2012–13 Serie B

The 2012–13 Serie B (known as the Serie bwin for sponsorship reasons) is the 81st season since its establishment in 1929. A total of 22 teams will contest the league: 16 of which returning from the 2011–12 season, 4 of which promoted from Lega Pro Prima Divisione, and two relegated from Serie A. Puma replaced Nike as manufacturer of the official Serie B match ball, a relationship that continues today.

Serie B

Season	2012–13
Champions	Sassuolo (1st title)
Promoted	Sassuolo Hellas Verona Livorno (by Play-off)
Relegated	Vicenza Ascoli Pro Vercelli Grosseto
Matches played	451
Goals scored	1,149 (2.55 per match)
Top goalscorer	Daniele Cacia (24 goals)
Biggest home win	Brescia 5–0 Crotone Sassuolo 5–0 Cesena
Biggest away win	Spezia 0–6 Novara
Highest scoring	Cittadella 2–6 Novara
Longest winning run	5 games Livorno Sassuolo
Longest unbeaten run	12 games Livorno
Longest winless run	9 games Empoli Spezia
Longest losing run	6 games Novara
← 2011–12 2013–14 →

The league featured two clubs relegated from Serie A: Novara returned to the second division after only a single season in the top flight, whereas Cesena were relegated after a two-year stint.

Four teams were promoted from Lega Pro Prima Divisione, one of them returning to Serie B after a significant absence and one of them will play Serie B for the first time in their history, Pro Vercelli after 64 years, Ternana after 6 years, while Spezia will take part to Serie B after 4 years. The fourth promoted team, Virtus Lanciano will make debut in Serie B.

Grosseto and Lecce were provisionally, not yet enforceable, condemned to relegation to Lega Pro Prima Divisione, due to a large match fixing scandal involving Italian football; both clubs appealed the decision to the Italian Football Federation's Court of Justice. In appeal, Grosseto was acquitted from all charges and readmitted to Serie B, whereas Lecce's relegation was confirmed. Lecce already announced its intention to appeal the decision at the TNAS (National Sports Arbitration Court, at the Italian Olympic Committee level), but not blocking the relegation being immediately enforceable.^[1] On 23 August 2012, FIGC officially communicated that Vicenza were to replace Lecce, and there has been a possibility of extending the transfer window as regards Grosseto and Vicenza.^[2]

Changes from last season

Team changes

From Serie B

Promoted to Serie A

• Pescara
• Torino
• Sampdoria

Relegated to Lega Pro Prima Divisione

• AlbinoLeffe
• Gubbio
• Nocerina

To Serie B

Relegated from Serie A

• Novara
• Cesena

Promoted from Lega Pro Prima Divisione (Girone A)

• Ternana
• Pro Vercelli

Promoted from Lega Pro Prima Divisione (Girone B)

• Spezia
• Virtus Lanciano

Teams

Stadia and locations

Ascoli

Bari

Brescia

Cesena

Cittadella

Crotone

Empoli

Grosseto

Juve Stabia

Livorno

Modena

Novara

Padova

Pro Vercelli

Reggina

Sassuolo

Spezia

Ternana

Varese

Verona

Vicenza

Virtus Lanciano

Location of teams in Serie B 2012–13

Team	Home city	Stadium	Capacity	2011–12 season
Ascoli	Ascoli Piceno	Cino e Lillo Del Duca	20,550	15th in the Serie B
Bari	Bari	San Nicola	58,270	13th in the Serie B
Brescia	Brescia	Mario Rigamonti	23,486	8th in the Serie B
Cesena	Cesena	Dino Manuzzi	23,860	20th in the Serie A
Cittadella	Cittadella	Pier Cesare Tombolato	7,623	16th in the Serie B
Crotone	Crotone	Ezio Scida	9,631	11th in the Serie B
Empoli	Empoli	Carlo Castellani	19,795	18th in the Serie B
Grosseto	Grosseto	Carlo Zecchini	9,909	14th in the Serie B
Hellas Verona	Verona	Marc'Antonio Bentegodi	38,402	4th in the Serie B
Juve Stabia	Castellammare di Stabia	Romeo Menti	7,642	9th in the Serie B
Livorno	Livorno	Armando Picchi	19,238	17th in the Serie B
Modena	Modena	Alberto Braglia	21,151	12th in the Serie B
Novara	Novara	Silvio Piola	17,875	19th in the Serie A
Padova	Padua	Euganeo	18,060	7th in the Serie B
Pro Vercelli	Vercelli	Silvio Piola	8,000	The Prima Divisione/A play-off winners
Reggina	Reggio Calabria	Oreste Granillo	27,454	10th in the Serie B
Sassuolo	Sassuolo (playing in Modena)	Alberto Braglia	21,151	3rd in the Serie B
Spezia	La Spezia	Alberto Picco	10,000	The Prima Divisione/B Champions
Ternana	Terni	Libero Liberati	22,000	The Prima Divisione/A Champions
Varese	Varese	Franco Ossola	8,213	5th in Serie B
Vicenza	Vicenza	Romeo Menti	12,200	19th in the Serie B
Virtus Lanciano	Lanciano	Guido Biondi	5,553	The Prima Divisione/B play-off winners

Personnel and kits

Team	President	Manager	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Ascoli	Roberto Benigni	Massimo Silva	Max Sport	Carisap, CIAM
Bari	Francesco Vinella	Vincenzo Torrente	Erreà	Fashion District
Brescia	Gino Corioni	Alessandro Calori	Givova	UBI Banco di Brescia, SAMA
Cesena	Igor Campedelli	Pierpaolo Bisoli	Adidas	Technogym
Cittadella	Andrea Gabrielli	Claudio Foscarini	Garman	Siderurgica Gabrielli, Metalservice
Crotone	Raffaele Vrenna	Massimo Drago	Zeus	Sovreco, Associazione Italiana Sclerosi Multipla
Empoli	Fabrizio Corsi	Maurizio Sarri	Royal	NGM Mobile, Computer Gross
Grosseto	Piero Camilli	Francesco Moriero	Erreà	Industria Lavorazione Carni Ovine, Banca della Maremma
Hellas Verona	Maurizio Setti	Andrea Mandorlini	Asics	agsm/Leaderform, E-gò/Velox Servizi
Juve Stabia	Francesco Giglio	Piero Braglia	Fly Line	Paddy Power, Marigo
Livorno	Aldo Spinelli	Davide Nicola	Legea	Banca Carige, Gruppo Spinelli
Modena	Pierluigi Grana	Walter Novellino	Givova	CPL Concordia, CoopGas
Novara	Carlo Accornero	Alfredo Aglietti	Joma	Banca Popolare di Novara, Intesa pour Homme
Padova	Marcello Cestaro	Franco Colomba	Joma	Famila
Pro Vercelli	Massimo Secondo	Maurizio Braghin	Erreà	Gruppo Biancamano/Senior Service, Riso Viazzo
Reggina	Lillo Foti	Giuseppe Pillon	Givova	Ciao Telecom, Stocco & Stocco
Sassuolo	Carlo Rossi	Eusebio Di Francesco	Sportika	Mapei
Spezia	Matteo Volpi	Luigi Cagni	Lotto	Carispezia, Gruppo Ferla
Ternana	Edoardo Longarini	Domenico Toscano	Macron	None
Varese	Antonio Rosati	Andrea Agostinelli	Adidas	Oro in Euro, Fatigati
Vicenza	Tiziano Cunico	Alessandro Dal Canto	Macron	Banca Popolare di Vicenza
Virtus Lanciano	Valentina Maio	Carmine Gautieri	Legea	Gruppo Maio, Banca Popolare di Lanciano e Sulmona

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Replaced by	Date of appointment
Reggina	Roberto Breda	End of contract	30 June 2012	Pre season	Davide Dionigi	3 July 2012[3]
Cesena	Mario Beretta		30 June 2012		Nicola Campedelli	1 July 2012[4]
Sassuolo	Fulvio Pea		30 June 2012		Eusebio Di Francesco	1 July 2012[5]
Varese	Rolando Maran	Signed by Catania	30 June 2012		Fabrizio Castori	1 July 2012[6]
Empoli	Alfredo Aglietti	End of contract	30 June 2012		Maurizio Sarri	1 July 2012[7]
Modena	Cristiano Bergodi		30 June 2012		Dario Marcolin	12 July 2012[8]
Padova	Alessandro Dal Canto		30 June 2012		Fulvio Pea	1 July 2012[9]
Grosseto	Francesco Statuto	End of caretaker spell	30 June 2012		Francesco Moriero	1 July 2012[10]
Cesena	Nicola Campedelli	Sacked	10 September 2012[11]	21st	Pierpaolo Bisoli	11 September 2012[11]
Grosseto	Francesco Moriero		1 October 2012[12]	20th	Mario Somma	1 October 2012[12]
Pro Vercelli	Maurizio Braghin		15 October 2012[13]	18th	Giancarlo Camolese	15 October 2012[13]
Novara	Attilio Tesser		31 October 2012[14]	20th	Giacomo Gattuso	31 October 2012[14]
Novara	Giacomo Gattuso		18 November 2012[15]	21st	Alfredo Aglietti	18 November 2012[15]
Grosseto	Mario Somma		18 November 2012[16]	22nd	Lamberto Magrini	19 November 2012[17]
Padova	Fulvio Pea		17 December 2012[18]	5th	Franco Colomba	17 December 2012[18]
Grosseto	Lamberto Magrini		18 December 2012[19]	22nd	Leonardo Menichini	18 December 2012[19]
Pro Vercelli	Giancarlo Camolese		3 January 2013[20]	21st	Maurizio Braghin	3 January 2013[20]
Spezia	Michele Serena		4 January 2013[21]	12th	Gianluca Atzori	4 January 2013[21]
Vicenza	Roberto Breda		28 January 2013[22]	20th	Alessandro Dal Canto	28 January 2013[22]
Grosseto	Leonardo Menichini		10 February 2013[23]	22nd	Francesco Moriero	11 February 2013[24]
Spezia	Gianluca Atzori		23 February 2013[25]	13th	Luigi Cagni	23 February 2013[25]
Ascoli	Massimo Silva		20 March 2013[26]	16th	Rosario Pergolizzi	20 March 2013[26]
Modena	Dario Marcolin		20 March 2013[27]	12th	Walter Novellino	20 March 2013[27]
Padova	Franco Colomba		20 March 2013[28]	8th	Fulvio Pea	20 March 2013[28]
Ascoli	Rosario Pergolizzi		13 April 2013[29]	19th	Massimo Silva	13 April 2013[29]
Varese	Fabrizio Castori		17 April 2013[30]	7th	Andrea Agostinelli	17 April 2013[30]

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Sassuolo (C, P)	42	25	10	7	78	40	+38	85	Promotion to Serie A
2	Hellas Verona (P)	42	23	13	6	67	32	+35	82
3	Livorno (O, P)	42	23	11	8	77	47	+30	80	Qualification to promotion play-offs
4	Empoli	42	20	13	9	69	51	+18	73
5	Novara[a]	42	19	10	13	73	46	+27	64
6	Brescia	42	15	17	10	58	50	+8	62
7	Varese[b]	42	16	13	13	55	53	+2	60
8	Modena[c]	42	15	12	15	52	51	+1	55
9	Ternana	42	12	17	13	37	38	−1	53[d]
10	Bari[e]	42	16	12	14	55	47	+8	53[d]
11	Padova	42	12	17	13	47	51	−4	53[d]
12	Crotone[f]	42	14	13	15	45	56	−11	53[d]
13	Spezia	42	12	15	15	52	58	−6	51
14	Cesena	42	12	14	16	46	58	−12	50[g]
15	Cittadella	42	12	14	16	48	61	−13	50[g]
16	Juve Stabia	42	12	14	16	54	65	−11	50[g]
17	Reggina[c]	42	12	15	15	42	51	−9	49
18	Virtus Lanciano[h]	42	9	21	12	50	60	−10	48
19	Vicenza (R)	42	10	12	20	41	58	−17	42	Relegation to Lega Pro Prima Divisione
20	Ascoli[b] (R)	42	11	9	22	48	67	−19	41
21	Pro Vercelli (R)	42	8	9	25	37	67	−30	33
22	Grosseto (R)	42	7	13	22	44	72	−28	28[i]

Source: Serie B
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; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Novara was docked 3 points due to the 2011 Italian football scandal.
2. Ascoli and Varese were docked 1 point due to the 2011 Italian football scandal.
3. Modena and Reggina were docked 2 points due to the 2011 Italian football scandal.
4. TER: 11pts ; BAR: 10pts ; PAD: 8pts ; CRO: 2pts
5. Bari was docked 7 points: 2 points due to financial irregularities and 5 points due to the 2011 Italian football scandal.
6. Crotone was docked 2 points due to financial irregularities.
7. CES: 8pts ; CIT: 5pts ; JST: 2pts
8. No relegation playoffs will be held as Virtus Lanciano is more than 4 points clear of 4th-last place.
9. Grosseto was docked 6 points due to the 2011 Italian football scandal.

Promotion play-offs

The higher placed team plays the second leg of the promotion playoff at home. If scores are tied after both games in the semifinals the higher placed team progresses to the final. The same conditions apply to the final except for there being extra time played if scores are tied after both games, the higher placed team will be promoted if scores are still level at the end of this period.

	Semi-finals							Two-legged Final
	3	Livorno	1	1	2
	6	Brescia	1	1	2
								3	Livorno	1	1	2
								4	Empoli	1	0	1
	4	Empoli	1	4	5
	5	Novara	1	1	2

Results

Home \ Away	ASC	BAR	BRE	CES	CIT	CRO	EMP	GRO	JST	LIV	MOD	NOV	PAD	PVE	REG	SAS	SPE	TER	VAR	HEL	VIC	VLN
Ascoli	—	1–3	2–0	1–0	4–1	2–0	1–2	3–1	2–4	1–4	2–3	2–0	0–1	0–0	0–3	2–4	2–0	1–1	1–1	0–5	0–0	1–1
Bari	0–1	—	1–1	2–1	2–1	0–0	2–3	1–0	2–0	1–1	2–0	1–3	3–0	2–1	0–1	3–3	2–1	2–0	0–1	0–2	1–0	4–3
Brescia	3–2	1–1	—	2–1	2–2	5–0	0–3	3–1	2–0	0–0	2–1	1–1	0–0	1–1	2–2	1–1	0–0	1–0	2–0	2–0	0–1	2–0
Cesena	1–2	1–1	1–3	—	1–0	0–0	1–3	3–2	3–1	0–0	1–0	1–4	2–0	1–1	1–1	0–3	1–1	1–0	2–0	0–0	3–1	1–1
Cittadella	1–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	—	2–2	0–0	2–1	1–0	0–2	0–3	2–6	3–3	3–0	1–2	1–0	0–0	1–0	0–1	2–1	2–2	1–0
Crotone	1–0	0–0	1–0	1–0	3–1	—	3–2	1–0	3–3	1–2	2–1	2–1	0–1	2–1	2–2	2–1	0–2	0–1	1–0	3–3	1–0	0–0
Empoli	0–3	0–1	1–1	1–0	1–0	0–0	—	3–2	5–0	2–1	4–2	0–2	1–1	2–1	1–1	0–3	2–2	0–2	3–1	1–1	2–0	2–2
Grosseto	2–1	4–3	2–2	1–2	3–1	1–0	0–1	—	2–2	0–3	2–0	1–1	1–1	3–0	0–1	1–2	1–1	1–1	2–2	0–2	1–2	2–2
Juve Stabia	1–1	2–1	0–0	2–2	1–1	3–1	1–2	2–1	—	1–3	1–0	2–4	1–0	1–1	1–0	1–1	2–1	1–1	1–2	0–3	1–1	2–1
Livorno	3–0	2–1	3–0	1–0	2–2	1–2	4–2	4–0	2–2	—	1–2	1–3	3–2	2–0	3–3	3–2	1–5	2–1	2–0	0–2	2–0	2–0
Modena	1–1	0–0	1–2	4–0	3–3	3–0	2–3	0–0	1–0	1–0	—	1–0	0–0	1–0	1–1	2–1	1–0	1–2	1–2	1–1	0–1	2–2
Novara	1–0	0–1	4–2	0–1	0–1	5–1	2–2	2–0	1–1	0–1	0–1	—	3–1	2–0	1–1	3–2	1–0	1–2	1–1	1–0	3–1	1–1
Padova	1–1	1–1	0–0	1–1	3–1	2–1	2–0	1–1	1–0	0–0	0–1	3–3	—	0–1	3–2	1–3	1–1	0–0	1–1	2–1	0–1	1–1
Pro Vercelli	3–1	2–1	2–3	1–3	0–0	0–2	0–1	0–0	1–4	1–2	1–2	1–2	1–2	—	0–0	1–3	1–0	1–0	2–1	0–0	2–1	1–2
Reggina	2–0	1–0	0–1	1–2	0–1	1–1	0–3	1–0	2–1	1–3	2–2	1–0	2–1	1–0	—	0–2	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–0	0–1
Sassuolo	1–0	2–1	1–1	5–0	1–0	2–1	1–1	0–2	1–0	1–0	2–0	2–0	1–1	2–1	3–1	—	3–2	0–0	4–0	1–1	0–0	2–0
Spezia	4–3	3–2	3–1	1–0	0–3	2–1	3–0	2–1	2–3	1–2	1–1	0–6	2–3	1–3	1–0	0–2	—	1–1	0–0	0–1	2–1	1–1
Ternana	1–2	0–0	1–0	0–0	3–1	1–0	0–0	0–0	3–2	1–1	0–1	1–1	2–1	4–2	1–0	1–3	0–0	—	0–1	0–2	0–0	2–2
Varese	2–0	2–2	3–2	3–2	2–0	1–1	2–2	4–0	1–1	1–3	2–0	0–2	3–0	2–0	3–0	3–4	0–0	1–0	—	0–3	1–1	1–2
Hellas Verona	3–1	1–0	4–2	1–1	0–0	3–2	0–0	2–0	1–0	1–1	3–1	1–1	0–2	3–1	2–0	1–0	1–1	2–1	2–0	—	0–1	2–0
Vicenza	1–0	0–1	2–2	3–1	1–2	0–0	1–5	2–1	1–2	3–3	3–3	2–1	0–2	3–1	0–0	0–1	2–3	0–1	1–1	2–3	—	0–1
Virtus Lanciano	1–1	0–3	0–2	3–3	3–2	1–1	0–3	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–0	2–1	1–1	3–1	2–2	1–1	1–1	1–2	1–2	2–0	—

Source: Serie B
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top goalscorers

As of 13 May 2013.

24 goals

• Daniele Cacia (Hellas Verona)

22 goals

• Matteo Ardemagni (Modena)

21 goals

• Francesco Tavano (Empoli)

20 goals

• Paulinho (Livorno)

19 goals

• Marco Sansovini (Spezia)

18 goals

• Simone Zaza (Ascoli)

17 goals

• Osarimen Ebagua (Varese)
• Massimo Maccarone (Empoli)

16 goals

• Francesco Caputo (Bari)

15 goals

• Andrea Caracciolo (Brescia)
• Davide Succi (Cesena)