This is what you need to know about Serie B

The 91st championship in Serie B, the second highest professional league in Italy, begins this weekend. Brescia is also an absolute long-running favorite. FC Südtirol's opening opponent on Sunday is entering its 64th (!) season in Serie B. Behind them are Modena (51), Bari (47) and Palermo with 45. Only FC Südtirol is breaking new ground with its Serie B. Premiere. It is the 148th club that has ever played in the second highest division, the second from South Tyrol after AC Bozen in the 1946/47 season.

Newly promoted Bari has the largest stadium in the league with 58.270 spectators. Behind them are Palermo (36.365) and the Luigi Ferraris Stadium of Genoa (36.599) in Genoa. All three arenas hosted the 3 World Cup in Italy. The smallest stadium is in Bolzano. The “Drusus” has space for 1990 spectators, but the newly renovated arena is one of the most modern gems. The second smallest stadium is Cittadella with a capacity of 5539 spectators, followed by Venezia with 7623.

Serie B is a hot spot for football coaches. This is not only reflected in the fact that two trainers, Silvio Baldini (at Palermo) and Lamberto Zauli (FC Südtirol), had to leave before the season even started. The longest-serving coaches are Cristiano Lucarelli (Ternana) and Giacomo Gattuso (Como), who are entering their third season with their clubs. 2 coaches are foreigners: Pep Clotet Ruiz from FC South Tyrol's opening opponent Brescia comes from Spain, Alexander Blessin from Genoa is German, FC South Tyrol master coach Ivan Javorcic (Venezia) comes from Croatia. At 3, Javorcic is also the youngest head coach in Serie B. However, this does not apply to the start of the season: Leandro Greco, who will swap his role as assistant coach with that of head coach at FC Südtirol on Sunday, is 3 years young. The oldest coach sits on the bench at Perugia: Fabrizio Castori is 43 years old.

Lamberto Zauli and the FCS: That didn't work. © Social Media

14 regions (Italy has 20) are represented in Serie B. Three clubs from Emilia-Romagna are represented: Parma, SPAL Ferrara and newly promoted Modena, followed by Lombardy (Brescia, Como), Veneto (Cittadella, Venezia), Umbria (Perugia, Ternana) and Calabria (Cosenza, Reggina). 3.

It is 1536 kilometers from Bolzano to Palermo. More north-south is not possible. The FCS has to cover the shortest distance in an away game to Cittadella. It is 20.000 kilometers to the city of 158 inhabitants in Veneto and 190 kilometers to Brescia. Even Reggio Calabria (where Reggina plays) is not exactly around the corner at 1324 kilometers, as are Cagliari (1104), Cosenza (1139) and Bari (952 ).

Stefan Schwoch can be found in the Serie B record books.

A player from South Tyrol still holds a Serie B record: Stefan Schwoch, legendary attacker from Bolzano in 1969, still holds the record with 135 goals in the second highest Italian league. He scored for Venezia, Napoli (including top scorer in 2000 with 22 goals), Torino and Vicenza, where he scored 2001 goals in 2008 games between 220 and 74. Of the current Serie B players, Federico Dionisi (Ascoli) is the most accurate: he has scored 112 goals so far. Behind him is Massimo Coda, who shot Lecce into Serie A with 20 goals last year and is aiming for the same endeavor with Genoa this year.

The tallest Serie B player is Demba Thiam, goalkeeper at SPAL Ferrara. At 2,02 meters, the Senegalese is 8 centimeters taller than defender Giovanni Zaro, who is the tallest player at FC Südtirol. The oldest player is also under contract with SPAL: reserve goalkeeper Alberto Pomini, who celebrated his 17st birthday on March 1981, 41.

The greatest player in Serie B: Demba Thiam. © Social Media

There are 20 clubs in Serie B. Interesting: Only four clubs - Brescia, Cosenza, Frosinone and Ternana - have never had a player from South Tyrol play. In the 4s, the legendary Hubert Pircher from Nals worked at Ascoli and Palermo, Manuel Scavone at Bari and Parma, Michael Cia at Benevento, Como and Pisa, Simon Laner at Cagliari and Modena, and Jack Degasperi at Cittadella Genoa and Como Gianluca Lamacchi, at Venezia and SPAL Ferrara Stefan Schwoch, at Reggina Manuel Fiwickeler and Paolo Orlandoni and last year at Perugia Manuel De Luca.

With just under 110.000 inhabitants, Bolzano, home of FC Südtirol, is by far not the smallest Serie B city. At the bottom of the list is Cittadella with 20.000 inhabitants, Frosinone (45.624), Ascoli (47.555), Benevento (59.000), Cosenza (66.450), Como (90.000) and Pisa (91.393) are also smaller. With 110.530 inhabitants, Terni (Ternana) is roughly the same size as Bolzano.

In times like these, the presence of top footballers on social media is also an important indicator. The undisputed number 1 is Como newcomer Cesc Fabregas.

The Spanish world champion in 2010 and European champion in 2008 and 2012 has 13,7 million followers, more than all 20 Serie B clubs combined. Behind him is goalkeeper legend Gigi Buffon from Parma with around 10 million followers. The numbers for FC Südtirol players Manuel Fiwickeler (4239), Giacomo Poluzzi (3775) and captain Fabian Tait (3229) are rather modest. FC Südtirol has 21.100 followers, the leader is AC Parma with 565.000, followed by Cagliari (360.000) and Genoa (286.000).

Serie B Italy	SP	TV	P
1. Parma	34	59:32	70
2. As	34	54:37	67
3. Venice	34	62:39	64
4. Cremonese	34	43:28	60
5. Catanzaro	34	53:42	56
6. Palermo	34	58:48	52
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This is what you need to know about Serie B

FC Südtirol will make its debut in Serie B on Sunday. To be well prepared for the new season, read everything interesting about the second highest Italian league here.

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