2014–15 Serie B

The 2014–15 Serie B was the 83rd season since its establishment in 1929. A total of 22 teams contested the league: 14 of which returning from the 2013–14 season, 5 of which promoted from Prima Divisione, and three relegated from Serie A. The original concept was that due to Siena's exclusion because of financial issues and the fact such vacancy will not be filled in preparation of a future reduction to a league composed by 20 teams, this season featured 21 participant clubs instead of the usual 22. However, on 11 August 2014, Novara won an appeal and the league confirmed a 22nd team.^[1] On 29 August, the league chose Vicenza Calcio as the 22nd participant.^[2]

Serie B

Season	2014–15
Champions	Carpi (1st title)
Promoted	Carpi Frosinone Bologna (by play-off)
Relegated	Cittadella Varese (bankruptcy) Catania (match-fixing)
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1,074 (2.32 per match)
← 2013–14 2015–16 →

The series have 42 weeks of play. The opening games of the season began on 30 August 2014, and the final matches took place on 22 May 2015.^[3]

Teams

Relegated from 2013–14 Serie A:

• Catania
• Bologna
• Livorno

From 2013–14 Serie B:

• Latina
• Modena
• Crotone
• Bari
• Spezia
• Lanciano
• Avellino
• Carpi
• Brescia
• Trapani
• Pescara
• Ternana
• Cittadella
• Varese

Promoted from 2013–14 Prima Divisione:

• Virtus Entella
• Perugia
• Pro Vercelli
• Frosinone
• Further: Vicenza, which took the place of Siena.

Stadia and locations

Avellino

Bari

Bologna

Brescia

Carpi

Catania

Cittadella

Crotone

Frosinone

Latina

Livorno

Modena

Perugia

Pescara

Pro Vercelli

Spezia

Ternana

Trapani

Varese

Vicenza

Virtus Entella

Virtus Lanciano

Location of teams in 2014–15 Serie B

Team	Home city	Stadium	Capacity	2013–14 season
Avellino	Avellino	Partenio	26,000	11th in Serie B
Bari	Bari	San Nicola	58,270	7th in Serie B
Bologna	Bologna	Renato Dall'Ara	38,279	19th in Serie A
Brescia	Brescia	Mario Rigamonti	16,308	13th in Serie B
Carpi	Carpi	Sandro Cabassi	4,144	12th in Serie B
Catania	Catania	Angelo Massimino	20,266	18th in Serie A
Cittadella	Cittadella	Pier Cesare Tombolato	7,623	17th in Serie B
Crotone	Crotone	Ezio Scida	9,631	6th in Serie B
Frosinone	Frosinone	Matusa	9,680	Lega Pro Prima Divisione/B Playoff Winners
Latina	Latina	Domenico Francioni	6,850	3rd in Serie B
Livorno	Livorno	Armando Picchi	19,238	20th in Serie A
Modena	Modena	Alberto Braglia	21,151	5th in Serie B
Perugia	Perugia	Renato Curi	28,000	Lega Pro Prima Divisione/B Champions
Pescara	Pescara	Adriatico	20,476	15th in Serie B
Pro Vercelli	Vercelli	Silvio Piola	8,000	Lega Pro Prima Divisione/A Playoff Winners
Spezia	La Spezia	Alberto Picco	10,000	8th in Serie B
Ternana	Terni	Libero Liberati	22,000	16th in Serie B
Trapani	Trapani (playing in Erice)	Provinciale	7,000	14th in Serie B
Varese	Varese	Franco Ossola	8,213	18th in Serie B
Vicenza	Vicenza	Romeo Menti	17,163	5th in Lega Pro Prima Divisione/A
Virtus Entella	Chiavari	Comunale	4,154	Lega Pro Prima Divisione/A Champions
Virtus Lanciano	Lanciano	Guido Biondi	4,678	10th in Serie B

Personnel and kits

Team	President	Manager	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor (front)	Shirt sponsor (back)	Shorts sponsor
Avellino	Walter Taccone	Massimo Rastelli	Givova	Metaedil.com, HS Company	NGM Mobile	CAME Cancelli Automatici
Bari	Gianluca Paparesta	Davide Nicola	Erreà	SuisseGas	NGM Mobile	CAME Cancelli Automatici
Bologna	Joe Tacopina	Delio Rossi	Macron	NGM Smartphones, +energia	NGM Mobile	CAME Cancelli Automatici
Brescia	Luigi Ragazzoni	Alessandro Calori	Joma	UBI Banco di Brescia, FALAR serramenti	NGM Mobile	CAME Cancelli Automatici
Carpi	Stefano Bonacini	Fabrizio Castori	Sportika	Blumarine, Blusport/CAVA International	NGM Mobile	CAME Cancelli Automatici
Catania	Antonino Pulvirenti	Dario Marcolin	Givova	Fortè Hard Discount, TTT Lines	NGM Mobile	CAME Cancelli Automatici
Cittadella	Andrea Gabrielli	Claudio Foscarini	Garman	Gruppo Gabrielli (H)/Gavinox (A), Metalservice	NGM Mobile	CAME Cancelli Automatici
Crotone	Raffaele Vrenna	Massimo Drago	Zeus	V&V Group	NGM Mobile	CAME Cancelli Automatici
Frosinone	Maurizio Stirpe	Roberto Stellone	Legea	Banca Popolare del Frusinate, GALA	NGM Mobile	CAME Cancelli Automatici
Latina	Pasquale Maietta	Mark Iuliano	Givova	Bricofer, Recoma Group	NGM Mobile	CAME Cancelli Automatici
Livorno	Aldo Spinelli	Christian Panucci	Legea	F.O.P. Italia	NGM Mobile	CAME Cancelli Automatici
Modena	Angelo Forcina	Mauro Melotti & Simone Pavan	Erreà	CoopGas, CPL Concordia	NGM Mobile	CAME Cancelli Automatici
Perugia	Massimiliano Santopadre	Andrea Camplone	Frankie Garage	Officine Piccini, Magna Testone	NGM Mobile	CAME Cancelli Automatici
Pescara	Daniele Sebastiani	Marco Baroni	Erreà	Officina Metalmeccanica Angelucci, Pharmapiù	NGM Mobile	CAME Cancelli Automatici
Pro Vercelli	Massimo Secondo	Cristiano Scazzola	Erreà	SeniorService/Punto Service, Riso di Pasta	NGM Mobile	CAME Cancelli Automatici
Spezia	Matteo Volpi	Nenad Bjelica	Lotto	Carispezia	NGM Mobile	CAME Cancelli Automatici
Ternana	Edoardo Longarini	Attilio Tesser	Macron	Banca Mediolanum, Tascout	NGM Mobile	CAME Cancelli Automatici
Trapani	Vittorio Morace	Serse Cosmi	Macron	Ustica Lines	NGM Mobile	CAME Cancelli Automatici
Varese	Nicola Laurenza	Stefano Bettinelli	Zeus	Oro in Euro, Unendo Energia Italiana	NGM Mobile	CAME Cancelli Automatici
Vicenza	Tiziano Cunico	Pasquale Marino	Macron	Banca Popolare di Vicenza	NGM Mobile	CAME Cancelli Automatici
Virtus Entella	Antonio Gozzi	Alfredo Aglietti	Acerbis	Creditis, Arinox	NGM Mobile	CAME Cancelli Automatici
Virtus Lanciano	Valentina Maio	Roberto D'Aversa	Legea	Gruppo Maio, Marfisi Carni	NGM Mobile	CAME Cancelli Automatici

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Replaced by	Date of appointment
Bologna	Davide Ballardini	End of contract	30 June 2014	Pre-season	Diego López[4]	1 July 2014
Carpi	Giuseppe Pillon		30 June 2014		Fabrizio Castori[5]	1 July 2014
Virtus Lanciano	Marco Baroni	Mutual consent	30 June 2014		Roberto D'Aversa[6]	20 July 2014
Bari	Roberto Alberti	End of contract	30 June 2014		Devis Mangia[7]	8 July 2014
Pescara	Serse Cosmi		30 June 2014		Marco Baroni[8]	1 July 2014
Latina	Roberto Breda[9]		30 June 2014		Mario Beretta[10]	1 July 2014
Livorno	Davide Nicola	Mutual consent	30 June 2014		Carmine Gautieri[11]	4 July 2014
Spezia	Devis Mangia[12]	Sacked	30 June 2014		Nenad Bjelica[13]	1 July 2014
Catania	Maurizio Pellegrino[14]		14 September 2014	20th	Giuseppe Sannino[14]	14 September 2014
Latina	Mario Beretta[15]	Mutual consent	6 October 2014	14th	Roberto Breda[16]	6 October 2014
Vicenza	Giovanni Lopez[17]	Sacked	29 October 2014	20th	Pasquale Marino[18]	30 October 2014
Bari	Devis Mangia[19]		16 November 2014	14th	Davide Nicola[20]	17 November 2014
Brescia	Ivo Iaconi[21]		15 December 2014	18th	Ivan Javorčić (caretaker)[21]	15 December 2014
Catania	Giuseppe Sannino[22]	Resigned	19 December 2014	17th	Maurizio Pellegrino[22]	19 December 2014
	Maurizio Pellegrino[23]	Sacked	3 January 2015	19th	Dario Marcolin[23]	3 January 2015
Livorno	Carmine Gautieri[24]	Mutual consent	4 January 2015	6th	Ezio Gelain[24]	4 January 2015
Latina	Roberto Breda[25]	Sacked	5 January 2015	21st	Mark Iuliano[25]	5 January 2015
Brescia	Ivan Javorčić[26]	End of caretaker spell	21 January 2015	15th	Salvatore Giunta[26]	21 January 2015
	Salvatore Giunta[27]	Sacked	18 February 2015	17th	Alessandro Calori[27]	18 February 2015
Modena	Walter Novellino[28]	Mutual consent	28 February 2015	18th	Mauro Melotti and Simone Pavan[29]	1 March 2015
Varese	Stefano Bettinelli[30]	Sacked	28 February 2015	21st	Davide Dionigi[31]	1 March 2015
Varese	Davide Dionigi[32]		9 March 2015	22nd	Stefano Bettinelli[32]	9 March 2015
Trapani	Roberto Boscaglia[33]		10 March 2015	18th	Serse Cosmi[34]	11 March 2015
Livorno	Ezio Gelain[35]		18 March 2015	6th	Christian Panucci[35]	18 March 2015
Virtus Entella	Luca Prina[36]		12 April 2015	19th	Alfredo Aglietti[37]	12 April 2015
Bologna	Diego López[38]		4 May 2015	3rd	Delio Rossi[38]	4 May 2015
Pescara	Marco Baroni[39]		16 May 2015	9th	Massimo Oddo[39]	16 May 2015

Ownership changes

Team	Previous owner	New owner	Date
Bologna	[40][41]	Joe Tacopina and Joseph Christopher Vita[40][41]	15 October 2014
Brescia	Gino Corioni[42]	Profida Italia[42]	26 February 2015

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Carpi (C, P)	42	22	14	6	59	28	+31	80	Promotion to Serie A
2	Frosinone (P)	42	20	11	11	62	49	+13	71
3	Vicenza	42	18	14	10	44	37	+7	68	Qualification to promotion play-offs semi-finals
4	Bologna (O, P)	42	17	17	8	49	35	+14	68
5	Spezia	42	18	13	11	59	40	+19	67	Qualification to promotion play-offs preliminary round
6	Perugia	42	16	18	8	49	40	+9	66
7	Pescara	42	16	13	13	69	55	+14	61
8	Avellino	42	15	14	13	42	42	0	59
9	Livorno	42	15	14	13	57	50	+7	59
10	Bari	42	14	12	16	43	49	−6	54
11	Trapani	42	13	14	15	56	67	−11	53
12	Ternana	42	13	12	17	36	47	−11	51
13	Latina	42	11	17	14	38	41	−3	50
14	Virtus Lanciano	42	10	20	12	49	48	+1	50
15	Pro Vercelli	42	12	13	17	46	57	−11	49
16	Crotone	42	12	12	18	42	52	−10	48
17	Modena	42	10	17	15	37	39	−2	47	Qualification to relegation play-offs
18	Virtus Entella[a]	42	10	17	15	37	52	−15	47
19	Cittadella (R)	42	9	17	16	47	56	−9	44	Relegation to Lega Pro
20	Brescia[b] (T)	42	12	12	18	54	63	−9	42	Spared from relegation
21	Varese[c] (D, R, E, R)	42	9	12	21	40	67	−27	35	Revival in Serie E
22	Catania[d] (D, R)	42	12	13	17	59	60	−1	49	Relegation to Lega Pro

Source: Lega Serie B
(C) Champions; (D) Disqualified; (E) Eliminated; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated; (T) Qualified, but not yet for the particular phase indicated
Notes:

1. Virtus Entella was readmitted to Serie B after Catania's relegation.
2. Brescia was docked 6 points. They were also readmitted to Serie B after the bankruptcy of Parma in Serie A.
3. Varese was docked 4 points for financial irregularities; a phoenix club was admitted to Eccellenza due to Varese's exclusion from Lega Pro.
4. Catania was assigned as the last due to the 2015 Italian football scandal

Playoffs

Promotion play-offs

Six teams will play in the promotion playoffs. A preliminary one-legged round, played at the home venue of the higher placed team, involved the teams from 5th to 8th place. The two winning teams will then play against the 3rd and 4th-placed teams in two-legged semifinals. 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.

	Preliminary round					Semifinals							Two-legged final
						7	Pescara	1	2	3
	6	Perugia	1			3	Vicenza	0	2	2
	7	Pescara	2										7	Pescara	0	1	1
													4	Bologna	0	1	1
						8	Avellino	0	3	3
	5	Spezia	1			4	Bologna	1	2	3
	8	Avellino	2

Relegation play-out

In case of an aggregate tie, the higher placed team wins.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Virtus Entella(19)	3–3	Modena(18)	2–2	1–1

The matches later became null and void following Catania’s disqualification.

Results

Home \ Away	AVE	BAR	BOL	BRE	CRP	CTN	CIT	CRO	FRO	LAT	LIV	MOD	PER	PES	PVE	SPE	TER	TRA	VAR	VIC	VET	VLN
Avellino		2–0	1–0	2–0	1–0	1–0	1–2	1–2	3–0	1–0	2–1	1–0	1–2	3–2	1–0	0–0	1–1	1–1	0–0	0–1	1–1	1–1
Bari	4–2		1–1	3–2	0–0	1–1	1–0	1–1	4–0	1–0	2–0	1–1	0–2	1–1	1–0	0–3	0–1	2–1	3–0	0–1	0–0	2–0
Bologna	1–1	2–0		1–2	0–0	2–0	1–0	0–2	2–2	0–0	2–0	0–0	2–1	0–0	3–0	0–0	0–0	2–1	3–0	0–2	1–1	1–0
Brescia	3–2	2–1	1–1		3–3	4–2	0–0	2–1	3–1	1–2	0–1	0–1	1–2	1–3	2–1	0–1	0–0	1–1	1–1	3–0	3–0	1–1
Carpi	2–0	0–0	3–0	3–0		0–0	5–2	2–1	0–0	2–1	1–2	1–0	4–0	1–2	1–0	0–0	3–1	2–2	4–2	1–0	0–0	0–0
Catania	1–0	2–3	2–2	2–2	0–2		2–3	1–1	1–2	1–0	1–1	0–0	2–0	2–1	4–0	2–2	2–0	4–1	2–1	3–1	5–1	3–3
Cittadella	3–1	0–1	0–1	1–1	0–1	3–2		0–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–1	0–2	3–2	1–2	1–3	0–0	1–0	3–0	0–1	0–1	2–3
Crotone	2–0	3–0	0–2	1–0	1–1	1–1	2–2		2–0	2–1	1–0	1–4	2–1	1–4	0–1	2–0	0–2	1–0	1–0	0–0	0–0	1–1
Frosinone	0–0	1–1	2–1	1–0	1–0	1–0	1–1	3–1		1–0	5–1	2–0	2–1	2–1	3–2	1–1	0–1	4–1	1–1	1–0	3–3	2–1
Latina	1–2	2–0	1–2	1–1	0–1	1–2	3–2	1–0	1–4		3–2	1–1	0–0	2–0	1–1	1–2	1–1	1–0	1–0	0–0	1–1	1–0
Livorno	0–1	5–2	3–2	4–2	1–1	4–2	0–1	1–0	0–0	1–1		1–1	0–0	1–2	3–1	0–1	3–1	6–0	1–0	1–1	2–1	1–0
Modena	1–2	0–1	0–0	1–1	1–2	0–0	1–1	3–0	1–0	0–0	0–0		0–0	2–0	1–0	2–0	1–2	2–1	1–1	1–2	2–0	1–1
Perugia	0–0	1–1	2–1	1–0	2–0	1–0	3–1	0–0	0–1	0–0	1–1	2–0		2–2	3–2	2–1	2–2	1–0	2–0	2–2	2–1	0–0
Pescara	0–0	0–0	2–3	2–3	0–5	1–0	1–1	2–1	3–0	1–1	3–0	1–0	2–2		1–0	1–2	1–2	0–0	2–0	2–2	4–0	1–1
Pro Vercelli	1–1	3–0	1–1	0–0	0–0	3–2	0–1	3–2	1–1	1–1	3–3	1–1	0–0	0–4		1–0	2–1	1–0	4–0	1–1	2–0	2–1
Spezia	0–1	1–0	1–1	4–1	1–2	3–0	0–0	2–0	2–1	1–1	3–0	3–2	2–0	2–2	5–2		0–1	3–0	1–1	0–0	1–0	3–3
Ternana	2–2	2–0	0–1	2–1	0–1	1–0	1–1	2–1	0–1	0–2	0–4	1–0	0–0	1–1	0–1	0–0		1–2	2–0	0–2	0–1	0–1
Trapani	4–1	1–1	0–0	3–2	0–0	2–2	2–1	3–1	3–1	1–0	0–0	3–0	2–2	2–4	2–1	3–2	4–2		0–0	2–1	2–2	1–0
Varese	1–1	2–1	1–3	1–2	0–1	0–3	2–2	1–0	1–4	1–2	0–1	2–1	1–1	2–1	1–1	2–1	2–0	5–2		2–3	2–2	1–1
Vicenza	1–0	1–0	0–0	2–0	1–2	0–0	1–1	1–0	2–1	0–0	0–0	0–2	3–1	2–1	2–1	1–0	2–0	3–0	1–0		0–0	2–2
Virtus Entella	0–0	0–2	1–2	0–1	2–0	2–0	2–1	1–1	1–0	2–0	1–1	1–1	0–2	2–5	0–0	2–0	2–1	1–1	0–1	2–1		0–0
Virtus Lanciano	1–0	1–1	1–2	2–0	1–1	3–0	2–2	1–1	1–5	1–1	1–0	2–0	1–1	0–1	2–0	0–2	1–1	2–2	1–2	4–0	1–0

Updated to match(es) played on 22 May 2015. Source: Lega Serie B
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Statistics

Top goalscorers

Updated including all games played up until May 22, 2015

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Andrea Cocco	Vicenza	19
	Andrea Catellani	Spezia
	Pablo Granoche	Modena
4	Riccardo Maniero	Pescara / Catania	18
	Emanuele Calaiò	Catania
6	Ettore Marchi	Pro Vercelli	17
	Camillo Ciano	Crotone
8	Luigi Castaldo	Avellino	16
9	Jerry Mbakogu	Carpi	15
	Daniele Vantaggiato	Livorno

Source: Official Goalscorers' Standings