EconomicsItalyTier 2

The money in Serie B

What it takes to play in Serie B, what it pays, and how its clubs do.

↑ Serie A ↓ Serie C Clubs and owners in Serie B

Guarantee every season: €800k; posted, not spent
Division revenue: €427.4m; all clubs, 2023-24
Division net result: −€238.0m; all clubs, 2023-24
Average staff costs: €19.7m; wages and social charges, league total over all 20 clubs
Typical club revenue: €34.5m; median of 10 clubs' latest accounts at this tier
Typical club result: −€34.0m; median of 10 clubs' latest accounts at this tier

What it takes to play here

The 2026-27 rules from the league’s and federation’s own regulations, sorted by when they cost money.

Guarantees, every season

Collateral posted each season. Not spent unless called; the cost is the bank's fee or the cash tied up.

Guarantee€800kSource: Lega Pro (Lega Serie C)
Supplementary guarantee: pay ceiling€18.0m gross pay a seasonclubs relegated from Serie A after three of the last four seasons in Serie A. Source: FIGC
Supplementary guarantee: pay ceiling€14.0m gross pay a seasonclubs relegated from Serie A after one season (or two of the last three) in Serie A. Source: FIGC
Supplementary guarantee: pay ceiling€11.0m gross pay a seasonother Serie B clubs. Source: FIGC
Supplementary guarantee: pay ceiling€9.00m gross pay a seasonclubs in their second Serie B season after Serie C. Source: FIGC
Supplementary guarantee: pay ceiling€7.00m gross pay a seasonclubs promoted from Serie C. Source: FIGC
Supplementary guarantee: share of pay above the ceiling40%Source: FIGC

When someone buys a stake

Put up by the buyer at the time of the purchase.

Guaranteebank guarantee proportional to the stake bought, covering the club's overdue sporting debts for the seasonbuyers of 10% or more of a club. art. 20 bis NOIF. Source: FIGC

Conditions, pay, squad, ground and reporting rules 6

Conditions

Requirements, not payments, though some can force an owner to put in money.

Liquidity test: exemption from the supplementary guarantee1 ratioSource: FIGC
Liquidity test0.8 ratioSource: Lega Pro (Lega Serie C)
Multi-club ownershipno person may control, directly or indirectly, more than one professional clubart. 16 bis NOIF. Source: FIGC
Ownership approvala buyer of 10% or more must satisfy FIGC's integrity and financial-solidity requirementsart. 20 bis NOIF. Source: FIGC

Squad

Non-EU players0 non-EU professionals signed from abroad in the seasonSource: Lega Pro (Lega Serie C)

Ground

Stadium capacity5,500 seatsSource: Lega Pro (Lega Serie C)

Money in from the league and federation

Central payments to the division’s clubs, the latest season first. A maximum is the most a club can get, not what it received.

Parachutereported€10.0m–€25.0m per club2026-27, paid by Lega Serie A, €45.0m in all. For clubs relegated at the end of 2025-26. €10m to a club relegated after one season in Serie A, €15m after two of the last three, €25m after three of the last four; pool of €60m, scaled down if the shares exceed it, any remainder carried forward.Earlier: 2025-26 €10.0m–€25.0m per club.Sources: Calcio e Finanza, Calcio e Finanza

Parachute levyreported€300k per club2025-26, paid by Lega B, €5.00m in all. For Serie B clubs not relegated from Serie A. 10% of each relegated club's parachute, shared equally among the other 17 Serie B clubs.Source: Calcio e Finanza

The division’s accounts

Every club in the division added together, from the league’s or federation’s annual report, season by season. The latest season is the brighter column.

Revenue, all clubs€427.4m2023-24

TV money, all clubs€47.0m2023-24

Staff costs, all clubs€394.3m2023-24

Net result, all clubs−€238.0m2023-24

Clubs in profit25%2023-24

Average attendance9,3892023-24

Every line, season by season

All clubs together	2023-24	2022-23	2021-22	2020-21	2019-20
Revenue	€427.4m	€389.3m	€322.0m	€290.1m	€296.3m
Value of production	€482.6m	€456.5m	€355.2m	€352.5m	€388.6m
TV money	€47.0m	€49.2m	€43.7m	€43.7m	€22.3m
Matchday	€41.1m	€37.9m	€17.1m	€400k	€15.3m
Commercial	€119.2m	€86.7m	€68.0m	€65.3m	€54.5m
Player sales	€55.2m	€67.2m	€33.2m	€62.4m	€92.3m
Staff costs	€394.3m	€410.8m	€333.5m	€294.4m	€212.4m
Total spending	€634.0m	€650.0m	€516.0m	€436.0m	€354.0m
Operating result	−€272.0m	−€322.0m	−€267.0m	−€136.0m	−€25.0m
Net result	−€238.0m	−€330.0m	−€268.0m	−€134.0m	−€37.0m
Equity	€58.0m	−€53.0m	−€28.0m	€51.0m	€63.0m
Liabilities	€543.0m	€778.0m	€525.0m	€377.0m	€325.0m
Clubs in profit	25%
Average attendance	9,389	10,261	3,806	66	3,960

Source: FIGC (Centro Studi, with PwC and AREL)

A typical club here

Each club’s latest published figures, one dot a club, the white mark the median. Only clubs that publish are counted, so the sample may lean towards larger or better-run clubs.

What Serie B clubs earn and spend

Every figure a club or its league publishes, on one scale: what comes in, what goes out on staff, and the caps that limit it. Each lane says what its amounts are; a cap is not money spent.

Money in
Money out
A limit, not money spent

Value of productionaccounts · 3 clubs

Staff costsaccounts · 4 clubs

Contracted paycontracted · 19 clubs

Read as a table

Club	Value of production	Staff costs	Contracted pay
Arezzo			€8.11m (2025-26)
Ascoli			€5.55m (2025-26)
Avellino			€14.4m (2025-26)
Benevento			€10.9m (2025-26)
Carrarese			€8.89m (2025-26)
Catanzaro			€11.9m (2025-26)
Cesena			€12.8m (2025-26)
Cremonese	€57.4m (2024-25)	€38.6m (2024-25)	€23.6m (2024-25)
Empoli			€19.7m (2025-26)
Juve Stabia		€2.46m (2023-24)	€8.97m (2025-26)
Mantova			€10.2m (2025-26)
Modena			€14.7m (2025-26)
Padova			€7.87m (2025-26)
Palermo			€30.7m (2025-26)
Pisa	€15.9m (2024-25)	€28.4m (2024-25)	€17.0m (2024-25)
Sampdoria			€25.5m (2025-26)
Südtirol			€7.67m (2025-26)
Verona	€101.6m (2024-25)	€43.3m (2024-25)
Vicenza			€6.54m (2025-26)
Virtus Entella			€7.86m (2025-26)