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This weekend, the great football returns to stadiums in Italy - a new country championship begins. "Serie-A" is one of the strongest and most interesting leagues in the world, so we can expect another passionate and intriguing Italian "calcio" season, which will be reviewed by EuroFootball.com in this article.
New format This year, the new 2004/2005 season in the highest Italian league will start with not 18, but 20 teams, as for the first time in the history of the championship, it was decided to increase the number of participants. This news was particularly beneficial for the "Serie-B" clubs, six of which received a place in the new format league.
The first championship matches will be played tomorrow: "Milan" will play against "Livorno" and "Chievo" against "Inter". Other matches will take place on Sunday, you can find the full schedule of the first round here.
Team possibilities For the champions title, called "scudetto", this season three clubs from the northern part of the country - Milan, Inter, and Turin - should compete. A few years ago, among the favorites were also Roma, Lazio, Parma, and Fiorentina, and these clubs were called the "seven sisters", but due to financial problems, the latter will probably have to be content with 4th place or even lower.
For the 5th-7th spots, allowing to play in European tournaments, clubs like Palermo and Sampdoria will also compete, surprises can come from ambitious teams like Bologna. Teams like Cagliari and Messina are considered lower in terms of possibilities.
Meanwhile, all other league newcomers - Atalanta, Brescia, Chievo, Reggina, Lecce, Messina, and Siena - should fight to stay in the league.
Leaders The main favorite to win the "scudetto" is undoubtedly the defending champions Milan. The club that dominated the league last season already had a great team, but this summer they strengthened in all positions - they added one of the best defenders in the world J. Stam, midfielder V. Dhorasoo, and forward H. Crespo.
Defense midfielders Stam and Nesta should form probably the most powerful duo in the world, and Crespo, who was the top scorer in Serie-A in 2001, will further strengthen the already powerful attacking machine. Adding the legendary Paolo Maldini, talented Kaka, and all the others, Milan becomes difficult to beat.
