Serie C - Girone A (Italy)

Serie C - Group A (Italy) - one of the three groups of Italy’s third-tier professional league, organized by the Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro). Regulations: the group typically includes 20 clubs playing a double round-robin home and away, with 3 points for a win, 1 for a draw, and 0 for a loss, and ties on points are broken via the FIGC “classifica avulsa” criteria, applied in order using head-to-head points, head-to-head goal difference, overall goal difference, goals scored, goals conceded, number of wins, number of losses, away wins, and home losses. The group winner is promoted directly to Serie B, and one additional promotion place is awarded through the Serie C play-offs involving the teams placed 2nd to 10th plus the Coppa Italia Serie C winner: within the group phase, 5th-10th, 6th-9th, and 7th-8th are single-leg matches hosted by the higher-ranked side, with the higher-ranked side advancing in case of a draw, then the 4th-placed side enters for another single-leg round under the same rule, followed by national two-leg rounds where ties are decided by aggregate goal difference and, if still level, the seeded team advances, while the semi-finals and final are also two-legged and, if still level after the second leg, extra time and penalties apply. At the bottom, the last-placed team is relegated directly to Serie D, and teams ranked 16th to 19th play two-legged relegation play-outs (16th vs 19th and 17th vs 18th), with the first leg hosted by the lower-ranked side, aggregate goal difference used if level on points, and if still level the higher-ranked team survives, while a gap of more than 8 points cancels the tie and the lower-ranked team is relegated.