2017–18 Serie A

The 2017–18 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 116th season of top-tier Italian football, the 86th in a round-robin tournament and the 8th since its organization under a league committee separate from Serie B. Juventus were the six-time defending champions. The season ran from 19 August 2017 to 20 May 2018.^[3][4]

Serie A

Season	2017–18
Dates	19 August 2017 – 20 May 2018
Champions	Juventus 34th title
Relegated	Crotone Hellas Verona Benevento
Champions League	Juventus Napoli Roma Internazionale
Europa League	Lazio Milan Atalanta
Matches played	380
Goals scored	1,017 (2.68 per match)
Top goalscorer	Mauro Icardi Ciro Immobile (29 goals each)[1]
Biggest home win	Juventus 7–0 Sassuolo (4 February 2018)[2]
Biggest away win	Hellas Verona 0–5 Fiorentina (10 September 2017)[2] Cagliari 0–5 Napoli (26 February 2018)[2] Sampdoria 0–5 Internazionale (18 March 2018)[2] Hellas Verona 0–5 Atalanta (18 March 2018)[2]
Highest scoring	Udinese 2–6 Juventus (22 October 2017) Lazio 6–2 Benevento (31 March 2018)[2]
Longest winning run	12 games[2] Juventus
Longest unbeaten run	18 games[2] Juventus
Longest winless run	18 games[2] Benevento
Longest losing run	14 games[2] Benevento
Highest attendance	78,328 Internazionale 3–2 Milan (15 October 2017)[2]
Lowest attendance	7,000 Chievo 2–3 Bologna (22 December 2017)[2]
Total attendance	9,351,260[2]
Average attendance	24,738[2]
← 2016–17 2018–19 →

On 13 May, Juventus won a record seventh consecutive title and 34th title overall with one game remaining following their 0–0 draw with Roma.^[5]

The season was marred by the death of Davide Astori, the captain of Fiorentina, due to heart problems.

Events

On 13 May 2017, SPAL were mathematically promoted from Serie B after 49 years away.^[6] Five days later, Hellas Verona clinched promoted as well, one year on from being relegated. On 8 June 2017, Benevento won the promotion play-offs to earn the club a first ever promotion to Serie A; they became the 67th team to participate in the Italian top flight.^[7]

After video assistant refereeing (VAR) was privately tested in the previous season, on 10 June 2017 it was announced replay assistance would be implemented for this season.^[8] The percentage of errors in Serie A in this season was reportedly 0.89 percent, compared to 5.78 percent if VAR had not been not used.^[9]

Subsequently to the new UEFA entry criteria, Italy obtained four group stage spots for the following Champions League season, as did the other three leagues with the highest coefficient in Europe; this was an improvement on the three Champions League spots (two group stage places and one qualifying play-off place) that Serie A had received prior.

On 4 March 2018, Davide Astori, captain of Fiorentina, died in his sleep while staying in a hotel in Udine prior to Fiorentina's match against Udinese, proven to be caused by cardiac arrest determined from an autopsy conducted two days later.^[10] All Serie A, Serie B and Serie C matches scheduled for 4 March were postponed.^[11] Cagliari and Fiorentina both retired the number 13 jersey worn by Astori in his honour.^[12][13]

The teams that were relegated included Benevento (on 22 April 2018, after one year in Serie A),^[14] Hellas Verona (on 5 May 2018, also after one year),^[15] and Crotone (on 20 May 2018, after two seasons in the top flight).^[16]

On 13 May 2018, Juventus won their seventh title in a row and the 34th in their history following their 0–0 draw away to Roma in the penultimate matchweek.^[17] Four days later, Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon announced his farewell to Serie A (and the national football team).^[18][19] He left the league after 23 career seasons, the last seventeen being with Juventus, having earned nine league titles and 640 caps, the second highest ever in Serie A.^[20] However, after a year away with Paris Saint-Germain, Buffon would return to Juventus and to Serie A for the 2019–20 season.^[21]

Teams

Stadiums and locations

Atalanta

Benevento

Bologna

Cagliari

Chievo
Verona

Crotone

Genoa
Sampdoria

Fiorentina

Juventus

Milan
Inter

Lazio
Roma

Napoli

Sassuolo

SPAL

Torino

Udinese

Locations of the 2017–18 Serie A teams

Team	Home city	Stadium	Capacity	2016–17 season
Atalanta	Bergamo	Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia	21,300	4th in Serie A
Benevento	Benevento	Stadio Ciro Vigorito	17,554	Serie B play-off winners
Bologna	Bologna	Stadio Renato Dall'Ara	38,279	15th in Serie A
Cagliari	Cagliari	Sardegna Arena	16,233	11th in Serie A
Chievo	Verona	Stadio Marc'Antonio Bentegodi	38,402	14th in Serie A
Crotone	Crotone	Stadio Ezio Scida	16,547	17th in Serie A
Fiorentina	Florence	Stadio Artemio Franchi	43,147	8th in Serie A
Genoa	Genoa	Stadio Luigi Ferraris	36,685	16th in Serie A
Hellas Verona	Verona	Stadio Marc'Antonio Bentegodi	38,402	Serie B runners-up
Internazionale	Milan	San Siro	80,018	7th in Serie A
Juventus	Turin	Allianz Stadium	41,507	Serie A champions
Lazio	Rome	Stadio Olimpico	70,634	5th in Serie A
Milan	Milan	San Siro	80,018	6th in Serie A
Napoli	Naples	Stadio San Paolo	60,240	3rd in Serie A
Roma	Rome	Stadio Olimpico	70,634	2nd in Serie A
Sampdoria	Genoa	Stadio Luigi Ferraris	36,685	10th in Serie A
Sassuolo	Sassuolo	Mapei Stadium – Città del Tricolore (Reggio Emilia)	23,717	12th in Serie A
SPAL	Ferrara	Stadio Paolo Mazza	13,020	Serie B champions
Torino	Turin	Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino	27,994	9th in Serie A
Udinese	Udine	Dacia Arena	25,144	13th in Serie A

Personnel and kits

Team	Head Coach	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor(s)
				Main	Other
Atalanta	Gian Piero Gasperini	Alejandro Gómez	Joma	Veratour/Radici Group (in UEFA matches)	Front Modus FM Back Elettrocanali
Benevento	Roberto De Zerbi	Fabio Lucioni	Frankie Garage	La Molisana	Front SAPA Group Back Rillo Costruzioni
Bologna	Roberto Donadoni	Daniele Gastaldello	Macron	FAAC	Back Illumia
Cagliari	Diego López	Daniele Dessena	Macron	ISOLA Artigianato di Sardegna	Front Ichnusa Back Nieddittas
Chievo	Lorenzo D'Anna	Sergio Pellissier	Givova	Paluani/Nobis Assicurazioni/Pescherie Viviani/CF Costruzioni/Cubi Impianti Tecnologici/Alcott/Avelia/KickOffers/Conte di Campiano/Nico Abbigliamento e Calzature/Midac Batteries/2018 World Cadets and Juniors Fencing Championships/Givova/Acqua Sangemini/Vicentini Carni	Front Salumi Coati Back Nobis Assicurazioni/Filo diretto Assicurazioni
Crotone	Walter Zenga	Alex Cordaz	Zeus Sport	Lewer	Front Abramo Customer Care Back Metal Carpinteria
Fiorentina	Stefano Pioli	Milan Badelj	Le Coq Sportif	Folletto/Vorwerk (in UEFA matches)	Back Save the Children
Genoa	Davide Ballardini	Mattia Perin	Lotto	Eviva Energia	Front Zentiva Back LeasePlan
Hellas Verona	Fabio Pecchia	Rômulo	Nike	Metano Nord	Front SEC Events (H)/Maticmind (A)/Sartori Vini (T) Back Chancebet
Internazionale	Luciano Spalletti	Mauro Icardi	Nike	Pirelli	Back Driver
Juventus	Massimiliano Allegri	Gianluigi Buffon	Adidas	Jeep	Back Cygames
Lazio	Simone Inzaghi	Senad Lulić	Macron	Sèleco	Front Clinica Paideia Back Sèleco Easy Life
Milan	Gennaro Gattuso	Leonardo Bonucci	Adidas	Fly Emirates	None
Napoli	Maurizio Sarri	Marek Hamšík	Kappa	Lete	Front Pasta Garofalo Back Kimbo Caffè
Roma	Eusebio Di Francesco	Daniele De Rossi	Nike	Qatar Airways	None
Sampdoria	Marco Giampaolo	Vasco Regini	Joma	Invent Energy	IBSA Group
Sassuolo	Giuseppe Iachini	Francesco Magnanelli	Kappa	Mapei	None
SPAL	Leonardo Semplici	Mirco Antenucci	Macron	Interspar/Tassi Group	Back BMW ErreEffe Group
Torino	Walter Mazzarri	Andrea Belotti	Kappa	Suzuki/Suzuki Swift	Front Fratelli Beretta Back SportPesa
Udinese	Igor Tudor	Danilo	HS Sport	Dacia	Front Vortice Back Magnadyne/Bluenergy

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Replaced by	Date of appointment
Internazionale	Stefano Vecchi	End of caretaker spell	28 May 2017	Pre-season	Luciano Spalletti	9 June 2017 [22]
Roma	Luciano Spalletti	Mutual consent	30 May 2017[23]		Eusebio Di Francesco	13 June 2017[24]
Fiorentina	Paulo Sousa	End of contract	6 June 2017		Stefano Pioli	6 June 2017 [25]
Sassuolo	Eusebio Di Francesco	Signed by Roma	13 June 2017		Cristian Bucchi	20 June 2017[26]
Cagliari	Massimo Rastelli	Sacked	17 October 2017[27]	14th	Diego López	18 October 2017[28]
Benevento	Marco Baroni		23 October 2017	20th	Roberto De Zerbi	23 October 2017[29]
Genoa	Ivan Jurić		5 November 2017[30]	18th	Davide Ballardini	6 November 2017[31]
Udinese	Luigi Delneri		21 November 2017[32]	14th	Massimo Oddo	21 November 2017[33]
Sassuolo	Cristian Bucchi		27 November 2017[34]	16th	Giuseppe Iachini	27 November 2017[35]
Milan	Vincenzo Montella		27 November 2017[36]	7th	Gennaro Gattuso	27 November 2017[37]
Crotone	Davide Nicola	Resigned	6 December 2017[38]	16th	Walter Zenga	8 December 2017[39]
Torino	Siniša Mihajlović	Sacked	4 January 2018[40]	10th	Walter Mazzarri	4 January 2018[41]
Udinese	Massimo Oddo		24 April 2018[42]	15th	Igor Tudor	24 April 2018[43]
Chievo	Rolando Maran		29 April 2018[44]	17th	Lorenzo D'Anna	29 April 2018

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Juventus (C)	38	30	5	3	86	24	+62	95	Qualification to Champions League group stage
2	Napoli	38	28	7	3	77	29	+48	91
3	Roma	38	23	8	7	61	28	+33	77
4	Internazionale	38	20	12	6	66	30	+36	72
5	Lazio	38	21	9	8	89	49	+40	71[a]	Qualification to Europa League group stage[b]
6	Milan[c]	38	18	10	10	56	42	+14	64
7	Atalanta	38	16	12	10	57	39	+18	60	Qualification to Europa League second qualifying round[b]
8	Fiorentina	38	16	9	13	54	46	+8	57
9	Torino	38	13	15	10	54	46	+8	54
10	Sampdoria	38	16	6	16	56	60	−4	54
11	Sassuolo	38	11	10	17	29	59	−30	43
12	Genoa	38	11	8	19	33	43	−10	41
13	Chievo	38	10	10	18	36	59	−23	40[d]
14	Udinese	38	12	4	22	48	63	−15	40[d]
15	Bologna	38	11	6	21	40	52	−12	39
16	Cagliari	38	11	6	21	33	61	−28	39
17	SPAL	38	8	14	16	39	59	−20	38
18	Crotone (R)	38	9	8	21	40	66	−26	35	Relegation to Serie B
19	Hellas Verona (R)	38	7	4	27	30	78	−48	25
20	Benevento (R)	38	6	3	29	33	84	−51	21

Source: Serie A, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Goal difference; 5) Goals scored; 6) Draw.^[48]
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Lazio were deducted 1 point by the Italian Football Federation
2. Since the winners of the 2017–18 Coppa Italia, Juventus, qualified for European competition based on league position, the spot awarded to the cup winners (Europa League group stage) was passed to the sixth-placed team and the spot awarded to the sixth-placed team (Europa League second qualifying round) was passed to the seventh-placed team.
3. Milan was originally banned from European competition due to violations against Financial Fair Play regulations.^[45] They appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and the ban was overturned on 20 July 2018.^[46][47]
4. Chievo finished ahead of Udinese on head-to-head points: Chievo 1–1 Udinese, Udinese 1–2 Chievo.

Results

Home \ Away	ATA	BEN	BOL	CAG	CHV	CRO	FIO	GEN	HEL	INT	JUV	LAZ	MIL	NAP	ROM	SAM	SAS	SPA	TOR	UDI
Atalanta	—	1–0	1–0	1–2	1–0	5–1	1–1	3–1	3–0	0–0	2–2	3–3	1–1	0–1	0–1	1–2	2–1	1–1	2–1	2–0
Benevento	0–3	—	0–1	1–2	1–0	3–2	0–3	1–0	3–0	1–2	2–4	1–5	2–2	0–2	0–4	3–2	1–2	1–2	0–1	3–3
Bologna	0–1	3–0	—	1–1	1–2	2–3	1–2	2–0	2–0	1–1	0–3	1–2	1–2	0–3	1–1	3–0	2–1	2–1	1–1	1–2
Cagliari	1–0	2–1	0–0	—	0–2	1–0	0–1	2–3	2–1	1–3	0–1	2–2	1–2	0–5	0–1	2–2	0–1	2–0	0–4	2–1
Chievo	1–1	1–0	2–3	2–1	—	2–1	2–1	0–1	3–2	1–2	0–2	1–2	1–4	0–0	0–0	2–1	1–1	2–1	0–0	1–1
Crotone	1–1	2–0	1–0	1–1	1–0	—	2–1	0–1	0–0	0–2	1–1	2–2	0–3	0–1	0–2	4–1	4–1	2–3	2–2	0–3
Fiorentina	1–1	1–0	2–1	0–1	1–0	2–0	—	0–0	1–4	1–1	0–2	3–4	1–1	3–0	2–4	1–2	3–0	0–0	3–0	2–1
Genoa	1–2	1–0	0–1	2–1	1–1	1–0	2–3	—	3–1	2–0	2–4	2–3	0–1	2–3	1–1	0–2	1–0	1–1	1–2	0–1
Hellas Verona	0–5	1–0	2–3	1–0	1–0	0–3	0–5	0–1	—	1–2	1–3	0–3	3–0	1–3	0–1	0–0	0–1	1–3	2–1	0–1
Internazionale	2–0	2–0	2–1	4–0	5–0	1–1	3–0	1–0	3–0	—	2–3	0–0	3–2	0–0	1–1	3–2	1–2	2–0	1–1	1–3
Juventus	2–0	2–1	3–1	3–0	3–0	3–0	1–0	1–0	2–1	0–0	—	1–2	3–1	0–1	1–0	3–0	7–0	4–1	4–0	2–0
Lazio	1–1	6–2	1–1	3–0	5–1	4–0	1–1	1–2	2–0	2–3	0–1	—	4–1	1–4	0–0	4–0	6–1	0–0	1–3	3–0
Milan	0–2	0–1	2–1	2–1	3–2	1–0	5–1	0–0	4–1	0–0	0–2	2–1	—	0–0	0–2	1–0	1–1	2–0	0–0	2–1
Napoli	3–1	6–0	3–1	3–0	2–1	2–1	0–0	1–0	2–0	0–0	0–1	4–1	2–1	—	2–4	3–2	3–1	1–0	2–2	4–2
Roma	1–2	5–2	1–0	1–0	4–1	1–0	0–2	2–1	3–0	1–3	0–0	2–1	0–2	0–1	—	0–1	1–1	3–1	3–0	3–1
Sampdoria	3–1	2–1	1–0	4–1	4–1	5–0	3–1	0–0	2–0	0–5	3–2	1–2	2–0	0–2	1–1	—	0–1	2–0	1–1	2–1
Sassuolo	0–3	2–2	0–1	0–0	0–0	2–1	1–0	0–0	0–2	1–0	1–3	0–3	0–2	1–1	0–1	1–0	—	1–1	1–1	0–1
SPAL	1–1	2–0	1–0	0–2	0–0	1–1	1–1	1–0	2–2	1–1	0–0	2–5	0–4	2–3	0–3	3–1	0–1	—	2–2	3–2
Torino	1–1	3–0	3–0	2–1	1–1	4–1	1–2	0–0	2–2	1–0	0–1	0–1	1–1	1–3	0–1	2–2	3–0	2–1	—	2–0
Udinese	2–1	2–0	1–0	0–1	1–2	1–2	0–2	1–0	4–0	0–4	2–6	1–2	1–1	0–1	0–2	4–0	1–2	1–1	2–3	—

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

Season statistics

Top goalscorers Rank Player Club Goals[1] 1 Mauro Icardi Internazionale 29 Ciro Immobile Lazio 3 Paulo Dybala Juventus 22 4 Fabio Quagliarella Sampdoria 19 5 Dries Mertens Napoli 18 6 Edin Džeko Roma 16 Gonzalo Higuaín Juventus 8 Giovanni Simeone Fiorentina 14 9 Iago Falque Torino 12 Roberto Inglese Chievo Kevin Lasagna Udinese Sergej Milinković-Savić Lazio

Hat-tricks Main article: List of Serie A hat-tricks Player Club Against Result Date Paulo Dybala Juventus Genoa 4–2 (A) Archived 6 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine 26 August 2017 Ciro Immobile Lazio Milan 4–1 (H) Archived 25 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine 10 September 2017 Paulo Dybala Juventus Sassuolo 3–1 (A) Archived 26 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine 17 September 2017 Dries Mertens Napoli Benevento 6–0 (H) Archived 26 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine 17 September 2017 Mauro Icardi Internazionale Milan 3–2 (H) Archived 26 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine 15 October 2017 Sami Khedira Juventus Udinese 6–2 (A) Archived 6 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine 22 October 2017 Ivan Perišić Internazionale Chievo 5–0 (H) Archived 11 April 2018 at the Wayback Machine 3 December 2017 Ciro Immobile4 Lazio SPAL 5–2 (A) Archived 15 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine 6 January 2018 Fabio Quagliarella Sampdoria Fiorentina 3–1 (H) Archived 26 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine 21 January 2018 Gonzalo Higuaín Juventus Sassuolo 7–0 (H) Archived 11 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine 4 February 2018 Mauro Icardi4 Internazionale Sampdoria 5–0 (A) Archived 26 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine 18 March 2018 Josip Iličić Atalanta Hellas Verona 5–0 (A) Archived 26 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine 18 March 2018 Andrea Belotti Torino Crotone 4–1 (H) Archived 10 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine 4 April 2018 Paulo Dybala Juventus Benevento 4–2 (A) Archived 17 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine 7 April 2018 Jordan Veretout Fiorentina Lazio 3–4 (H) Archived 26 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine 18 April 2018 Giovanni Simeone Fiorentina Napoli 3–0 (H) Archived 6 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine 29 April 2018 Note 4 Player scored four goals ; (H) – Home (A) – Away

Clean sheets

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Pepe Reina	Napoli	18
2	Alisson	Roma	17
	Samir Handanović	Internazionale
4	Marco Sportiello	Fiorentina	14
5	Gianluigi Donnarumma	Milan	12
	Mattia Perin	Genoa
	Gianluigi Buffon	Juventus
7	Thomas Strakosha	Lazio	11
	Wojciech Szczęsny	Juventus
10	Salvatore Sirigu	Torino	10
	Andrea Consigli	Sassuolo

Attendances

Team	Avg. home att.[49]
Internazionale	57,529
Milan	52,690
Napoli	43,050
Juventus	39,316
Roma	37,450
Lazio	30,990
Fiorentina	26,092
Genoa	20,941
Bologna	20,903
Sampdoria	20,156
Torino	18,596
Atalanta	17,921
Udinese	17,906
Hellas Verona	17,333
Cagliari	14,685
Chievo	12,540
Benevento	12,132
SPAL	12,067
Sassuolo	11,237
Crotone	10,581