Beautiful Chaos: Your Guide To The 2023/24 Serie C Play-Offs

With the Serie C season almost complete, clubs and supporters will have just a few days to catch their breath and steel themselves for the marathon of the play-offs. 

No fewer than 28 teams will be competing throughout the month of May and into June for the single remaining promotion berth. The victor will join Serie C divisional winners – Mantova (A), Cesena (B) and Juve Stabia (C) – in Serie B next season. 

The Serie C play-offs are amongst the most physically demanding in European football. There will be a total of 39 matches played and team entering in the first round would need to play ten matches in five weeks if they were to go all the way. Thank heavens Jurgen Klopp isn’t in charge at Audace Cerignola.

But it’s not just the players and coaches looking down the barrel of a hectic month. The administrators will be limbering up too, preparing to implement a fiendishly complex set of competition rules.  

With the involvement of our adopted team, Padova, now guaranteed we’ve attempted to lighten the burden for fans with our Serie C play-off explainer… 

Overview 

The Serie C play-offs are contested by the twenty-seven teams that finish in places 2^nd to 10^th across the three regional Serie C divisions (Girone A, B, C). The 28^th participant is Catania, who earned their place by winning the Coppa Italia Serie C.

The play-off competition is unashamedly tilted in favour of higher-placed teams, providing them with byes in the earlier rounds and home advantage when they do enter the competition later on. 

Matches ending in a tie are generally awarded to the higher-placed team without recourse to either away goals, extra time or penalties, although that changes as the competition reaches its semi-final stage.

Regional Phase 

The First Round begins on Tuesday 7^th May, comprising the eighteen teams that placed 5^th to 10^th across the three divisions during the regular season. 

This phase is regionalised, so teams are competing against clubs they would already have faced during the regular season. Higher-placed teams are given home advantage in a one-off tie and automatically progress in the event of a draw after 90 minutes. Fixtures are configured as follows: 

5^th v 10^th 

6^th v 9^th 

7^th v 8^th 

The Second Round is contested on Sunday 11^th May by twelve clubs; the nine clubs emerging from the first round are joined by the 4^th placed teams from each of the three divisions. 

The format is exactly the same as for the First Round, comprising a one-off match where the higher placed team is given home advantage against a lower-ranked opponent, plus the opportunity to progress in the event of a draw after 90 minutes. 

National Phase 

The National Phase sees teams competing against opponents from other divisions over two legs. The Third Round fixtures are contested on Tuesday 14^th and Saturday 18^th May. The six teams emerging from the Second Round are joined by the 3^rd placed teams from each of the three divisions, plus the Coppa Italia winners, making ten in total. 

Five of the ten participating teams are seeded (the four new entrants plus the highest-ranked team emerging from the Regional Phase are seeded). Seeds are given the advantage of playing at home in the second leg and, again, the opportunity to progress in the event of scores being equal after 180 minutes.  

The Fourth Round takes place on 21^st and 25^th May. At this point, the five teams progressing from the Third Round are joined by the three 2^nd place teams from each division, making 8 teams in total. This is the stage of the competition where Padova enter the fray.

Four of the eight participating teams are seeded (comprising the new entrants plus the highest-ranked team emerging from the Third Round). Seeded teams are given the same advantages as seen in the Third Round. 

Semi-Final

The competition rules evolve at the semi-final stage as the playing field begins to level. Firstly, there is no seeding, with matches instead determined by an open draw. Secondly, for the first time in the competition, extra time and penalties become a possibility i.e. the higher-placed teams no longer progress if scores are equal after 180 minutes. 

Semi-finals are contested over two legs on 28^th May and 2nd June.  

Final 

The final is contested between the two clubs that progressed from the semi-finals. An open draw determines which teams has the advantage of playing at home in the second leg and, as in the semi-finals, extra time and penalties will be used in the event of scores being equal after 180 minutes.  

The final will be played on Wednesday 5^th and Sunday 9^th June. 

What Can You Expect? 

Serie C play-offs involve a set of finely balanced matches that can be turned on their head by a single goal. Gung-ho attacking football, controversy and regional rivalries will be served up in abundance. The drama naturally builds to a crescendo in the latter stages as teams compete for that solitary promotion place. 

The 2022/23 Semi-Finals were a case in point. We saw Zdenek Zeman’s Pescara pitched against Foggia; not only Zeman’s former club but one coached by Zeman’s student, Delio Rossi. Naturally, an exhilirating encounter unfolded, including a 97th minute strike for Foggia that took the contest to extra time. Tied at4-4 after 210 mintues, a penalty shoot out was ultimately required to send Foggia into the final. In the other Semi-Final, we witnessed the chaos of Lecco’s President Paolo Leonardo Di Nunno invade the pitch on his mobility scooter in protest at a penalty awarded to Cesena.

The form book strongly suggests that we should expect one of the 2^nd or 3^rd placed teams to secure that single promotion spot. That has been the case in each of the last five years that the play-offs have been contested. This is perhaps an unsurprising outcome given the architecture of the competition is designed to give those teams a foot up in recognition of their performance over the regular season. 

Can Padova Succeed?

Padova will go into the competition as one of the favourites having finished in a comfortable 2^nd place in Girone A. However, cast adrift of eventual winners Mantova, the Biancoscudati have struggled to recreate their early season form in recent months. 

With that loss of momentum, World Cup winner Massimo Oddo recently replaced Vincenzo Torrente in the dugout. With a large and experienced squad at his disposal, Oddo will be looking to make up for past disappointments. He was Padova’s coach in 2022 when he took them all the way to the play-off final, only to be defeated by Palermo. 

Elsewhere in Girone A, the participation of Atalanta under-23 is an intriguing prospect having played in Serie C for the first time this season. Big spenders (and local rivals) Vicenza appear to be hitting form just at the right time. This is all in stark contrast to the higher-placed teams in Girone B – Torres, Perugia, and Gubbio – who seem to be going backwards at precisely the wrong time.

In Girone C, Casertana and Avelino are the form teams to keep an eye on. Benevento are another well-resourced club that stands a good chance of prevailing in June. The disciplined approach of Gli Stregoni has resulted in numerous single-goal victories during the regular season, but it remains to be seen how that approach will translate to the cut and thrust of the play-offs.

Where Can You Watch? 

A selection of regular season Serie C matches have been shown on the FIFA+ app and website, so we are expecting the play-offs to feature there. The games are free to view and have Italian-language commentary. 

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