Second Division – Serie B. 20 teams in the league – 3 promoted, 4 relegated. This season was quite unusual, with a dramatic battle both at the top and and at the bottom of the table. 8 teams scuffled for the coveted top three places, at least 9 teams tried hard to escape relegation. At the end nothing was settled: teams ended with equal points and play-offs for both promotion and relegation were set up: three teams fought for the 3rd promotion spot and another three teams for survival – if at the top one team was going up, at the bottom the last team in the play-offs was going down. High drama.
Cagliari – last and out with 32 points. If they did not have 5 points deducted, they would have been safe.
Catania – 19th with 32 points and relegated.
Lanerossi Vicenza – 18th with 32 points and relegated.
Campobasso – 17th with 33 points. As one of the three teams with 33 points, they went to the relegation play-offs – there they finished last and were relegated.
Taranto – 16th with 33 points. Finished 1st in the relegation play-offs and were good for another season.
Lazio – 15th with 33 points. Dark period for Lazio – they started with heavy handicap: minus 9 points. And that was pretty much why they ended in danger of relegation – however, barely survived in the relegation play-offs, finishing 2nd.
Sambenettese – 14th with 34 points.
Modena – 13th with 35 points.
Arezzo – 12th with 35 points.
Triestina – 11th with 35 points. They had 4 points deducted, though.
Bologna – 10th with 36 points. Pretty much in danger of relegation too, but all was fine at the end.
Bari – 9th with 39 points.
Messina – 8th with 40 points.
Parma – 7th with 40 points.
Genoa – 6th with 42 points. Lost the race for promotion by small margin.
Cremonese – 5th with 43 points. As one of the teams with 43 points, they went to promotion play-offs, finished last the stayed in second division.
Lecce – 4th with 43 points, but they won the promotion play-offs only on better goal-difference… ,thus, won nothing yet – another play-off was stage and they lost it to Cesena 1-2. No promotion…
Cesena – 3rd with 43 points. Finished 2nd in the promotion play-offs, but since the points were equal, one more match was staged and this time they prevailed over Lecce 2-1 and got promoted.
Pisa – 2nd with 44 points. Clinched second place with one-point more than the competition, but lost the championship title in most curious way: since even the goal-difference between them and the champions was exactly the same, they were placed second for either scoring less goals (one less, to be exact), or had worse head-to-head record. But all that hardly mattered – Pisa clinched direct promotion: that was most important.
Pescara won the championship by the smallest possible margin: equal points, equal goal-difference with Pisa, 44 points each. Anyhow, the points came from 16 wins, 12 ties and 10 losses – Pisa had exactly the same record. Goal-difference was also the same: 43-33 Pescara, 42-32 Pisa. It may have been this one more goal they scored then Pisa, but it was hard battle against 7 other teams, which were unfortunate to finish with slightly less points. Still, the most important thing was Pescara earned direct promotion. Winning the championship did not hurt either, however lucky winning it was.
Pescara, Pisa, and Cesena were the happily promoted teams.