The winners of the two Serie C1 groups - Treviso and Avellino - are back in Serie B next season. The next four teams in each group entered the playoffs. C1A (North) - AlbinoLeffe (2nd) advanced past Padova (5th) after 2-2 aggregate; Pisa (4th) defeated Cesena (3rd) 2-1. The final between Pisa and AlbinoLeffe is June 8 and June 15. I'm rooting for AlbinoLeffe - the club actually represents the two small Lombardian towns of Albino and Leffe. They combined forces in the 1998. Making it to Serie B would be a historic accomplishment of Castel di Sangro proprotions. Also, Pisa SHOULD be in C1 next year just so there can be some rabid Tuscan derbies with Fiorentina. And finally, Albino and Leffe are quite near Bergamo, so those folks would get to experience some fun derbies with Atalanta. C1B (South) - Pescara (2nd) defeated Sambenedettese (5th) 2-1 on aggregate; Martina (3rd) advanced past Teramo (4th) after 1-1 aggregate score. The tie-breaker was final league standing. Pescara and Martina play on the 8th and 15th as well. Martina RAI International will show the first leg of the Pisa-AlbinoLeffe playoff on Sunday night at 11:15 pm Eastern (tape delayed, obviously).
I didn't find the Pisa-AlbinoLeffe game on RAI last night. Pisa won the first leg, 2-1. The Pescara-Martina game finished 0-0. Returns are this week. Maybe RAI will show them at a reasonable time since there are no other games going on. Many discussions occurring about what'll happen if AlbinoLeffe wins since they don't have a suitable Serie B stadium. I suspect Pisa will win and end any confusion.
Tiny AlbinoLeffe has won promotion to B after defeating Pisa 4-2 in extra time. I guess - in the final - they don't use the final standings to break tie but do play an OT if aggregate scores are tied. Pescara won promotion from the other group. Now we'll see what AlbinoLeffe will do about their stadium, which does not currently meet the standards of Serie B. The wildest rumor I saw was that they would sell their place in B to the highest bidder. More likely would be a) upgrading their stadium or b) working out an agreement with neighbors Atalanta to use their stadium. Assuming Catania loses their case for remaining in B, this is what the "cadeta" looks like for next season: AlbinoLeffe (promoted from C1A) Ascoli (12th in B) Atalanta (relegated from A) Avellino (promoted from C1B) Bari (10th - tie) Cagliari (9th - tie) Como (relegated from A) Livorno (10th - tie) Messina (12th - tie) Napoli (14th - tie) Palermo (5th - tie) Pescara (promoted from C1B) Piacenza (relegated from A) Ternana (7th) Torino (relegated from A) Treviso (promoted from C1A) Triestina (5th - tie) Venezia (14th - tie) Verona (12th - tie) Vicenza (8th - tie)