EconomicsItalyTier 3

The money in Serie C

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

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

Fees every season: €60k; for a club already here
Guarantee every season: €350k; posted, not spent
Extra on arrival: €700k; guarantee and 2 more
Wage floor: €28.9k; gross a season, from age 24
Division revenue: €218.0m; all clubs, 2023-24
Division net result: −€124.0m; all clubs, 2023-24
Estimated staff costs: ≈€4.22m; per club, estimated from the league's figures for all 46 clubs
Average value of production: €4.74m; league total over all 46 clubs, player sales included

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.

Paid every season

By every club in the league, whether it has just arrived or been here for years.

Entry fee€60kclubs associated with Lega Pro the previous season. Source: Lega Pro (Lega Serie C)

Guarantees, every season

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

Guarantee€350kSource: Lega Pro (Lega Serie C)
Supplementary guarantee: pay ceiling€1.00m gross pay a seasonSource: FIGC
Supplementary guarantee: share of pay above the ceiling40%Source: FIGC

Once, on arrival

Paid in the season a club joins, and again each time it comes back.

Extraordinary contribution (down payment)€720ksecond teams of Serie A clubs. Source: Lega Pro (Lega Serie C)
Entry fee€105kclubs new to Lega Pro (promoted or readmitted). Source: Lega Pro (Lega Serie C)
Guarantee€700kclubs admitted from Serie D. Source: Lega Pro (Lega Serie C)
Guarantee€350kclubs admitted from Serie D with clean liberatorie at 30 June. Source: Lega Pro (Lega Serie C)

When a club goes up from here

Owed by a club promoted out of this league.

Payback on promotion€775k a season for three seasonsclubs promoted to Serie B through the play-offs. Source: Lega Pro (Lega Serie C)
Payback on promotion€516k a season for three seasonsclubs promoted to Serie B as girone winners. Source: Lega Pro (Lega Serie C)

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
Guaranteebank guarantee proportional to the stake, covering pay owed to players and staff to the end of the seasonbuyers of a majority (including relative majority) stake. art. 20 bis NOIF. Source: FIGC

Conditions, pay, squad, ground and reporting rules 14

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)
Legal formsocietà di capitali (S.p.A. or S.r.l.)clubs admitted from Serie D. Source: 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

Pay and spending

Minimum salary: from age 24€28.9k gross a seasonSource: Lega Pro (Lega Serie C)
Minimum salary: ages 20–23€22k gross a seasonSource: Lega Pro (Lega Serie C)
Minimum salary: ages 20–22€20.5k gross a seasonclubs with turnover up to €5m (tax relief under art. 36 D.Lgs. 36/2021). Source: Lega Pro (Lega Serie C)
Minimum salary: ages 16–19€15.6k gross a seasonSource: Lega Pro (Lega Serie C)
Minimum salary: ages 16–19€15.2k gross a seasonclubs with turnover up to €5m (tax relief under art. 36 D.Lgs. 36/2021). Source: Lega Pro (Lega Serie C)
Salary cap50% maximum share of value of productionSource: Lega Pro (Lega Serie C)
Salary cap: fine on the excess15% of the net excess (ratio 50–70%), 20% above 70%Source: Lega Pro (Lega Serie C)

Squad

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

Ground

Stadium capacity1,500 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.

Youth developmentreported€4.00m in all2025-26, paid by FIGC. For Serie C clubs' academies (Riforma Zola). Source: TuttoC (reporting Italpress)

Mutualitàreported€27.0m in all2023-24, paid by Lega Serie A. For Lega Pro, which distributes part of it by young players' minutes (regolamento minutaggio). 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.

Value of production, all clubs€218.0m2023-24

Staff costs, all clubs€194.0m2023-24, estimate

Net result, all clubs−€124.0m2023-24

Clubs in profit15%2023-24

Average attendance2,6942023-24

Every line, season by season

All clubs together	2023-24	2022-23	2021-22	2020-21	2019-20
Value of production	€218.0m	€177.0m	€148.0m	€125.0m	€147.0m
Matchday	€23.0m	€22.0m	€19.0m	€7.00m	€21.0m
Commercial	€87.0m	€74.0m	€64.0m	€43.0m	€44.0m
Player sales	€26.0m	€11.0m	€6.00m	€11.0m	€6.00m
Staff costs	€194.0m	€159.3m	€139.1m	€130.0m	€129.4m
Total spending	€313.0m	€263.0m	€228.0m	€215.0m	€220.0m
Operating result	−€119.0m	−€104.0m	−€95.0m	−€100.0m	−€97.0m
Net result	−€124.0m	−€100.0m	−€92.0m	−€99.0m	−€97.0m
Equity	−€2.00m	−€5.00m	−€4.00m	€14.0m	€8.00m
Liabilities	€185.0m	€158.0m	€161.0m	€124.0m	€176.0m
Clubs in profit	15%
Average attendance	2,694	2,040	1,726	22	2,580

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 C 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

Contracted paycontracted · 48 clubs

Read as a table

Club	Contracted pay
AlbinoLeffe	€2.44m (2025-26)
Alcione	€1.68m (2025-26)
Altamura	€1.77m (2025-26)
Arzignano Valchiampo	€1.24m (2025-26)
Audace Cerignola	€3.69m (2025-26)
AZ Picerno	€1.30m (2025-26)
Bari	€12.9m (2025-26)
Campobasso	€3.91m (2025-26)
Carpi	€879k (2025-26)
Casarano	€3.35m (2025-26)
Casertana	€3.07m (2025-26)
Catania	€14.2m (2025-26)
Cavese	€1.96m (2025-26)
Cittadella	€4.50m (2025-26)
Cosenza	€4.99m (2025-26)
Crotone	€5.17m (2025-26)
Dolomiti Bellunesi	€2.09m (2025-26)
Foggia	€2.74m (2025-26)
Forlì	€1.32m (2025-26)
Giana Erminio	€947k (2025-26)
Giugliano	€2.25m (2025-26)
Gubbio	€2.07m (2025-26)
Guidonia Montecelio	€3.41m (2025-26)
Latina	€2.01m (2025-26)
Lecco	€3.82m (2025-26)
Livorno	€2.60m (2025-26)
Lumezzane	€2.32m (2025-26)
Monopoli	€3.05m (2025-26)
Novara	€4.10m (2025-26)
Ospitaletto	€664k (2025-26)
Pergolettese	€1.28m (2025-26)
Perugia	€4.60m (2025-26)
Pescara	€6.33m (2025-26)
Pianese	€1.19m (2025-26)
Pineto	€2.00m (2025-26)
Potenza	€4.04m (2025-26)
Pro Vercelli	€2.94m (2025-26)
Ravenna	€4.66m (2025-26)
Reggiana	€8.94m (2025-26)
Renate	€1.66m (2025-26)
Salernitana	€10.7m (2025-26)
Sambenedettese	€1.80m (2025-26)
Sorrento	€3.14m (2025-26)
Spezia	€23.6m (2025-26)
Torres	€3.16m (2025-26)
Trento	€2.05m (2025-26)
Union Brescia	€6.57m (2025-26)
Vis Pesaro	€2.69m (2025-26)