2017–18 Serie B

The 2017–18 Serie B (known as the Serie B ConTe.it for sponsorship reasons) was the 86th season since its establishment in 1929.

Serie B

Season	2017–18
Champions	Empoli (2nd title)
Promoted	Empoli Parma Frosinone (by play-off)
Relegated	Virtus Entella Novara Pro Vercelli Ternana Bari (bankruptcy) Cesena (bankruptcy) Avellino (bankruptcy)
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1,182 (2.56 per match)
Top goalscorer	Francesco Caputo (26 goals)
Biggest home win	Perugia 5–0 Carpi (18 November 2017)
Biggest away win	Virtus Entella 1–5 Perugia (27 August 2017) Perugia 1–5 Pro Vercelli (8 October 2017) Bari 0-4 Empoli (27 January 2018) Cremonese 0-4 Foggia (7 April 2018)
Highest scoring	Empoli 5–3 Cesena (18 November 2017)
Longest winning run	6 games Empoli
Longest unbeaten run	28 games Empoli
Longest winless run	18 games Cremonese
Longest losing run	5 games Perugia Ternana
Highest attendance	33,567 Bari 1–0 Foggia (26 November 2017)
Lowest attendance	912 Frosinone 2–1 Cittadella (4 September 2017) (Match played in Avellino)
Total attendance	3,194,526
Average attendance	6,930[1]
← 2016–17 2018–19 →

A total of 22 teams contested the league: 15 returning from the 2016–17 Serie B season, 4 promoted from 2016–17 Lega Pro (Cremonese, Venezia, Foggia, Parma), and 3 relegated from 2016–17 Serie A (Empoli, Palermo, Pescara).

Teams

Stadia and locations

Ascoli

Avellino

Bari

Brescia

Carpi

Cesena

Cittadella

Cremonese

Empoli

Foggia

Frosinone

Novara

Palermo

Parma

Perugia

Pescara

Pro Vercelli

Salernitana

Spezia

Ternana

Venezia

Entella

Location of teams in 2017–18 Serie B

Team	Home city	Stadium	Capacity	2016–17 season
Ascoli	Ascoli Piceno	Stadio Cino e Lillo Del Duca	10,887	15th in Serie B
Avellino	Avellino	Stadio Partenio	10,215	17th in Serie B
Bari	Bari	Stadio San Nicola	58,270	12th in Serie B
Brescia	Brescia	Stadio Mario Rigamonti	16,743	14th in Serie B
Carpi	Carpi	Stadio Sandro Cabassi	5,510	7th in Serie B
Cesena	Cesena	Stadio Dino Manuzzi	23,860	13th in Serie B
Cittadella	Cittadella	Stadio Pier Cesare Tombolato	7,623	6th in Serie B
Cremonese	Cremona	Stadio Giovanni Zini	20,641	Lega Pro/A Champions
Empoli	Empoli	Stadio Carlo Castellani	16,800	18th in Serie A
Foggia	Foggia	Stadio Pino Zaccheria	16,798	Lega Pro/C Champions
Frosinone	Frosinone	Stadio Benito Stirpe[2]	16,125	3rd in Serie B
Novara	Novara	Stadio Silvio Piola	17,875	9th in Serie B
Palermo	Palermo	Stadio Renzo Barbera	36,349	19th in Serie A
Parma	Parma	Stadio Ennio Tardini	27,906	2nd in Lega Pro/B
Perugia	Perugia	Stadio Renato Curi	23,125	4th in Serie B
Pescara	Pescara	Stadio Adriatico	20,515	20th in Serie A
Pro Vercelli	Vercelli	Stadio Silvio Piola	5,500	16th in Serie B
Salernitana	Salerno	Stadio Arechi	31,300	11th in Serie B
Spezia	La Spezia	Stadio Alberto Picco	10,290	8th in Serie B
Ternana	Terni	Stadio Libero Liberati	17,460	18th in Serie B
Venezia	Venice	Stadio Pier Luigi Penzo	7,450	Lega Pro/B Champions
Virtus Entella	Chiavari	Stadio Comunale	5,535	10th in Serie B

Personnel and kits

Team	President	Manager	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor (front)	Shirt sponsor (back)	Shorts sponsor
Ascoli	Francesco Bellini	Serse Cosmi	Nike	CIAM/Fainplast	Brosway	None
Avellino	Walter Taccone	Claudio Foscarini	Givova	Sidigas	None	None
Bari	Cosmo Antonio Giancaspro	Fabio Grosso	Zeus	Peroni 3.5, Piné Cembra	Password/Primiceri SpA	None
Brescia	Alessandro Triboldi	Ivo Pulga	Acerbis	UBI Banca[3]	OMR	None
Carpi	Claudio Caliumi	Antonio Calabro	Givova	Gaudì Jeans	Braglia Costruzioni	None
Cesena	Giorgio Lugaresi	Fabrizio Castori	Lotto	PLT Puregreen	None	None
Cittadella	Andrea Gabrielli	Roberto Venturato	Boxeur Des Rues	OCSA, Gruppo Gabrielli	Metalservice	Veneta Nastri
Cremonese	Luigi Simoni	Andrea Mandorlini	Garman	Ilta Inox (H)/Arinox (A), Università di Pavia	None	None
Empoli	Fabrizio Corsi	Aurelio Andreazzoli	Joma	Gensan, Sammontana (H)/Logli Massimo (A)	Giletti	PSB Advisory
Foggia	Lucio Fares	Giovanni Stroppa	Nike	Pasta Tamma, Wüber	Metaurobus	Valvoline
Frosinone	Maurizio Stirpe	Moreno Longo	Legea	Banca Popolare del Frusinate, MBI Gas & Luce	7Sette Carburanti	Acqua Filette
Novara	Carlo Accornero	Domenico Di Carlo	Joma	Banca Popolare di Novara, Gruppo Comoli Ferrari	Gorgonzola Igor	Intesa pour Homme
Palermo	Maurizio Zamparini	Roberto Stellone	Legea	Sicily by Car	Bisaten	None
Parma	Jiang Lizhang	Roberto D'Aversa	Erreà	Cetilar, Aon	Viva la Mamma Beretta	Colser
Perugia	Massimiliano Santopadre	Roberto Breda	Frankie Garage	Officine Piccini, Fortinfissi	Tedesco Group	Mericat
Pescara	Daniele Sebastiani	Giuseppe Pillon	Erreà	Saquella Caffè, Lilofilchem	Sarni Ristorazione (H)/Sarnioro (A)	Vincenzo Serraiocco Consulting
Pro Vercelli	Massimo Secondo	Gianluca Grassadonia	Erreà	PGO Group (H)/MediatechShop (A)	None	None
Salernitana	Marco Mezzaroma & Claudio Lotito	Stefano Colantuono	Givova	Sèleco Home	Sèleco Easy Life	None
Spezia	Andrea Corradino	Fabio Gallo	Acerbis	Arquati, Carispezia	None	Gelateria Vernazza
Ternana	Stefano Bandecchi	Luigi De Canio	Zeus	Unicusano	None	None
Venezia	Joe Tacopina	Filippo Inzaghi	Nike	Lino Sonego	None	Estra
Virtus Entella	Antonio Gozzi	Alfredo Aglietti	Acerbis	Duferco Energia	Pensa Benessere	None

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Replaced by	Date of appointment
Ascoli	Alfredo Aglietti	End of contract	1 June 2017	Pre-season	Fulvio Fiorin & Enzo Maresca	1 June 2017[4][5]
Bari	Stefano Colantuono	End of contract	13 June 2017		Fabio Grosso[6]	13 June 2017
Brescia	Luigi Cagni	End of contract	3 June 2017		Roberto Boscaglia	3 June 2017[7]
Carpi	Fabrizio Castori[8]	Mutual consent	12 June 2017		Antonio Calabro[9]	14 July 2017
Frosinone	Pasquale Marino[10]	Mutual consent	14 June 2017		Moreno Longo[11]	14 June 2017
Novara	Roberto Boscaglia[7]	Signed by Brescia	3 June 2017		Eugenio Corini[12]	14 June 2017
Pro Vercelli	Moreno Longo[13]	Signed by Frosinone	14 June 2017		Gianluca Grassadonia[14]	14 June 2017
Spezia	Domenico Di Carlo[15]	End of contract	14 June 2017		Fabio Gallo[16]	14 June 2017
Perugia	Cristian Bucchi[17]	Signed by Sassuolo	20 June 2017		Federico Giunti[18]	23 June 2017
Empoli	Giovanni Martusciello	Mutual consent	20 June 2017		Vincenzo Vivarini[19]	21 June 2017
Palermo	Diego Bortoluzzi	End of contract	21 June 2017		Bruno Tedino[20]	22 June 2017
Ternana	Fabio Liverani	End of contract	30 June 2017		Sandro Pochesci[21]	9 July 2017
Cesena	Andrea Camplone[22]	Sacked	30 September 2017	22nd	Fabrizio Castori[23]	1 October 2017
Brescia	Roberto Boscaglia[24]		12 October 2017	15th	Pasquale Marino[24]	12 October 2017
Perugia	Federico Giunti		24 October 2017	15th	Roberto Breda	26 October 2017
V. Entella	Gianpaolo Castorina		5 November 2017	19th	Alfredo Aglietti[25]	6 November 2017
Ascoli	Fulvio Fiorin		7 December 2017	22nd	Serse Cosmi[26]	7 December 2017
Salernitana	Alberto Bollini		11 December 2017	11th	Stefano Colantuono[27]	12 December 2017
Empoli	Vincenzo Vivarini		16 December 2017	5th	Aurelio Andreazzoli[28]	17 December 2017
Pro Vercelli	Gianluca Grassadonia		16 December 2017	20th	Gianluca Atzori	17 December 2017
Brescia	Pasquale Marino[29]		15 January 2018	17th	Roberto Boscaglia[29]	15 January 2018
Pro Vercelli	Gianluca Atzori[30]		22 January 2018	22nd	Gianluca Grassadonia[30]	22 January 2018
Ternana	Sandro Pochesci[31]		29 January 2018	20th	Ferruccio Mariani[32]	30 January 2018
Novara	Eugenio Corini[33]		4 February 2018	16th	Domenico Di Carlo[34]	5 February 2018
Ternana	Ferruccio Mariani[35]		21 February 2018	22nd	Luigi De Canio[35]	21 February 2018
Pescara	Zdeněk Zeman[36]		6 March 2018	13th	Massimo Epifani[36]	6 March 2018
	Massimo Epifani[37]		1 April 2018	16th	Giuseppe Pillon[37]	1 April 2018
Avellino	Walter Novellino[38]		3 April 2018	18th	Claudio Foscarini[39]	3 April 2018
Cremonese	Attilio Tesser[40]		23 April 2018	14th	Andrea Mandorlini[40]	23 April 2018
Palermo	Bruno Tedino[41]		28 April 2018	3rd	Roberto Stellone[41]	28 April 2018
Brescia	Roberto Boscaglia[42]		29 April 2018	13th	Ivo Pulga[42]	29 April 2018
Virtus Entella	Alfredo Aglietti[43]		6 May 2018	20th	Gennaro Volpe[43]	6 May 2018
Pro Vercelli	Gianluca Grassadonia		7 May 2018	22nd	Vito Grieco[44]	7 May 2018

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Empoli (C, P)	42	24	13	5	88	49	+39	85	Promotion to Serie A
2	Parma (P)	42	21	9	12	57	37	+20	72[a]
3	Frosinone (O, P)	42	19	15	8	65	47	+18	72[a]	Qualification to promotion play-offs semi-finals
4	Palermo	42	18	17	7	59	39	+20	71
5	Venezia	42	17	16	9	56	42	+14	67	Qualification to promotion play-offs preliminary round
6	Cittadella	42	18	12	12	61	48	+13	66
7	Bari[b] (R, D, R)	42	18	13	11	59	48	+11	65	Relegation to Serie D[c]
8	Perugia	42	16	12	14	67	58	+9	60	Qualification to promotion play-offs preliminary round
9	Foggia	42	16	10	16	66	68	−2	58
10	Spezia	42	13	14	15	46	45	+1	53
11	Carpi	42	12	16	14	32	46	−14	52
12	Salernitana	42	11	18	13	51	58	−7	51
13	Cesena[d] (E, R)	42	11	17	14	55	61	−6	50	Relegation to Serie D[c]
14	Cremonese	42	9	21	12	48	47	+1	48[e]
15	Avellino (R, E, R, R)	42	11	15	16	49	60	−11	48[e]	Relegation to Serie D[c]
16	Brescia	42	11	15	16	41	52	−11	48[e]
17	Pescara	42	11	15	16	50	64	−14	48[e]
18	Ascoli (O)	42	11	13	18	40	60	−20	46	Qualification to relegation play-out
19	Virtus Entella (R)	42	10	14	18	41	54	−13	44[f]
20	Novara (R)	42	10	14	18	42	52	−10	44[f]	Relegation to Serie C
21	Pro Vercelli (R)	42	9	13	20	47	70	−23	40
22	Ternana (R)	42	7	16	19	62	77	−15	37

Source: Lega Serie B
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Goal difference; 5) Goals scored; 6) Draw.^[45]
(C) Champions; (D) Disqualified; (E) Eliminated; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Parma is ahead of Frosinone on head-to-head goal difference: Parma 2–0 Frosinone, Frosinone 2–1 Parma.
2. Bari was deducted two points for administrative irregularities. The team was reestablished in 2018 after the bankruptcy of the previous legal person
3. Bari, Cesena and Avellino were excluded from the league after the season for financial issues.
4. A.C. Cesena bankrupted in mid-2018. A.S.D. Romagna Centro Cesena; another team from Cesena was renamed to Cesena F.C. which would participate in 2018–19 Serie D
5. Head-to-head points: Cremonese 10 pts, Avellino 8 pts, Brescia 7 pts, Pescara 6 pts.
6. Virtus Entella is ahead of Novara on head-to-head points: Virtus Entella 2–1 Novara, Novara 0–1 Virtus Entella.

On August 13, 2018, the FIGC decided to reduce the chronic financial instability of the league halting re-elections of clubs. Serie B was so reduced to 19 clubs.

Promotion play-offs

Six teams could contest the promotion play-offs depending on the point differential between the third and fourth-placed teams. It began with a preliminary one-legged round played at the home venue of the higher placed team, involving the teams placed fifth to eight. The two winning (or higher placed team from regular season if a match ended with a draw) teams advanced to play the third and fourth-placed teams in the two-legged semi-finals. Those winning teams advanced to the two-legged final, where the winner was promoted to play in Serie A the following season. In the two-legged rounds, the higher seeded team played the second game at home.

	Preliminary round					Semi-finals							Final
						5	Venezia	1	0	1
	5	Venezia	3			4	Palermo	1	1	2
	8	Perugia	0										4	Palermo	2	0	2
													3	Frosinone	1	2	3
						6	Cittadella	1	1	2
	6	Cittadella	2			3	Frosinone	1	1	2
	7	Bari	2

Relegation play-out

Two teams contested the relegation play-out in a two-legged round. The higher placed team played the second leg at home. In the case of a tie on aggregate, the higher placed team from the regular season were declared the winners. The losers were relegated to Serie C for the following season.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Virtus Entella (19)	0–0	Ascoli (18)	0–0	0–0

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals[46]
1	Francesco Caputo	Empoli	26
2	Alfredo Donnarumma	Empoli	23
3	Samuel Di Carmine	Perugia	22
4	Adriano Montalto	Ternana	20
5	Fabio Mazzeo	Foggia	19
6	Alberto Cerri	Perugia	15
7	Camillo Ciano	Frosinone	14
	Cristian Galano	Bari
9	Emanuele Calaiò	Parma	13
	Andrea Caracciolo	Brescia
	Daniel Ciofani	Frosinone
	Ilija Nestorovski	Palermo
	Stefano Pettinari	Pescara

Results

Home \ Away	ASC	AVE	BAR	BRE	CRP	CES	CIT	CRE	EMP	FOG	FRO	NOV	PAL	PAR	PER	PES	PVE	SAL	SPE	TER	VEN	VET
Ascoli		1–1	1–0	0–0	2–0	2–1	1–2	0–0	1–2	0–2	0–1	1–2	0–0	0–1	2–2	1–1	1–0	1–3	3–1	2–1	3–3	1–1
Avellino	1–1		1–2	2–1	1–1	1–1	0–2	0–0	3–2	5–1	0–2	2–1	1–3	1–2	2–0	2–2	1–0	2–3	1–0	2–1	1–1	0–0
Bari	3–0	2–1		3–0	2–0	3–0	4–2	1–0	0–4	1–0	1–0	1–1	0–3	0–0	3–1	1–0	2–2	1–1	1–1	3–0	0–2	1–0
Brescia	0–1	2–3	2–1		1–1	0–0	1–1	1–1	0–2	2–2	1–2	0–1	0–0	2–1	2–1	2–1	0–0	2–0	1–1	3–1	1–2	0–0
Carpi	4–2	0–0	0–0	1–1		2–1	1–1	1–1	0–0	1–3	1–1	1–0	1–3	2–1	1–2	0–1	2–0	1–0	2–1	2–1	0–0	0–0
Cesena	0–2	3–1	1–1	1–0	0–0		0–1	1–0	2–3	3–3	1–0	2–2	1–1	2–1	1–1	4–2	2–2	3–3	1–0	4–3	0–0	3–0
Cittadella	3–2	2–2	0–0	2–2	0–1	4–0		1–2	1–1	3–1	1–2	1–3	0–0	1–2	1–1	2–0	2–0	2–1	1–2	1–1	2–1	0–1
Cremonese	1–2	3–1	0–1	2–0	1–1	1–0	1–1		1–1	0–4	2–2	1–1	1–2	1–0	3–3	0–0	2–3	1–1	1–0	3–3	5–1	0–1
Empoli	3–0	1–1	3–2	1–1	1–0	5–3	0–1	1–1		3–1	3–3	1–1	4–0	4–0	2–1	3–1	3–2	2–0	1–1	2–1	3–2	2–1
Foggia	3–0	2–1	1–1	1–2	3–0	2–1	1–3	2–3	0–3		1–2	2–2	1–1	0–3	2–1	0–1	2–1	1–0	2–1	1–1	2–2	1–1
Frosinone	2–0	1–1	3–2	2–0	1–0	3–3	2–1	0–0	2–4	2–2		1–0	0–0	2–1	1–3	3–0	4–0	0–0	1–1	4–2	2–1	4–3
Novara	1–2	1–2	1–2	2–1	1–0	1–0	1–0	1–1	1–1	0–1	2–1		2–2	0–1	1–1	1–1	0–1	2–3	1–1	0–3	1–3	0–1
Palermo	4–1	3–0	1–1	2–0	4–0	0–0	0–3	1–1	3–3	1–2	1–0	0–2		1–1	1–0	1–1	2–1	3–0	2–0	1–0	0–0	2–0
Parma	4–0	2–0	1–0	0–1	2–1	0–0	0–0	1–0	1–2	3–1	2–0	3–0	3–2		1–1	0–1	3–0	2–2	0–0	2–0	1–1	3–1
Perugia	1–0	1–1	1–3	2–0	5–0	0–3	1–3	1–0	2–4	2–0	1–0	1–1	1–0	3–0		4–2	1–5	1–1	3–0	2–3	1–1	2–0
Pescara	0–1	2–1	2–2	0–3	0–1	0–0	1–2	0–0	0–1	5–1	3–3	1–0	2–2	1–4	0–2		3–1	1–0	3–2	3–3	1–0	2–2
Pro Vercelli	2–0	0–0	2–2	0–0	0–0	5–2	1–2	1–4	2–1	1–4	0–2	0–0	0–0	1–0	0–2	3–1		1–1	0–2	2–1	0–2	1–1
Salernitana	0–0	2–0	2–2	4–2	1–2	1–1	1–3	1–1	2–1	0–3	1–1	1–0	0–2	0–1	1–1	2–2	0–0		2–0	3–3	3–2	1–0
Spezia	1–1	1–0	1–0	0–1	0–1	1–2	0–0	1–0	1–1	1–0	1–1	1–0	0–0	0–2	4–2	4–0	5–1	3–0		1–1	1–1	2–1
Ternana	1–1	1–2	1–2	1–1	0–0	1–0	5–1	2–1	1–1	2–2	0–0	1–1	2–3	1–1	1–1	0–3	4–3	2–2	4–2		2–3	0–1
Venezia	1–0	3–1	3–1	1–2	2–0	1–0	2–1	1–1	1–0	2–1	1–1	1–3	3–0	0–1	1–0	0–0	1–1	0–0	0–0	2–0		2–0
Virtus Entella	1–1	1–1	3–1	3–0	0–0	2–2	0–1	1–1	2–3	1–2	0–1	2–1	1–2	2–0	1–5	0–0	3–2	0–2	0–1	3–1	0–0

Source: Eurosport.com (Italian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.