The 2015–16 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 114th season of top-tier Italian football, the 84th in a round-robin tournament, and the 6th since its organization under a league committee separate from Serie B. Juventus were the defending champions. The campaign began on 22 August 2015 and ended on 15 May 2016.
On 25 April 2016, Juventus succeeded in defending their title for the fifth consecutive season, after second placed Napoli lost to Roma, giving Juventus a 12-point lead with only three games left.
Events
On 28 April 2015 Carpi obtained its first promotion ever to Serie A, after debuting in Serie B the year before, becoming the 64th team to participate in Serie A since the 1929–30 season. On 16 May, Frosinone also earned its first promotion to Serie A, becoming the 65th to participate. On 9 June 2015 Bologna won Serie B play-off, returning to the Serie A after just one year.
This season of Serie A was the first season to have goal-line technology implemented after severe complaints from various teams' general managers (first Adriano Galliani) in relation to controversial ghost goals during recent seasons of Serie A.
On 20 March 2016, Gianluigi Buffon broke the previous record of Sebastiano Rossi (929 minutes) by setting a longer period of 974 minutes without conceding a goal.
On 14 May, Gonzalo Higuaín broke Gunnar Nordahl's record for most goals scored in Serie A (20 teams championship) in a season (35 in 1949–50) and equaled Gino Rossetti's record in 1928–29 (that was composed of 32 teams, instead) by scoring 36 goals and winning the Capocannoniere.
Three Serie A icons also retired at the end of the season; the Verona captain Luca Toni, who scored 157 goals in 324 league appearances and was twice the league's top scorer, as well as Gianpaolo Bellini, the left-back who spent his entire career with Atalanta, making 435 appearances with the club. Both players also scored in their final games with their clubs on 8 May 2016, Toni in a 2–1 win over champions Juventus and Bellini in a 1–1 draw with Udinese; and on 14 May, Christian Abbiati for Milan in the last fixture of the season at home against Roma, however, he did not get any playing time, totaling 281 league appearances for the club.
Teams
Stadiums and locations
TeamHome cityStadiumCapacity2014–15 season Atalanta Bergamo Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia 17th in Serie A Bologna Bologna Stadio Renato Dall'Ara Serie B playoffs winner Carpi Carpi Stadio Alberto Braglia (Modena) Chievo Verona Stadio Marc'Antonio Bentegodi 14th in Serie A Empoli Empoli Stadio Carlo Castellani 15th in Serie A Fiorentina Florence Stadio Artemio Franchi 4th in Serie A Frosinone Frosinone Stadio Matusa 2nd in Serie B Genoa Genoa Stadio Luigi Ferraris 6th in Serie A Hellas Verona Verona Stadio Marc'Antonio Bentegodi 13th in Serie A Internazionale Milan San Siro 8th in Serie A Juventus Turin Juventus Stadium Lazio Rome Stadio Olimpico 3rd in Serie A Milan Milan San Siro 10th in Serie A Napoli Naples Stadio San Paolo 5th in Serie A Palermo Palermo Stadio Renzo Barbera 11th in Serie A Roma Rome Stadio Olimpico 2nd in Serie A Sampdoria Genoa Stadio Luigi Ferraris 7th in Serie A Sassuolo Sassuolo Mapei Stadium – Città del Tricolore(Reggio Emilia) 12th in Serie A Torino Turin Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino 9th in Serie A Udinese Udine Dacia Arena 16th in Serie A
Personnel and kits Team Head coach Captain Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor(s) Main Other Atalanta Edoardo Reja Gianpaolo Bellini Nike SuisseGas Bologna Roberto Donadoni Archimede Morleo Macron FAAC Carpi Fabrizio Castori Filippo Porcari Givova Azimut Holding Chievo Rolando Maran Sergio Pellissier Givova Paluani/Payexe/Nobis Assicurazioni/Italgreen/Cubi e Perina/Pescherie Viviani/Buccia di Mela/IM.COS/Midac Batteries/Salumi Negri/Alufer/I. Bis Trading/Ecoprogram/CF Costruzioni/Salumi Coati/Centro Atlante Verona/Contri Spumanti/SimetBus Empoli Marco Giampaolo Massimo Maccarone Joma Gensan Fiorentina Paulo Sousa Gonzalo Rodríguez Le Coq Sportif Save the Children Frosinone Roberto Stellone Alessandro Frara Legea Banca Popolare del Frusinate Genoa Gian Piero Gasperini Nicolás Burdisso Lotto AT.P.CO Hellas Verona Luigi Delneri Luca Toni Nike Metano Nord Internazionale Roberto Mancini Mauro Icardi Nike Pirelli (H)/Driver (A)None Juventus Massimiliano Allegri Gianluigi Buffon Adidas JeepNone Lazio Simone Inzaghi Lucas Biglia MacronClinica PaideiaNone Milan Cristian Brocchi Riccardo Montolivo Adidas Fly EmiratesNone Napoli Maurizio Sarri Marek Hamšík Kappa Lete Palermo Davide Ballardini Stefano Sorrentino Joma NoneNone Roma Luciano Spalletti Francesco Totti Nike Football Cares/TelethonNone Sampdoria Vincenzo Montella Angelo Palombo Joma Parà Tempotest/Samsung Galaxy/Samsung Galaxy S7/UNICEF Sassuolo Kappa MapeiNone Torino Giampiero Ventura Kamil Glik Kappa Suzuki Vitara Udinese Luigi De Canio Antonio Di Natale HS Football Dacia Additionally, referee kits are now being made by Diadora, and Nike has a new match ball, the Ordem Serie A.
Managerial changes Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Replaced by Date of appointment Napoli Rafael Benítez Signed by Real Madrid 25 May 2015Pre-season Maurizio Sarri 12 June 2015 Udinese Andrea Stramaccioni Resigned1 June 2015 Stefano Colantuono4 June 2015 Sampdoria Siniša Mihajlović Signed by Milan1 June 2015 Walter Zenga 4 June 2015 Milan Filippo Inzaghi Sacked4 June 2015 Siniša Mihajlović16 June 2015 Empoli Maurizio Sarri Signed by Napoli 5 June 2015 Marco Giampaolo 9 June 2015 Fiorentina Vincenzo Montella Sacked 8 June 2015 Paulo Sousa 21 June 2015 Carpi Fabrizio Castori 28 September 2015 20th Giuseppe Sannino 29 September 2015 Bologna Delio Rossi 28 October 2015 18th Roberto Donadoni 28 October 2015 Carpi Giuseppe Sannino 3 November 2015 20th Fabrizio Castori 3 November 2015 Palermo Giuseppe Iachini 10 November 2015 12th Davide Ballardini 10 November 2015 Sampdoria Walter Zenga 10 November 2015 10th Vincenzo Montella 15 November 2015 Hellas Verona Andrea Mandorlini 30 November 2015 20th Luigi Delneri 1 December 2015 Palermo Davide Ballardini 11 January 2016 16th Fabio Viviani (caretaker) 11 January 2016 Roma Rudi Garcia 13 January 2016 5th Luciano Spalletti 13 January 2016 Palermo Fabio Viviani (caretaker) End of caretaker spell 18 January 2016 14th Giovanni Tedesco 26 January 2016 Palermo Giovanni Tedesco End of interim spell 10 February 2016 14th Giovanni Bosi 10 February 2016 Palermo Giovanni Bosi Sacked 15 February 2016 15th Giuseppe Iachini 15 February 2016 Palermo Giuseppe Iachini 10 March 2016 17th Walter Novellino 10 March 2016 Udinese Stefano Colantuono 14 March 2016 16th Luigi De Canio 15 March 2016 Lazio Stefano Pioli 3 April 2016 8th Simone Inzaghi (caretaker) 3 April 2016 Palermo Walter Novellino 11 April 2016 18th Davide Ballardini 12 April 2016 Milan Siniša Mihajlović 12 April 2016 6th Cristian Brocchi 12 April 2016
League table
Results
Attendances
Season statistics
Top goalscorers + Rank Player Club Goals 1 Gonzalo Higuaín Napoli 36 2 Paulo Dybala Juventus 19 3 Carlos Bacca Milan 18 4 Mauro Icardi Internazionale 16 5 Leonardo Pavoletti Genoa 14 Mohamed Salah Roma 7 Éder Sampdoria/Internazionale 13 Josip Iličić Fiorentina Massimo Maccarone Empoli 10 Andrea Belotti Torino 12 Lorenzo Insigne Napoli Nikola Kalinić Fiorentina
Hat-tricks
PlayerClubAgainst ResultDate Nikola KalinićFiorentinaInternazionale 4–1 SusoGenoaFrosinone 4–0 Dries MertensNapoliBologna 6–0 Gonzalo HiguaínNapoliFrosinone 4–0
Awards Gran Galà del Calcio AIC: 2015–16 Individual Awards Player of the Year (MVP) Leonardo Bonucci(Juventus) Coach of the Year Massimiliano Allegri(Juventus) Club of the Year Juventus Goalkeeper of the Year Gianluigi Buffon(Juventus)
AIC Team of the Year: 2015–16 Serie A Goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon(Juventus) Defenders Andrea Barzagli(Juventus) Kalidou Koulibaly(Napoli) Leonardo Bonucci(Juventus) Giorgio Chiellini(Juventus) Midfielders Radja Nainggolan(Roma) Marek Hamšík(Napoli) Paul Pogba(Juventus) Miralem Pjanić(Roma) Forwards Paulo Dybala(Juventus) Gonzalo Higuaín(Napoli)
References