15	57	57	0	57
10	Empoli	42	15	11	16	66	56	+10	56
11	AlbinoLeffe	42	14	13	15	59	56	+3	55
12	Modena	42	14	12	16	39	47	−8	54[b]
13	Reggina	42	15	9	18	51	56	−5	54[b]
14	Vicenza	42	12	17	13	40	41	−1	53[c]
15	Piacenza	42	13	14	15	40	45	−5	53[c]
16	Frosinone	42	15	8	19	50	67	−17	53[c]
17	Ancona[d] (E, R, R, R)	42	15	9	18	55	56	−1	52	Claiming club in Eccellenza
18	Triestina (T)	42	13	12	17	41	51	−10	51[e]	Spared from relegation
19	Padova	42	12	15	15	44	48	−4	51[e]	Relegation play-off
20	Mantova[f] (R, E, R)	42	10	18	14	46	58	−12	48	Phoenix in Serie D
21	Gallipoli[g] (R, E, R, R, R)	42	10	10	22	43	74	−31	40	Phoenix in Promozione
22	Salernitana[h] (R)	42	5	8	29	40	80	−40	17	Relegation to Prima Divisione

Source: http://www.gazzetta.it/speciali/risultati_classifiche/2010/calcio/serieb/index.shtml
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (E) Eliminated; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated; (T) Qualified, but not yet for the particular phase indicated
Notes:

1. 2 points deducted due to financial irregularities.^[59][60]
2. MOD 1–0 REG; REG 0–1 MOD
3. VIC: 8 pts 4–1; PIA: 5 pts 4–5; FRO: 3 pts 4–6
4. 2 points deducted due to financial irregularities. Ancona was excluded from football by Federal Council's decision. Later an Eccellenza club claimed its heritage as US Ancona 1905. As a consequence, Triestina as losing sides of the relegation play-off were spared from relegation.
5. PAD 0–0 TRI; TRI 2–1 PAD
6. Mantova went bankrupt after its relegation at the end of the season.
7. Gallipoli went bankrupt after its relegation at the end of the season.
8. 6 points deducted due to match-fixing during the 2007–08 Serie C1 season.^[57]

Results

Home \ Away	ALB	ANC	ASC	BRE	CES	CIT	CRO	EMP	FRO	GAL	GRO	LCE	MAN	MOD	PAD	PIA	REG	SAL	SAS	TOR	TRI	VIC
AlbinoLeffe	—	1–3	1–1	1–1	1–2	2–0	1–1	2–0	4–1	2–0	1–1	1–3	1–0	0–3	1–2	0–1	2–0	3–2	0–0	0–1	0–3	2–2
Ancona	2–1	—	1–2	2–0	0–0	2–3	0–1	2–0	3–1	3–1	1–1	1–1	1–1	2–0	2–2	2–1	1–2	2–0	2–2	2–1	2–1	2–0
Ascoli	1–1	1–3	—	2–0	1–1	1–1	3–1	2–1	1–2	1–1	1–1	1–2	2–1	2–0	1–0	1–1	1–3	4–2	1–5	1–2	1–0	1–1
Brescia	4–1	3–0	2–1	—	0–1	1–0	3–0	2–2	3–1	0–1	2–3	1–0	1–0	1–0	3–2	1–0	0–0	3–0	3–1	1–0	2–2	0–1
Cesena	0–0	0–2	1–0	2–0	—	1–0	0–2	2–3	4–0	0–0	2–2	3–1	3–1	2–1	2–0	3–0	0–1	3–0	0–1	1–1	4–1	3–1
Cittadella	2–1	1–0	2–0	1–1	1–1	—	3–0	2–1	0–1	1–2	1–1	3–0	6–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–0	1–0	0–0	2–0	2–0	2–1
Crotone	0–3	2–1	1–2	0–0	0–0	1–1	—	2–1	3–0	4–2	0–0	1–1	2–2	4–2	2–1	1–0	1–1	2–0	1–2	1–0	2–0	1–2
Empoli	1–3	3–0	4–2	1–2	2–0	4–3	3–1	—	2–0	2–2	2–2	2–2	4–0	3–0	4–0	2–0	2–0	5–2	1–1	0–0	1–1	1–0
Frosinone	2–2	1–1	1–5	1–0	0–2	2–1	1–1	3–1	—	2–0	1–0	0–4	1–0	0–0	2–2	2–3	2–0	1–0	0–3	2–2	1–1	0–1
Gallipoli	1–5	1–0	1–4	1–2	0–2	1–2	2–3	0–0	2–1	—	2–2	0–3	0–0	1–0	1–2	1–4	2–1	3–2	1–1	0–1	2–1	0–5
Grosseto	2–2	2–0	2–1	2–1	1–1	3–0	0–4	1–0	2–1	2–2	—	0–3	1–1	3–1	2–2	3–3	2–2	2–2	2–2	0–3	3–1	4–0
Lecce	2–1	3–0	0–0	2–2	1–2	1–5	0–0	1–0	1–3	1–0	3–2	—	2–1	0–0	2–1	1–0	3–2	1–0	0–0	2–1	1–1	1–0
Mantova	1–2	2–0	0–0	2–2	0–1	1–3	2–1	1–1	3–1	1–0	2–0	2–2	—	1–1	2–1	1–1	2–2	1–1	2–1	0–0	0–0	1–0
Modena	1–1	2–1	1–2	1–2	1–0	2–1	0–2	2–0	0–3	3–2	1–2	0–0	1–1	—	0–0	0–1	1–0	1–0	1–1	0–2	2–0	1–0
Padova	0–2	2–1	3–1	2–1	1–0	2–2	2–0	2–3	0–0	0–0	1–0	1–1	3–0	1–0	—	0–0	0–1	3–1	1–1	0–1	0–0	1–2
Piacenza	1–0	1–0	2–1	1–3	0–1	1–1	1–0	0–0	0–2	2–0	0–1	3–2	0–2	2–3	1–0	—	0–0	0–0	1–3	0–0	0–0	1–1
Reggina	3–1	0–3	1–2	4–0	1–3	1–1	1–0	1–1	1–0	2–1	1–1	2–4	3–1	0–1	1–1	2–1	—	3–1	0–2	1–2	3–1	0–2
Salernitana	1–1	3–0	0–0	1–3	0–0	1–2	4–1	1–0	1–2	1–3	3–4	1–2	1–3	1–2	0–0	1–0	0–2	—	1–4	0–3	1–2	0–1
Sassuolo	0–0	1–0	0–1	0–2	1–1	1–0	2–0	3–2	2–1	1–2	2–3	1–1	1–1	0–0	2–0	1–2	0–1	3–2	—	2–3	2–1	2–1
Torino	2–1	1–1	1–0	1–1	1–1	1–0	1–2	3–0	3–1	2–0	4–1	2–2	1–1	0–1	0–1	1–1	2–0	2–3	0–1	—	1–0	1–0
Triestina	2–3	2–1	2–0	0–1	0–0	2–0	0–0	1–0	0–3	1–0	1–0	1–4	2–1	1–1	2–1	1–3	2–1	2–0	0–1	2–0	—	0–0
Vicenza	1–2	2–2	2–2	1–0	0–0	0–2	0–2	2–1	2–0	2–2	0–0	0–0	1–1	1–1	0–0	0–0	3–1	0–0	1–1	1–0	0–0	—

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Play-off

Promotion

Semi-finals

First legs played 2 June 2010; return legs played 6 June 2010

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Cittadella (6)	1–1*	(3) Brescia	0–1	1–0
Torino (5)	3–2	(4) Sassuolo	1–1	2–1

• In case of an aggregate tie, the higher seed advances.

Finals

First leg played 9 June 2010; return leg played 13 June 2010

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Torino (5)	1-2	(3) Brescia	0–0	1-2

Brescia promoted to Serie A.

Relegation

First leg played 4 June 2010; return leg played 12 June 2010

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Padova (19)	3-0	(18) Triestina	0–0	3-0

Top goalscorers

Updated as of May 23, 2010^[61]

26 goals

• Éder (Empoli)

24 goals

• Mirko Antenucci (Ascoli)
• Rolando Bianchi (Torino)
• Mauricio Pinilla (Grosseto)

23 goals

• Andrea Caracciolo (Brescia)

22 goals

• Matteo Ardemagni (Cittadella)
• Salvatore Mastronunzio (Ancona)

18 goals

• Alessandro Noselli (Sassuolo)

17 goals

• Daniele Corvia (Lecce)

16 goals

• Claudio Coralli (Empoli)