© EuroFootball.com
On Tuesday, the Italian Football Federation and the Italian Football League finally announced the new schedule for the 2005/06 season after a long delay due to prolonged legal processes with clubs and confirmed that next year "Serie A" championship matches will feature the clubs "Ascoli" and "Treviso".
It all started with the removal of "Messina" and "Torino" from "Serie A" due to financial problems, soon "Genoa" received the same punishment for pre-arranged match-fixing schemes. Later on, "Messina" managed to reclaim their spot, "Torino" went bankrupt, while "Genoa" couldn't win their appeals and will have to compete in "Serie C1".
So, from the lower division to "Serie B" travels "Empoli", "Treviso" remaining in fifth place and "Ascoli" in sixth place. Apart from the second division champion "Genoa" and the aforementioned "Torino", the chance to move up was not given to "Perugia", which also went bankrupt and dropped down to "C1".
However, the joy of the strongest Italian league newcomers will not last long, as the first round of the "Serie A" championship will be played in a week and a half. Last time in the league in 1992, "Ascoli" will play at home against "Milan", debutant "Treviso" will meet another Milan club "Inter" away, and Turin's "Juventus" will begin defending their champion title with a match against Verona's "Chievo".
Nevertheless, the most interesting and intense encounters are expected from the match between "Fiorentina" and "Sampdoria", as well as the game between "Parma" and the team of "Palermo". The first two-round matches will be played on August 27th, with the rest taking place the following day.
The first meeting of the "big three" teams will be the clash between "Juventus" and "Inter" in round 6, in round 8 the Eternal City derby between "Roma" and "Lazio" will take place, last season's leaders "Milan" and "Juventus" will face each other in round 10, and the famous Milan derby awaits football fans in round 15.
Fixture list for the first five "Serie A" rounds Round 1 (2005-08-27/28) "Ascoli" - "Milan" "Fiorentina" - "Sampdoria" "Inter" - "Treviso" "Juventus" - "Chievo" "Lazio" - "Messina" "Livorno" - "Lecce" "Parma" - "Palermo" "Reggina" - "Roma" "Siena" - "Cagliari" "Udinese" - "Empoli" Round 2 (2005-09-10/11) "Cagliari" - "Lazio" "Chievo" - "Parma" "Empoli" - "Juventus" "Lecce" - "Ascoli" "Messina" - "Fiorentina" "Milan" - "Siena" "Palermo" - "Inter" "Roma" - "Udinese" "Sampdoria" - "Reggina" "Treviso" - "Livorno" Round 3 (2005-09-17/18) "Cagliari" - "Messina" "Fiorentina" - "Udinese" "Inter" - "Lecce" "Juventus" - "Ascoli" "Lazio" - "Treviso" "Livorno" - "Roma" "Parma" - "Empoli" "Reggina" - "Chievo" "Sampdoria" - "Milan" "Siena" - "Palermo" Round 4 (2005-09-21) "Ascoli" - "Siena" "Chievo" - "Inter" "Empoli" - "Cagliari" "Lecce" - "Fiorentina" "Messina" - "Livorno" "Milan" - "Lazio" "Palermo" - "Reggina" "Roma" - "Parma" "Treviso" - "Sampdoria" "Udinese" - "Juventus" Round 5 (2005-09-25) "Cagliari" - "Roma" "Empoli" - "Lecce" "Inter" - "Fiorentina" "Lazio" - "Palermo" "Livorno" - "Ascoli" "Parma" - "Juventus" "Reggina" - "Udinese" "Sampdoria" - "Chievo" "Siena" - "Messina" "Treviso" - "Milan"
