Lega Serie B – General Discussion

[Messinterista]

An update has been made to the Lega Serie B Clubs forum. A few clubs have their own thread now. If you would like any new threads to be made up, let me know here. If I don't get to it quickly, just PM me.

[vincent]

An opening day win at Crotone for Livorno 1-2. A brace of penalties from ace midfielder Federico Dionisi supplying the win.
Reggina head the table after what looks like an emphatic 4-1 win at home to Modena.

[RomaShield27]

http://www.thefootballexpress.co.uk/201 ... at-varese/

[RomaShield27]

– OWEN NEILSON ON SEPTEMBER - 8 - 2011

[Jocksboy]

A reminder to all those interested that www.calcion.eu has excellent live coverage of Serie B. All Friday and Monday games are shown plus a choice from at least three on Saturday. Picture and sound quality tend to vary, but there are usually three or more links given - it's just a matter of switching around to find the best.

[RomaShield27]

Sampdoria’s clash against Torino brings the glamour of Serie A to Serie B.
www.footballitaliano.co.uk – By Jonathan Heywood – Friday 30 September 2011

One of the matches on Serie B’s fixture schedule for this weekend strikes out for many neutrals, in a game that would not look out of place in Serie A. If you would have thought of this match 12 months ago, you would have felt it would most likely be a Serie A tie but due to the disastrous campaign for the Genovese side- Sampdoria host Torino in a battle between two teams aspiring to return to the top tier of Italian football.

Both teams have made good starts to their campaigns with the visitors being denied top spot via goal difference. There has been a swift adaptation to life in the second tier from the hosts as they sit two points behind Torino yet only one place behind them. Six games into the season and both teams are unbeaten with il Toro having a 100% record away from home. With all these factors taken into account, it would appear that the game is likely to be a real test for both teams’ ambitions.

For Torino, it has been a longer spell than wanted in the second tier, as this is their third season in Serie B since relegation in 2009. Once again they find themselves tipped to be in the hunt for promotion at least but the past two seasons have enhanced pessimism from supporters of i Granata. Fifth place in 2010 was followed by last season’s disappointing eighth place finish and Torino will be hoping that another new Coach in the shape of Giampiero Ventura will cause a sharp upturn in their fortunes.

The events that Sampdoria endured last season have been well documented and it was felt that they would need to acclimatise quickly to Serie B to give themselves as much of a chance of an instant comeback to Serie A as possible. The name of Sampdoria in Serie B certainly attracts attention and despite losing most of their prized assets which had took them as far as Champions League qualification only two seasons ago, they have invested well this summer the hiring of Coach Gianluca Atzori appears to have been a good move on the evidence so far.

While the histories of the two clubs and their associated expectations add interest to the tie, what intrigues on closer inspection are their differing approaches to achieving promotion. Both clubs have sought to reinvent themselves for life in Serie B with fresh approaches and new Coaches with Torino opting for a veteran to lead them while Sampdoria looked for a more youthful drive.

The two clubs believe that Serie A is where they belong and while history may well back up this expectation, it means little without the performances on the pitch to carry the weight of both sides’ aspirations. The promotion race is not just between these two giants who have fallen on hard times but you would expect that with their sizeable status comes a certain inevitability of a return to the pinnacle division of Italian football eventually. Friday night’s encounter will offer observers a chance to measure just how far these two clubs are in their plans for promotion. Expectations are that there will be a bigger audience for this game across Italy and calico enthusiasts worldwide than most Serie B contests.

[RomaShield27]

Top 5 goals from the Serie B season so far:

http://www.seriebwin.it/index.php/top-g ... 5-giornata

[Jocksboy]

I've just found a new site for live coverage of Serie B - www.sportlemon.tv
Quality and coverage is just as good if not better than calcion. At the very least it's a first class standby if calcion is unsatisfactory.

[RomaShield27]

Seems like a good site, thanks for sharing.

[RomaShield27]

http://andrewcharding.wordpress.com/201 ... sampdoria/

[RomaShield27]

SERIE B REVIEW – WEEK 23: SASSUOLO REACH THE SUMMIT
http://forzaitalianfootball.com/2012/01 ... he-summit/?

Posted on Monday, 23rd January 2012 by Kevin Tarbuck

Sassuolo stormed to the top of Serie B with a superb victory over Vicenza, as Torino laboured to a draw with Cittadella. Zdenek Zeman’s Pescara claimed their latest victim with victory over Empoli, while Verona defeated Juve Stabia to stay in the hunt for automatic promotion. The quest to be crowned cadetto champions is warming up nicely.
Friday 20th January

Sampdoria 1 – 1 Livorno
A Paulinho equaliser ten minutes from time gave Livorno a share of the spoils, but the result does neither side any favours in what has been a poor season for both clubs.
The Blucerchiati were fortunate to still be in the game by half time, as the visitors ran them ragged during the first 45 minutes, but failed to break the deadlock.
Both Paulinho and Antonio Piccolo went close with long range efforts, whilst Alessandro Lambrughi stung the palms of Sampdoria keeper Sergio Romero with a drilled effort from six yards out as the Tuscans looked to capitalise on their superiority.
However, for all of Livorno’s pressure, the home side were gifted a glorious chance to take the lead when a woeful back pass played in Nicola Pozzi, but his attempt was quickly closed down and smothered by Francesco Bardi.
Pozzi put the home side ahead ten minutes after the restart, picking up a pass from Obiang just outside the Livorno box, before turning behind Alessandro Bernardini and guiding the ball into the bottom corner.
Pushing for the win, Pozzi was unfortunate not to add to his tally, striking the bar from the edge of the box, whilst Cristian Bertani went close with an acrobatic overhead kick.
They were made to pay in the 81st minute, when Paulinho planted a stunning free kick into the top corner from 30 yards out, leaving Romero with no chance.
In the dying moments, Bertani connected with a corner two yards from the Livorno goal line, but the ball rolled agonisingly onto the post, and the points were shared.

Saturday 21st January

Ascoli 2 – 1 Gubbio
A last minute winner from Vito Falconieri gave Ascoli the points that lifted them off the foot of the table.
In the first half, Papa Waigo missed a hat trick of opportunities to give the home side the lead, whilst Gubbio’s Obiora Nwankwo went close with a long range effort.
The breakthrough came on 38 minutes, when Gubbio keeper Antonio Donnarumma fumbled Andrea Soncin’s searching cross into the path of Waigo, presenting the Senegalese striker with the easiest of tap-ins.
Ascoli continued to press early in the second half, with Waigo drawing a good save from Donnarumma, and Alessandro Sbaffo curling a long range effort just wide of the post. At the other end, Mattia Graffiedi struck the bar with a stunning long range volley that deserved better.
Daniele Bazzoffia levelled the scores with 20 minutes remaining, drilling an effort from the edge of the box that Ascoli keeper Enrico Guarna should have dealt with.
The home side stirred into action and found the winner their overall performance deserved a minute from time when Falconieri met Sbaffo’s deep cross into the box and powered home with his head.
Alberto Almici went close to equalising late on, after Falconieri was dismissed for two late bookings, but the home side held on for three crucial points.

Bari 0 – 1 Modena
Ovidiu Petre’s first half header proved to be the difference between the sides, and gave Modena the points that lifted them out of the drop zone.
The visitors looked lively from the off, with Daniele Dalla Bona going close with a long range effort that skidded just wide of the post.
They then took the lead in the tenth minute, when Davide Di Gennaro’s in-swinging corner found Petre completely unmarked in the box, who nodded the ball home.
Bari pushed for an equaliser but were wasteful in front of goal. Cristian Galano saw a weak effort easily saved, whilst Francesco Caputo blasted a wild effort over the bar from a good position in the box.
In a match defined by poor finishing, Di Gennaro struck a free kick over early in the second half, whilst Francesco Stanco’s attempt at a volley drifted harmlessly wide.
Meanwhile, the home side were being limited to long range efforts that caused Modena keeper Nicholas Caglioni little trouble, until he acrobatically tipped Adrian Stoian’s dipping long range strike just over.

Cittadella 1 – 1 Torino
Torino missed the chance to go clear at the top of the table following a disappointing draw at Cittadella.
The home side almost took an early lead when Antonio Di Nardo played Robert Maah into the box, but the Frenchman’s stinging effort was well saved by Ferdinando Coppola.
The league leaders did find themselves a goal down six minutes in, when Di Nardo headed a deep corner across the face of the Torino goal, where Daniele Gasparetto was lurking to stab the ball home.
Parity was restored ten minutes later when Alessandro Sgrigna’s pass found Mirco Antenucci, who shifted the ball onto his left foot and guided a low shot beyond the reach of Cittadella keeper tender Alex Cordaz.
Di Nardo headed just wide, whilst at the other end Francesco Scardina was forced to clear Alen Stevanovic’s low drive off the line to keep the scores level at the break.
Torino pushed for a winner in the second half, Sgrigna going close with a header before testing Cordaz from the edge of the area. At the back meanwhile, Coppola was stretchered off following a horrific collision with Valerio Di Cesare.
Substitute Riccardo Meggiorini prodded an effort just wide, whilst Mirco Antenucci drew a point blank save from Cordaz, as the home side held on for a well-earned point.

Crotone 1 – 2 Varese
Varese kept up their pursuit of a play-off place with a hard fought win at struggling Crotone.
Nicola Sansone went close to giving the home side the lead, but he could only fire straight at Varese keeper Walter Bressan following a fine solo run.
The visitors then asserted themselves on the match, with Alessandro Carrozza firing just over from a narrow angle, whilst Christian Terlizzi headed just wide from a corner.
However, Terlizzi found his range five minutes before the break, heading in from close range after meeting Leonardo Pettinari’s looping free kick into the box.
Crotone’s task would have been made doubly difficult moments before half time had Vid Belec not produced a miraculous save to keep out Giuseppe De Luca’s close range header.
Belec repeated the trick early in the second half, tipping De Luca’s attempted chip just over the bar, before Varese were denied a clear penalty after Pedro Correia handled in the area.
The visitors were eventually awarded a penalty 20 minutes from time however, when Francesco Checcucci was adjudged to have dragged De Luca down in the box, for which the defender was also sent off. It was a debatable decision, but Carrozza emphatically slammed home the penalty to extend the lead.
Terlizzi headed a Gabionetta effort off the line, before Alessandro Florenzi struck a late consolation from the edge of the area, but it was too late to have an impact on the final result.

Empoli 0 – 2 Pescara
Zdenek Zeman’s free scoring Pescara side kept up their promotion push with victory at Empoli, a result that leaves the Tuscans rooted in the relegation zone.
Riccardo Maniero received a comical caution ten minutes in, when he palmed the ball into the Empoli net without a hint of subtlety
Lorenzo Insigne went close to giving the visitors the lead following a neat dribble, before Maniero prodded a loose ball just wide after Empoli keeper Alberto Pelagotti had spilled a long range effort.
Emmanuel Cascione headed straight at Pelagotti, and Antonio Balzano fired just over as the Delfini completely dominated proceedings.
Nevertheless, Manuel Coppola went close to giving the visitors the lead against the run of play with a fierce long range effort that whistled just past the post, but the score remained level at the break.
The visitors took the lead with a breath-taking counter attack just two minutes into the second half. Marco Gorzegno’s ambitious long range volley was comfortably saved by Pescara keeper Luca Anania, who immediately launched the ball up field into the path of Insigne. He continued his run up the left flank, before planting a cross onto the head of an unmarked Maniero, who could not miss.
Insigne then capitalised on some woeful Empoli defending to double the advantage five minutes later, powerfully heading home Matti Lund Nielsen’s cross whilst unmarked in the area.
The home side saw both Gorzegno and Lorenzo Tonelli dismissed late on to compound their miserable afternoon, but the Zeman revolution marches on.

Grosseto 1 – 0 Albinoleffe
A second half strike from Luis Maria Alfageme gave Grosseto the points, and kept them in the hunt for a play-off place.
In a half of few clear cut opportunities, the home side almost took the lead when Alfageme connected with Andrea Giallombardo’s cross, but his effort was straight at Albinoleffe keeper Andrea Angelo Offredi.
Andrea Cocco went close for the visitors, the ball going just wide having been struck on the turn, before Michael Girasole stole past Samuele Olivi and forced a smart save from Grosseto keeper Antonio Narciso.
After the break, Gaetano Caridi went close to giving Grosseto the lead with a curling effort from just inside the box, but the ball sailed wide of the post.
Having been booked in the first half, Albinoleffe’s Francesco Luoni was dismissed following a careless high challenge on Caridi, and the visitors were soon made to pay when Alfageme struck what would prove to be the winner.
Ronaldo’s driven free kick was easily blocked in the Albinoleffe box, but the ball fell to Alfageme, who turned Pierre Giorgio Regonesi inside out before firing a low shot into the bottom corner.
Cocco struck the bar and Velerio Foglio struck a shot across the goal line from an acute angle as the visitors went in search of an equaliser, whilst at the other end Ronaldo forced a fine save from Offredi, and Caridi struck just wide.
With time running out, Foglio hit a weak shot straight at Narciso, and the home side held on to take the points.

Verona 2 – 0 Juve Stabia
Verona returned to winning ways with a routine victory over Juve Stabia at the Stadio Bentegodi.
Sasa Bjelanovic went close to an opener for the home side, heading just wide of the post, before Juan Ignacio Gomez stung the palms of Juve Stabia keeper Simone Colombi following a mazy dribble through the visitor’s defence.
Bjelanovic’s powerful header was well held by Colombi, whilst at the other end Adriano Mezavilla struck the upright from point blank range with the goal at his mercy.
The deadlock was broken two minutes before the break, when Massimiliano Scaglia latched onto Marco D’Alessandro’s through ball, before calmly dispatching the ball below the dive of Colombi.
Moments later, the visitors were denied a penalty when Domenico Maietta appeared to clip Marco Sau’s heel, but referee Aleandro Di Paolo waved away the appeals.
Juve Stabia looked the brighter of the two sides as the second half got underway. Ivano Baldanzeddu saw his long range effort saved by an inspired Rafael, before Sau struck wildly over from just outside the six-yard box.
The points were secured with 20 minutes remaining, when Thomas Pichlmann snaked his way through a sea of white shirts, before rounding Colombi. The keeper then grabbed the striker’s ankle for what would have been a certain penalty had Pichlmann not hooked the ball into the net as he went to ground.

Sassuolo 4 – 2 Vicenza
A Gianluca Sansone hat trick helped fire Sassuolo to the Serie B summit with an emphatic victory over mid-table Vicenza.
With first half chances at a premium, Michele Paolucci came close to putting the visitors ahead with an outrageous strike from distance that just dipped too late and struck the underside of the bar.
Three minutes before the break, Sansone opened the scoring with a stunning long range free kick that left Vicenza keeper Alberto Frison completely helpless.
Nicolo Consolino should have doubled the advantage moments later, but somehow contrived to hook the ball over the bar from two yards out with the entire goal to aim at.
However, Sansone grabbed his second five minutes into the second half, brushing aside the attentions of Nicolas Giani and drawing Alberto Frison from his line before tucking the ball into the far corner.
Elvis Abbruscato reduced the arrears with a coolly taken penalty after Francesco Magnanelli dragged down Davide Gavazzi in the area, before Sansone sealed his hat trick with an assured left foot finish from the edge of the Vicenza box.
With visibility severely hampered by a sudden onset of mist, Nicola Rigoni stabbed the ball home from close range in the last minute to give the visitors hope of snatching a point.
It was not to be however, as Marcello Gazzola raced forward in the second minute of injury time and struck a low effort into the bottom corner to put the seal on a superb win for the Neroverdi.

[RomaShield27]

Serie B Focus : Torino, Sassuolo, Verona, Pescara. Who will leap into Serie A?
OWEN NEILSON ON FEBRUARY - 29 - 2012
http://www.serieaweekly.com/2012/02/ser ... rie-a.html


The bissextile or leap year has, despite its unswerving will to make the world work for free, aligned itself with some great things. The first Playboy club was opened on a leap year, the Olympics and European Championships are on leap years, and the motivational speaker Tony Robbins, described as “banana hands” by Jack Black in Shallow Hal, was born on a leap year becoming one of four million quasi-Tolkien figures known as a leaplings.

In the middle earth of Italian football, Serie B is staging its own quadrennial tradition with Torino (56 points), Sassuolo (55), Hellas Verona (54) and Pescara (52*) doing battle at the top of the table. The season has been marked by brilliant spurts of consistency; Torino won ten of its first thirteen games, Sassuolo have lost once in twenty-two, Verona racked up eight wins in a row from October to December and Pescara put together two seven-game streaks with twelve victories.

After 28 rounds the quartet have accrued the second highest amount of points collectively, 217, in Serie B history, the most coming during the last leap year in 2008, when Chievo, Bologna, Lecce and Albinoleffe took 231. Three of those went on to become the first to finish a season with 80+ points.

The 2003/4 season, which featured 24 teams, was the first to see two sides, Palermo and Cagliari, break 80 points, with Livorno and Messina just back on 79.
So will the trend continue and all four of this season’s contenders become leapling octogenarians, and which two from four will take the rings of automatic promotion power?

Despite Giampiero Ventura’s stubborn persistence with a 4-2-4 that offers few goals or fluency, Torino remains top of the table and has a squad that boasts greater Serie A pedigree than its rivals and a current Italian international in Angelo Ogbonna.

Ogbonna’s presence has contributed to the joint best defence in the league along with Sassuolo, but a question mark remains over Il Toro following the defeat away to Brescia. The Rondinelle are worth a mention for former Udinese centre back Alessandro Calori’s inspirational appointment that’s yielded seven wins and two draws since taking over in December, and has Brescia as the favourites to break into the top-six in the coming weeks.

Torino are widely expected to return to the top division for the first time since 2009, but intrigue resides with Sassuolo, Verona and Pescara and those illusory fairytales that make grown men weep.

After play-off defeat to Torino in 2010 Sassuolo have been a revelation this season led by Inter’s former Primavera coach Fulvio Pea and are on course to better the 69 points that saw them finish fourth two years ago. The Neroverde have never played in Serie A and have a huge game with Pescara away at the Stadio Adriatico on Saturday. Three points would be a psychological boost for Pea and his team in only the fourth ever meeting between the two sides.

Verona were promoted last season from Lega Pro and the 1985 Scudetto winners seem to have emerged from a tough start to 2012 with away losses to rivals Pescara and Sassuolo, but will be tested again in the coming weeks with games at Sampdoria and Torino.

Pescara led by the mercurial Zdenek Zeman are typically as brilliant up front as woeful in defence and look to return to Serie A for the first season since 1993. Having molded the talents of Lorenzo Insigne and Ciro Immobile into the most lethal attack in the division, Zeman has garnered praise from Arrigo Sacchi and current Barcelona boss Pep Guardiola, and the Czech’s work has even seen Italian media suggest him as a replacement for Claudio Ranieri at Inter Milan.

On average in the last three seasons 76 points has been enough to take second spot, but Bologna needed 84 in 2008. The best proposal is for Torino, still unbeaten at the Stadio Olimpico, but has to play five of the top ten sides, including all of their closest rivals in the final fourteen games. However, il Toro can count on Ventura’s experience as a veteran of two promotions from Serie B guiding Lecce then Cagliari to third in 1997 and 1998 respectively.

Sassuolo are the greenest of the four but have a coach who seems destined for a long career in Serie A, and in Gianluca Sansone and Simone Missiroli two of the best creative players in the league. However, eight away games including Torino, Brescia and Padova will test the squad’s belief in benefactor Giorgio Squinzi’s dream of one day playing in the San Siro.

Verona also has eight trips away from the Bentegodi, and having failed to win on the road since the 3rd of December a play-off place is most likely while Pescara’s cavalier attitude toward defending suggests another wobble before the season’s close.Statistics aside, with the quirk of the year, and the narrative of the respective clubs it’s still hard to predict who will be leaping into Serie A in May.

* If Pescara win their game in hand, lost to the persistent snow on the Adriatic, there will be only a two point difference between the four sides, and nine to Padova in 5th.

[RomaShield27]

So, trouble in Bari with the latest match-fixing problems. Masiello, who nows plays for Atalanta, admited that in last year's derby against Lecce he missed an easy chance to score, and then scored an own goal on purpose. He was paid €300,000 for doing this. Local mafio types involved in it all. Masiello is a good defender, i don't know what he earns but I'm sure he gets a nice solid wage, its clowns like this who should be thrown in jail.

Here's the own goal:



Atalanta’s Andrea Masiello arrested in match-fixing investigation involving Bari Serie A games
By Updated: Monday, April 2, 4:19 PM

BARI, Italy — Atalanta defender Andrea Masiello has been arrested after reportedly admitting his part in the inquiry into match-fixing, and eight of his former Bari teammates are under investigation, the Italian soccer federation said Monday.

The federation called the arrests “sensational developments” and promised to take “swift action” against the players if found guilty.

Since the first wave of 16 arrests in June, more than 30 people have been arrested, including former Atalanta captain Cristiano Doni and former Lazio captain Giuseppe Signori.

Bari’s last nine matches in Serie A last season are being looked into, according to the federation, including the game in which Masiello’s own goal helped Lecce win 2-0 to avoid relegation after Bari had already been demoted.

Masiello spent 3½ years at Bari before moving to Atalanta last summer. According to the Italian news agency ANSA, Masiello said he scored the own goal on purpose to receive $239,000.

ANSA reported that Masiello sent a written note to Bari prosecutors last week, saying that “I want to add that when the result was 1-0 to Lecce, I took advantage of an opportunity that was given to me so that I could definitely secure Bari’s defeat and so I could get the payment promised to me, thus scoring the own goal which sealed the match.”

Bari’s match at Udinese in May 2010 is also under suspicion.

Several Bari players at the end of the 2010-11 season were “more or less ‘on the market,’ not in the footballing sense of the term, normally referring to the buying and selling of players in the summer, but in the lesser meaning of the expression,” Bari judge Giovanni Abbattista said in a 93-page document.

Italian media identified the other players under investigation as Daniele Portanova, Alessandro Parisi, Simone Bentivoglio, Marco Rossi, Abdelkader Ghezzal, Marco Esposito, Antonio Bellavista and Nicola Belmonte.

“There will be zero tolerance and swift action by the sporting justice to clean up and pinpoint all those responsible,” said Giancarlo Abete, president of the Italian soccer federation.

He said the federation’s prosecutors are working with authorities in Cremona and Bari, and hope to file the first charges by the end of April. The charges are criminal association and fraud.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[Bagg10]

Tuesday April 17 2012

Football players' 'hearts are enlarged'
By Football Italia staff

A three-year study in Siena has found that professional football players have marked differences in the shape of their hearts.

The issue has been in the forefront in recent weeks with the collapse of Fabrice Muamba and death of Piermario Morosini.

Today the CardioRobur medical study that began in August 2009 between AC Siena and the cardiology clinic in the Santa Maria alle Scotte hospital had its results published.

It involved monitoring the cardiac function of the players over the past three seasons, “allowing excellent results in the area of scientific research,” explained doctor Andrea Causarano.

“We showed that the heart has different cardiovascular characteristics that are peculiar to athletes in top level sport and adapts in a dynamic manner during the season based on the type of training,” added Professor Sergio Mondillo.

“This is important when optimising training to improve performance with great focus on health. These observations were presented at various Italian and European cardiology seminars.

“In football players, the cardiac chambers and muscular mass of the heart are enlarged, with ulterior incremental improvements in the functional capacity of the organ.

“With further tests on stem cells in the youth team players, we also noted how intense training or a sedentary lifestyle provide a different stimulus to the production of stem cells and therefore probably different mechanisms for self-repair.”

http://www.football-italia.net/17808/fo ... e-enlarged

[Bagg10]

I have an enlarged left ventricular. I highly recommend anyone that plays the sport to get an ecg, then maybe go to a cardiologist.

[RomaShield27]

Torino lose Padova appeal
Friday April 27 2012
http://www.football-italia.net/18178/to ... ova-appeal

In a bizarre turnaround, Padova’s appeal against a result awarded for floodlight failure has been accepted, so Torino have three points removed from their tally.

There has been chaos and controversy ever since the December 5 game was suspended with Padova 1-0 up due to floodlight failure.

As the home team and therefore responsible for the stadium, Torino successfully argued that Padova should pay for the suspension by handing a 3-0 victory to them.

However, today the Federal Court of Justice accepted Padova’s appeal against that decision, so the original 1-0 result has been restored.

It means Torino go from 70 points to 67, while Padova rise to 59 and are right back in the promotion chase.

[RomaShield27]

http://www.gazzetta.it/Calcio/Squadre/S ... 3220.shtml

http://www.football-italia.net/19039/pe ... rino-serie

Welcome back to Serie A, Pescara! Forza Zemanlandia! Sealed promotion with a great 3-1 away win at Samp.

Torino also back in Serie A as Serie B champs.

Ive heard lots of people sayin Serie B was more exciting than Serie A this season. Playoffs will be good too, hopefully one from Samp or Verona.

[RomaShield27]

bwin AWARDS, I PREMIATI
22/05/2012 / http://www.legaserieb.it/it/sala-stampa ... ATI/668093

Pozzi, Ogbonna, Insigne, Zeman e Chiambretti. Sono solo alcuni nomi dei vincitori dei Serie bwin Awards 2011/12 assegnati dalla Lega Serie B e dal title sponsor bwin nell'ambito della stagione che si conclude sabato prossimo. L'iniziativa è volta alla valorizzazione e riconoscimento dei giocatori, allenatori e società del torneo cadetto attraverso 15 premi divisi per categorie.


Serie B awards list here (PDF) :

http://www.legaserieb.it/c/document_lib ... pId=115051

[RomaShield27]

Serie B promotion play-offs are tonight, with Sampdoria v Sassuolo at 5.30pm (UK time) followed by Varese v Hellas Verona (8pm).

[Marco_Italia]

Will be interesting to see how competitive next season's Serie B will be, not many 'big names' there next season and i think next season's teams are poorer than previous seasons, i think a good few clubs will be in with a chance of promotion next season.