2017–18 Serie B

Serie B 2017–18
Season information
Winners	Empoli (2nd title)
Promoted	Empoli Parma Frosinone (by play-off)
Relegated	Virtus Entella Novara Pro Vercelli Ternana Bari (bankruptcy) Cesena (bankruptcy) Avellino (bankruptcy)
Season statistics
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1182
Top goalscorer	Francesco Caputo (26 goals)
Biggest home win	Perugia 5–0 Carpi (18 November 2017)
Biggest away win	Virtus Entella 1–5 Perugia (27 August 2017) Perugia 1–5 Pro Vercelli (8 October 2017) Bari 0-4 Empoli (27 January 2018) Cremonese 0-4 Foggia (7 April 2018)
Highest scoring	Empoli 5–3 Cesena (18 November 2017)
← 2016–17	2018–19 →

The 2017–18 Serie B (known as the Serie B ConTe.it for sponsorship reasons) was the 86th season since its establishment in 1929.

A total of 22 teams contested the league: 15 returning from the 2016–17 Serie B season, 4 promoted from 2016–17 Lega Pro (Cremonese, Venezia, Foggia, Parma), and 3 relegated from 2016–17 Serie A (Empoli, Palermo, Pescara).

Teams

Team changes

Promoted from 2016–17 Lega Pro Cremonese Foggia Venezia Relegated from 2016–17 Serie A Palermo Pescara

Promoted to 2017–18 Serie A SPAL Hellas Verona Relegated to 2017–18 Lega Pro Trapani Vicenza Latina Pisa

Stadia and locations

Team	Home city	Stadium	Capacity	2016–17 season
Ascoli	Ascoli Piceno	Stadio Cino e Lillo Del Duca	&0000000000010887.00000010,887	15th in Serie B
Avellino	Avellino	Stadio Partenio – Adriano Lombardi	&0000000000010215.00000010,215	17th in Serie B
Bari	Bari	Stadio San Nicola	&0000000000058270.00000058,270	12th in Serie B
Brescia	Brescia	Stadio Mario Rigamonti	&0000000000016743.00000016,743	14th in Serie B
Cesena	Cesena	Orogel Stadium Dino Manuzzi	&0000000000023860.00000023,860	13th in Serie B
Cremonese	Cremona	Stadio Giovanni Zini	&0000000000020641.00000020,641	Lega Pro/A Champions
Foggia	Foggia	Stadio Pino Zaccheria	&0000000000016798.00000016,798	Lega Pro/C Champions
Novara	Novara	Stadio Silvio Piola	&0000000000017875.00000017,875	9th in Serie B
Palermo	Palermo	Stadio Renzo Barbera	&0000000000036349.00000036,349	19th in Serie A
Pescara	Pescara	Stadio Adriatico – Giovanni Cornacchia	&0000000000020515.00000020,515	20th in Serie A
Pro Vercelli	Vercelli	Stadio Silvio Piola	&0000000000005500.0000005,500	16th in Serie B
Salernitana	Salerno	Stadio Arechi	&0000000000031300.00000031,300	11th in Serie B
Ternana	Terni	Stadio Libero Liberati	&0000000000017460.00000017,460	18th in Serie B
Venezia	Venezia	Stadio Pierluigi Penzo	&0000000000007450.0000007,450	Lega Pro/B Champions
Virtus Entella	Chiavari	Stadio Comunale Aldo Gastaldi	&0000000000005535.0000005,535	10th in Serie B

Personnel and kits

Team	President	Manager	Kit manufacturer	Sponsors
Ascoli	Francesco Bellini	Serse Cosmi	Nike
Avellino	Walter Taccone	Claudio Foscarini	Givova	Sidigas
Bari	Cosmo Antonio Giancaspro	Fabio Grosso	Zeus	Birra Peroni
Brescia	Alessandro Triboldi	Ivo Pulga	Acerbis	UBI Banca
Carpi	Claudio Caliumi	Antonio Calabro	Givova	Gaudì Jeans
Cesena	Giorgio Lugaresi	Fabrizio Castori	Lotto	PLT puregreen
Cittadella	Andrea Gabrielli	Roberto Venturato	Boxeur Des Rues	Ocsa
Cremonese	Luigi Simoni	Andrea Mandorlini	Garman	Ilta Inox S.p.A.
Empoli	Fabrizio Corsi	Aurelio Andreazzoli	Joma	Gensan
Foggia	Lucio Fares	Giovanni Stroppa	Nike	Tamma
Frosinone	Maurizio Stirpe	Moreno Longo	Legea	Banca Popolare del Frusinate
Novara	Carlo Accornero	Domenico Di Carlo	Joma	Banca Popolare di Novara
Palermo	Maurizio Zamparini	Roberto Stellone	Legea	Sicily by Car, Bisaten
Parma	Jiang Lizhang	Roberto D'Aversa	Erreà	Aon, Cetiliar
Perugia	Massimiliano Santopadre	Roberto Breda	FG Sport	Piccini
Pescara	Daniele Sebastiani	Giuseppe Pillon	Erreà	O.M.A.
Pro Vercelli	Massimo Secondo	Gianluca Grassadonia	Errea	PGO Group S.p.A.
Salernitana	Marco Mezzaroma & Claudio Lotito	Stefano Colantuono	Givova	Seleco
Spezia	Andrea Corradino	Fabio Gallo	Acerbis	Arquati, Credit Agricole - Carispezia
Ternana	Stefano Bandecchi	Luigi De Canio	Zeus	Unicusano
Venezia	Joe Tacopina	Filippo Inzaghi	Nike
Virtus Entella	Antonio Gozzi	Alfredo Aglietti	Acerbis	Duferco Energia, Pensa Benessere

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Replaced by	Date of appointment
Ascoli	Alfredo Aglietti	End of contract	1 June 2017	Pre-season	Fulvio Fiorin & Enzo Maresca	1 June 2017
Bari	Stefano Colantuono	End of contract	13 June 2017		Fabio Grosso	13 June 2017
Brescia	Luigi Cagni	End of contract	3 June 2017		Roberto Boscaglia	3 June 2017
Carpi	Fabrizio Castori	Mutual consent	12 June 2017		Antonio Calabro	14 July 2017
Frosinone	Pasquale Marino	Mutual consent	14 June 2017		Moreno Longo	14 June 2017
Novara	Roberto Boscaglia	Signed by Brescia	3 June 2017		Eugenio Corini	14 June 2017
Pro Vercelli	Moreno Longo	Signed by Frosinone	14 June 2017		Gianluca Grassadonia	14 June 2017
Spezia	Domenico Di Carlo	End of contract	14 June 2017		Fabio Gallo	14 June 2017
Perugia	Cristian Bucchi	Signed by Sassuolo	20 June 2017		Federico Giunti	23 June 2017
Empoli	Giovanni Martusciello	Mutual consent	20 June 2017		Vincenzo Vivarini	21 June 2017
Palermo	Diego Bortoluzzi	End of contract	21 June 2017		Bruno Tedino	22 June 2017
Ternana	Fabio Liverani	End of contract	30 June 2017		Sandro Pochesci	9 July 2017
Cesena	Andrea Camplone	Sacked	30 September 2017	22nd	Fabrizio Castori	1 October 2017
Brescia	Roberto Boscaglia		12 October 2017	15th	Pasquale Marino	12 October 2017
Perugia	Federico Giunti		24 October 2017	15th	Roberto Breda	26 October 2017
V. Entella	Gianpaolo Castorina		5 November 2017	19th	Alfredo Aglietti	6 November 2017
Ascoli	Fulvio Fiorin		7 December 2017	22nd	Serse Cosmi	7 December 2017
Salernitana	Alberto Bollini		11 December 2017	11th	Stefano Colantuono	12 December 2017
Empoli	Vincenzo Vivarini		16 December 2017	5th	Aurelio Andreazzoli	17 December 2017
Pro Vercelli	Gianluca Grassadonia		16 December 2017	20th	Gianluca Atzori	17 December 2017
Brescia	Pasquale Marino		15 January 2018	17th	Roberto Boscaglia	15 January 2018
Pro Vercelli	Gianluca Atzori		22 January 2018	22nd	Gianluca Grassadonia	22 January 2018
Ternana	Sandro Pochesci		29 January 2018	20th	Ferruccio Mariani	30 January 2018
Novara	Eugenio Corini		4 February 2018	16th	Domenico Di Carlo	5 February 2018
Ternana	Ferruccio Mariani		21 February 2018	22nd	Luigi De Canio	21 February 2018
Pescara	Zdeněk Zeman		6 March 2018	13th	Massimo Epifani	6 March 2018
	Massimo Epifani		1 April 2018	16th	Giuseppe Pillon	1 April 2018
Avellino	Walter Novellino		3 April 2018	18th	Claudio Foscarini	3 April 2018
Cremonese	Attilio Tesser		23 April 2018	14th	Andrea Mandorlini	23 April 2018
Palermo	Bruno Tedino		28 April 2018	3rd	Roberto Stellone	28 April 2018
Brescia	Roberto Boscaglia		29 April 2018	13th	Ivo Pulga	29 April 2018
Virtus Entella	Alfredo Aglietti		6 May 2018	20th	Gennaro Volpe	6 May 2018
Pro Vercelli	Gianluca Grassadonia		7 May 2018	22nd	Vito Grieco	7 May 2018

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Empoli  (C) (P)	42	24	13	5	88	49	+39	85	Promotion to Serie A
2	Parma  (P)	42	21	9	12	57	37	+20	72
3	Frosinone  (P) (O)	42	19	15	8	65	47	+18	72	Qualification to promotion play-offs
4	Palermo	42	18	17	7	59	39	+20	71
5	Venezia	42	17	16	9	56	42	+14	67
6	Cittadella	42	18	12	12	61	48	+13	66
7	Bari	42	18	13	11	59	48	+11	67
8	Perugia	42	16	12	14	67	58	+9	60
9	Foggia	42	16	10	16	66	68	−2	58
10	Spezia	42	13	14	15	46	45	+1	53
11	Carpi	42	12	16	14	32	46	−14	52
12	Salernitana	42	11	18	13	51	58	−7	51
13	Cesena	42	11	17	14	55	61	−6	50
14	Cremonese	42	9	21	12	48	47	+1	48
15	Avellino	42	11	15	16	49	60	−11	48
16	Brescia	42	11	15	16	41	52	−11	48
17	Pescara	42	11	15	16	50	64	−14	48
18	Ascoli  (O)	42	11	13	18	40	60	−20	46	Qualification to relegation play-out
19	Virtus Entella  (R)	42	10	14	18	41	54	−13	44
20	Novara  (R)	42	10	14	18	42	52	−10	44	Relegation to Serie C
21	Pro Vercelli  (R)	42	9	13	20	47	70	−23	40
22	Ternana  (R)	42	7	16	19	62	77	−15	37

Source: Lega Serie B
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd number of goals scored.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round; (Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament

Promotion play-offs

Six teams could contest the promotion play-offs depending on the point differential between the third and fourth-placed teams. It began with a preliminary one-legged round played at the home venue of the higher placed team, involving the teams placed fifth to eight. The two winning (or higher placed team from regular season if a match ended with a draw) teams advanced to play the third and fourth-placed teams in the two-legged semi-finals. Those winning teams advanced to the two-legged final, where the winner was promoted to play in Serie A the following season. In the two-legged rounds, the higher seeded team played the second game at home.

	Preliminary round					Semi-finals					Final
						5	Venezia
	5	Venezia	3			4	Palermo
	8	Perugia	0								4	Palermo
											3	Frosinone
						6	Cittadella
	6	Cittadella	2			3	Frosinone
	7	Bari	2

Relegation play-out

Two teams contested the relegation play-out in a two-legged round. The higher placed team played the second leg at home. In the case of a tie on aggregate, the higher placed team from the regular season were declared the winners. The losers were relegated to Serie C for the following season.

Team #1	Agg.	Team #2	1st leg	2nd leg
Virtus Entella (19)	0–0	Ascoli (18)	0–0	0–0

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Francesco Caputo	Empoli	26
2	Alfredo Donnarumma	Empoli	23
3	Samuel Di Carmine	Perugia	22
4	Adriano Montalto	Ternana	20
5	Fabio Mazzeo	Foggia	19
6	Alberto Cerri	Perugia	15
7	Camillo Ciano	Frosinone	14
	Cristian Galano	Bari
9	Emanuele Calaiò	Parma	13
	Andrea Caracciolo	Brescia
	Daniel Ciofani	Frosinone
	Ilija Nestorovski	Palermo
	Stefano Pettinari	Pescara

Results

Home \ Away

ASC

AVE

BAR

BRE

CRP

CES

CIT

CRE

EMP

FOG

FRO

NOV

PAL

PAR

PER

PES

PVE

SAL

SPE

TER

VEN

VET

Ascoli

1–1

1–0

0–0

2–0

2–1

1–2

0–0

1–2

0–2

0–1

1–2

0–0

0–1

2–2

1–1

1–0

1–3

3–1

2–1

3–3

1–1

Avellino

1–1

1–2

2–1

1–1

1–1

0–2

0–0

3–2

5–1

0–2

2–1

1–3

1–2

2–0

2–2

1–0

2–3

1–0

2–1

1–1

0–0

Bari

3–0

2–1

3–0

2–0

3–0

4–2

1–0

0–4

1–0

1–0

1–1

0–3

0–0

3–1

1–0

2–2

1–1

1–1

3–0

0–2

1–0

Brescia

0–1

2–3

2–1

1–1

0–0

1–1

1–1

0–2

2–2

1–2

0–1

0–0

2–1

2–1

2–1

0–0

2–0

1–1

3–1

1–2

0–0

Carpi

4–2

0–0

0–0

1–1

2–1

1–1

1–1

0–0

1–3

1–1

1–0

1–3

2–1

1–2

0–1

2–0

1–0

2–1

2–1

0–0

0–0

Cesena

0–2

3–1

1–1

1–0

0–0

0–1

1–0

2–3

3–3

1–0

2–2

1–1

2–1

1–1

4–2

2–2

3–3

1–0

4–3

0–0

3–0

Cittadella

3–2

2–2

0–0

2–2

0–1

4–0

1–2

1–1

3–1

1–2

1–3

0–0

1–2

1–1

2–0

2–0

2–1

1–2

1–1

2–1

0–1

Cremonese

1–2

3–1

0–1

2–0

1–1

1–0

1–1

1–1

0–4

2–2

1–1

1–2

1–0

3–3

0–0

2–3

1–1

1–0

3–3

5–1

0–1

Empoli

3–0

1–1

3–2

1–1

1–0

5–3

0–1

1–1

3–1

3–3

1–1

4–0

4–0

2–1

3–1

3–2

2–0

1–1

2–1

3–2

2–1

Foggia

3–0

2–1

1–1

1–2

3–0

2–1

1–3

2–3

0–3

1–2

2–2

1–1

0–3

2–1

0–1

2–1

1–0

2–1

1–1

2–2

1–1

Frosinone

2–0

1–1

3–2

2–0

1–0

3–3

2–1

0–0

2–4

2–2

1–0

0–0

2–1

1–3

3–0

4–0

0–0

1–1

4–2

2–1

4–3

Novara

1–2

1–2

1–2

2–1

1–0

1–0

1–0

1–1

1–1

0–1

2–1

2–2

0–1

1–1

1–1

0–1

2–3

1–1

0–3

1–3

0–1

Palermo

4–1

3–0

1–1

2–0

4–0

0–0

0–3

1–1

3–3

1–2

1–0

0–2

1–1

1–0

1–1

2–1

3–0

2–0

1–0

0–0

2–0

Parma

4–0

2–0

1–0

0–1

2–1

0–0

0–0

1–0

1–2

3–1

2–0

3–0

3–2

1–1

0–1

3–0

2–2

0–0

2–0

1–1

3–1

Perugia

1–0

1–1

1–3

2–0

5–0

0–3

1–3

1–0

2–4

2–0

1–0

1–1

1–0

3–0

4–2

1–5

1–1

3–0

2–3

1–1

2–0

Pescara

0–1

2–1

2–2

0–3

0–1

0–0

1–2

0–0

0–1

5–1

3–3

1–0

2–2

1–4

0–2

3–1

1–0

3–2

3–3

1–0

2–2

Pro Vercelli

2–0

0–0

2–2

0–0

0–0

5–2

1–2

1–4

2–1

1–4

0–2

0–0

0–0

1–0

0–2

3–1

1–1

0–2

2–1

0–2

1–1

Salernitana

0–0

2–0

2–2

4–2

1–2

1–1

1–3

1–1

2–1

0–3

1–1

1–0

0–2

0–1

1–1

2–2

0–0

2–0

3–3

3–2

1–0

Spezia

1–1

1–0

1–0

0–1

0–1

1–2

0–0

1–0

1–1

1–0

1–1

1–0

0–0

0–2

4–2

4–0

5–1

3–0

1–1

1–1

2–1

Ternana

1–1

1–2

1–2

1–1

0–0

1–0

5–1

2–1

1–1

2–2

0–0

1–1

2–3

1–1

1–1

0–3

4–3

2–2

4–2

2–3

0–1

Venezia

1–0

3–1

3–1

1–2

2–0

1–0

2–1

1–1

1–0

2–1

1–1

1–3

3–0

0–1

1–0

0–0

1–1

0–0

0–0

2–0

2–0

Virtus Entella

1–1

1–1

3–1

3–0

0–0

2–2

0–1

1–1

2–3

1–2

0–1

2–1

1–2

2–0

1–5

0–0

3–2

0–2

0–1

3–1

0–0

Updated to games played on 18 May 2018
Source: Eurosport.com (Italian)
¹The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For coming matches, an a indicates there is an article about the match.