The 2010–11 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 109th season of top-tier Italian football, the 79th in a round-robin tournament, and the 1st since its organization under a league committee separate from Serie B. It began on 28 August 2010 and ended on 22 May 2011. Internazionale were the defending champions.
AC Milan won the 2010–11 Serie A and their 18th league title overall with a scoreless draw away to Roma on 7 May 2011. This result ensured that with two rounds remaining AC Milan's nearest rival Internazionale could only draw level on points, and AC Milan holds the tiebreaker based on their better head-to-head record. The result prompted celebrations at AC Milan's Piazza del Duomo. The trophy was presented at AC Milan's next home game on 14 May.
It was AC Milan's first Scudetto since 2004 and it ended a run of five successive Serie A titles by their rival Internazionale. It was the first league title for manager Massimiliano Allegri, winning in his first year with AC Milan and who was for many a surprise choice as manager. AC Milan led the table for most of the season and secured the title with two games remaining. Notably, they defeated defending champions Internazionale twice during the season and also did the same to third place challenger Napoli. AC Milan were credited for strengthening their squad with Zlatan Ibrahimović and Robinho in the summer as well as picking up Antonio Cassano and Mark van Bommel in January.
This would be the last Scudetto not won by Juventus until the 2020–21 Serie A.
Rule changes The rules for the registration of non-EU (or non-EFTA or Swiss) nationals transferred from abroad were revised in the summer of 2010 and announced on 2 July 2010. Clubs could only sign one (rather than two previously) non-EU player and that player could only be signed if a current member of the squad who was not an EU national had been sold or sold abroad. The late announcement of this rule change meant that some clubs had to cancel incoming transfers. Parma, for example, were to sign both Colombian Pablo Armero from Brazilian side Palmeiras, who subsequently signed for Udinese instead, and Brazilian agency player Zé Eduardo, but had to choose between them and eventually transferred the latter. Their outgoing transfer was Julio César de León, who moved to Chinese team Shandong Luneng Taishan.
Teams The league featured 17 teams returning from the 2009–10 Serie A, plus three teams promoted from 2009–10 Serie B (two as direct promotions, one as playoff winners). On 30 May 2010, Lecce and Cesena won direct promotion to the Serie A by finishing first and second, respectively. Brescia became the third Serie B team promoted on 13 June 2010 by winning the promotion playoff final 2–1 on aggregate over Torino. It was a quick turn-around for Lecce, which spent only one year in Serie B after being relegated from the 2008–09 Serie A. Cesena last played in Serie A in 1990–91, while Brescia played five seasons in Serie B after being relegated from A in 2004–05.
Stadia and locations Club City Stadium Capacity 2009–10 season Bari Bari San Nicola 58,270 01010th in Serie A Bologna Bologna Renato Dall'Ara 39,444 01717th in Serie A Brescia Brescia Mario Rigamonti 16,308 020Serie B Playoff Winners Cagliari Cagliari Sant'Elia 23,486 01616th in Serie A Catania Catania Angelo Massimino 23,420 01313th in Serie A Cesena Cesena Dino Manuzzi 23,860 019Serie B Runners-up ChievoVerona Verona Marc'Antonio Bentegodi 39,211 01414th in Serie A Fiorentina Florence Artemio Franchi 47,282 01111th in Serie A Genoa Genoa Luigi Ferraris 36,685 0099th in Serie A Internazionale Milan San Siro 80,074 001Serie A Champions Juventus Turin Olimpico di Torino 27,994 0077th in Serie A Lazio Rome Olimpico 72,698 01212th in Serie A Lecce Lecce Via del Mare 33,876 018Serie B ChampionsMilan Milan San Siro 80,074 0033rd in Serie A Napoli Naples San Paolo 60,240 0066th in Serie A Palermo Palermo Renzo Barbera 37,242 0055th in Serie A Parma Parma Ennio Tardini 27,906 0088th in Serie A Roma Rome Olimpico 72,698 0022nd in Serie A Sampdoria Genoa Luigi Ferraris 36,685 0044th in Serie A Udinese Udine Friuli 41,652 01515th in Serie A
Personnel and sponsorship Team Head coachCaptain Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor Bari Bortolo Mutti Jean François Gillet Erreà Banca Popolare di Bari, Radionorba Bologna Alberto Malesani Marco Di Vaio Macron Ceramica Serenissima (Home)/Cerasarda (Away), Manila Grace Brescia Giuseppe Iachini Davide Possanzini Mass UBI Banco di Brescia, T-Logic/Tescoma Cagliari Roberto Donadoni Daniele Conti Macron Dahlia TV, Sardegna Catania Diego Simeone Matías Silvestre Legea SP Energia Siciliana Cesena Massimo Ficcadenti Giuseppe Colucci Adidas Technogym ChievoVerona Stefano Pioli Sergio Pellissier Givova Banca Popolare di Verona/Merkur-Win, Midac Batteries Fiorentina Siniša Mihajlović Riccardo Montolivo Lotto Save The Children/Mazda Genoa Davide Ballardini Marco Rossi Asics iZiPlay Internazionale Leonardo Javier Zanetti Nike Pirelli Juventus Luigi Delneri Alessandro Del Piero Nike Betclic (Home)/Balocco (Away) Lazio Edoardo Reja Tommaso Rocchi Puma Clinica Paideia Lecce Luigi De Canio Guillermo Giacomazzi AsicsBancaApulia/Veneto Banca, BetItalyMilan Massimiliano Allegri Massimo Ambrosini Adidas Fly Emirates Napoli Walter Mazzarri Paolo Cannavaro Macron Lete Palermo Delio Rossi Fabrizio Miccoli Lotto Eurobet, Banca Nuova Parma Franco Colomba Stefano Morrone Erreà Navigare, Banca Monte Parma Roma Vincenzo Montella Francesco Totti Kappa Wind/Infostrada (in cup matches) Sampdoria Alberto Cavasin Angelo Palombo Kappa Erg Mobile Udinese Francesco Guidolin Antonio Di Natale Lotto Automobile Dacia, Tipicamente Friulano/Lumberjack
Managerial changes TeamOutgoing head coachManner of departureDate of vacancyIncoming head coachDate of appointmentTableMilan Leonardo Mutual consent Massimiliano Allegri Pre-season Juventus Alberto Zaccheroni End of contract Luigi Delneri Udinese Pasquale Marino Mutual consent Francesco Guidolin Parma Francesco Guidolin Resigned Pasquale Marino Cagliari Giorgio Melis End of caretaker spell Pierpaolo Bisoli Sampdoria Luigi Delneri End of contract Domenico Di Carlo Catania Siniša Mihajlović Resigned Marco Giampaolo ChievoVerona Domenico Di Carlo Stefano Pioli Internazionale José Mourinho Signed by Real MadridJosé Mourinho was released by Inter after a compensation package was agreed with Real Madrid on 28 May 2010 Rafael Benítez Fiorentina Cesare Prandelli Signed by Italy Siniša Mihajlović Cesena Pierpaolo Bisoli End of contract Massimo Ficcadenti Bologna Franco Colomba Sacked Paolo Magnani (caretaker) Paolo Magnani End of caretaker spell Alberto Malesani 9th Genoa Gian Piero Gasperini Sacked Davide Ballardini 14th Cagliari Pierpaolo Bisoli Roberto Donadoni 19th Brescia Giuseppe Iachini Mario Beretta 17th Internazionale Rafael Benítez Leonardo 7th Catania Marco Giampaolo Mutual consent Diego Simeone 15th Brescia Mario Beretta Sacked Giuseppe Iachini 19th Bari Giampiero Ventura Mutual consent Bortolo Mutti 20th Roma Claudio Ranieri Resigned Vincenzo Montella (caretaker) 8th Palermo Delio Rossi Sacked Serse Cosmi Sampdoria Domenico Di Carlo Alberto Cavasin 14th Parma Pasquale Marino Franco Colomba 16th Palermo Serse Cosmi Delio Rossi 8th
League table
Results
Top goalscorers Rank Player Club Goals 1 Antonio Di Natale Udinese 28 2 Edinson Cavani Napoli 26 3 Samuel Eto'o Internazionale 21 4 Alessandro Matri Cagliari/Juventus 20 5 Marco Di Vaio Bologna 19 6 Giampaolo Pazzini Sampdoria/Internazionale 17 7 Francesco Totti Roma 15 8 Zlatan Ibrahimović Milan 14 Alexandre Pato Milan Robinho Milan
Hat-tricks
PlayerClubAgainst ResultDate Miloš KrasićJuventusCagliari 3–3 Javier PastorePalermoCatania 3–1 Antonio Di NataleUdineseLecce 4–0 Giampaolo PazziniSampdoriaLecce 3–2 Antonio Di NataleUdineseNapoli 3–1 Dejan StankovićInternazionaleParma 5–2 NenêCagliariCatania 3–0 Edinson CavaniNapoliJuventus 3–0 Edinson CavaniNapoliSampdoria 4–0 Alexis Sánchez4UdinesePalermo 7–0 Antonio Di NataleUdinesePalermo 7–0 Edinson CavaniNapoliLazio 4–3 Francesco GrandolfoBariBologna 4–0 4 Player scored four goals Awards The Gran Galà del Calcio AIC 2011 was the first edition of the awards ceremony organized by the Italian Footballers' Association (AIC), recognizing the best performers of the 2010–11 Serie A season Award Winner Club Player of the Year Zlatan Ibrahimović Milan Coach of the Year Massimiliano Allegri Milan Best Goalkeeper Samir Handanović Udinese Best Referee Nicola Rizzoli Best Club Udinese Udinese Capocannoniere Antonio Di Natale Udinese
Serie A Team of the Year Goalkeeper Samir Handanović (Udinese) Defence Christian Maggio (Napoli) Thiago Silva (Milan) Alessandro Nesta / Andrea Ranocchia (Milan / Internazionale) Pablo Armero (Udinese) Midfield Marek Hamšík (Napoli) Kevin-Prince Boateng (Milan) Claudio Marchisio / Thiago Motta (Juventus / Internazionale) Attack Antonio Di Natale (Udinese) Edinson Cavani (Napoli) Zlatan Ibrahimović (Milan)
Attendances Source:
# Club Avg. attendance Highest 1 Internazionale 59,697 80,018 2 AC Milan 53,916 80,018 3 SSC Napoli 45,608 58,666 4 AS Roma 33,952 58,083 5 SS Lazio 29,122 52,121 6 US Città di Palermo 24,812 29,597 7 ACF Fiorentina 23,608 34,483 8 Genoa CFC 23,466 29,465 9 UC Sampdoria 23,330 31,500 10 Juventus FC 21,966 24,908 11 Bologna FC 1909 19,810 33,092 12 AS Bari 19,752 45,162 13 Udinese Calcio 17,554 29,644 14 AC Cesena 16,469 22,139 15 Parma FC 14,524 19,615 16 Calcio Catania 13,731 19,136 17 Cagliari Calcio 13,000 23,000 18 ChievoVerona 12,676 29,404 19 US Lecce 10,729 20,386 20 Brescia Calcio 8,403 22,123
References