The 2015–16 Serie B (known as the Serie B ConTe.it for sponsorship reasons) was the 84th season since its establishment in 1929. A total of 22 teams contested the league: 16 returning from the 2014–15 season, 4 promoted from Lega Pro, and 2 relegated from Serie A. Vacancies created by the bankruptcy of Serie A-relegated Parma and the demotion of Catania to Lega Pro due to match fixing allowed Brescia to remain in the league despite being relegated. Furthermore, Teramo was due to participate to Serie B but due to the allegations for match-fixing, the Courts decided to relegate Teramo in the last place of Lega Pro of the previous season. After the demotion of Catania, Virtus Entella was readmitted into Serie B as the best team of the relegated teams from the previous season. Furthermore, Ascoli was promoted into the championship after finishing second in Lega Pro Group B, second after Teramo before being stripped of the title for the match-fixing scandal. "Sentenza combine Savona-Teramo-Ascoli" (il Resto del Carlino) Article on tuttolegapro.com
Serie B introduced the "green card" at the beginning of the season. The green card was given to promote fair play and good acts. The green card was not given during the game, as it would alter sport rules, but awarded after the match to a player or coach who exhibited fair play by the referee. The player or coach with the most green cards at the end of the season was rewarded.
Teams Relegated from 2014–15 Serie A:
Cagliari Cesena
From 2014–15 Serie B:
Vicenza Spezia Perugia Pescara Avellino Livorno Bari Trapani Ternana Latina Lanciano Pro Vercelli Crotone Modena Brescia Virtus Entella
Promoted from 2014–15 Lega Pro:
Novara Ascoli Salernitana Como
Stadia and locations
Team Home city Stadium Capacity 2014–15 season Ascoli Ascoli Del Duca Lega Pro/B champions Avellino Avellino Partenio 8th in Serie B Bari Bari San Nicola 10th in Serie B Brescia Brescia Mario Rigamonti 20th in Serie B Cagliari Cagliari Sant'Elia 18th in Serie A Cesena Cesena Dino Manuzzi 19th in Serie A Como Como Giuseppe Sinigaglia Lega Pro Play-off winners Crotone Crotone Ezio Scida 16th in Serie B Latina Latina Domenico Francioni 13th in Serie B Livorno Livorno Armando Picchi 9th in Serie B Modena Modena Alberto Braglia 17th in Serie B Novara Novara Silvio Piola Lega Pro/A champions Perugia Perugia Renato Curi 6th in Serie B Pescara Pescara Adriatico 7th in Serie B Pro Vercelli Vercelli Silvio Piola 15th in Serie B Salernitana Salerno Arechi Lega Pro/C champions Spezia La Spezia Alberto Picco 5th in Serie B Ternana Terni Libero Liberati 12th in Serie B Trapani Trapani Provinciale (Erice) 11th in Serie B Vicenza Vicenza Romeo Menti 3rd in Serie B Virtus Entella Chiavari Comunale 18th in Serie B Virtus Lanciano Lanciano Guido Biondi 14th in Serie B
Personnel and kits Team President Manager Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor (front)Shirt sponsor (back)Shorts sponsor Ascoli Francesco Bellini Devis Mangia Max Sport Fainplast/CIAMBroswayRosso Piceno Avellino Walter Taccone Attilio Tesser Givova Gruppo Taccone/Alzati Sannio/Kia Motor Group Avellino-Nola/Biotermocamino Helios TecnologieNoneNone Bari Gianluca Paparesta Andrea Camplone Nike Puglia, Balkan ExpressNoneESIM Brescia Luigi Ragazzoni Roberto Boscaglia Acerbis UBI Banco di BresciaNoneNone Cagliari Tommaso Giulini Massimo Rastelli Kappa Football Cares/Spontini/ISOLA, EP/Gruppo GrendiPecorino Romano/Eva ArredamentiEnergit Cesena Giorgio Lugaresi Massimo Drago Lotto SunTradesNoneNone Como Pietro Porro, Gianluca Zambrotta Stefano Cuoghi Legea Verga Promozionali, FoxTownNoneNone Crotone Raffaele Vrenna Ivan Jurić Zeus Metal CarpenteriaV&V GroupNone Latina Pasquale Maietta Carmine Gautieri Givova Logistica & Trasporti SarchiotoNoneRe Chips Livorno Aldo Spinelli Ezio Gelain LegeaNoneNoneKia Modena Angelo Forcina Cristiano Bergodi ErreàCasa Modena/Safim ArchitetturaNoneNone Novara Massimo De Salvo Marco Baroni Joma Banca Popolare di Novara, Comoli FerrariCristina RubinetterieNone Perugia Massimiliano Santopadre Pierpaolo Bisoli Frankie Garage Piccini Group, FortinfissiTedesco GroupNone Pescara Daniele Sebastiani Massimo Oddo Erreà Officina Meccanica Angelucci, PharmapiùDZ Insurance SportVincenzo Serraiocco Consulting Pro Vercelli Massimo Secondo Claudio Foscarini Erreà Amteco, GLI Gestione Logistica InternaNoneNone Salernitana Marco Mezzaroma Leonardo Menichini Givova Caffè Motta, Supermercati etéNoneIASA Spezia Matteo Volpi Domenico Di Carlo Acerbis CarispeziaNoneNone Ternana Giuseppe Masoni Roberto Breda Macron CIesse PiuminiNoneNone Trapani Vittorio Morace Serse Cosmi Joma Ustica LinesNoneNone Vicenza Tiziano Cunico Franco Lerda Macron Banca Popolare di VicenzaEstel GroupNone Virtus Entella Antonio Gozzi Alfredo Aglietti AcerbisCreditis, ArinoxNoneDue Energie Virtus Lanciano Valentina Maio Primo Maragliulo Legea In Opera, Marfisi CarniNoneNone
Managerial changes Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Replaced by Date of appointment Brescia Alessandro Calori Sacked Pre-season Roberto Boscaglia Crotone Massimo Drago Mutual consent Ivan Jurić Cagliari Gianluca Festa End of contract Massimo Rastelli Perugia Andrea Camplone Pierpaolo Bisoli Cesena Domenico Di Carlo Sacked Massimo Drago Modena Simone Pavan Hernán Crespo Avellino Massimo Rastelli Signed by Cagliari Attilio Tesser Ternana Attilio Tesser Signed by Avellino Domenico Toscano Ternana Domenico Toscano Resigned 22nd Roberto Breda Pro Vercelli Cristiano Scazzola Sacked 20th Claudio Foscarini Como Carlo Sabatini 22nd Gianluca Festa Latina Mark Iuliano 12th Mario Somma Ascoli Mario Petrone Mutual consent 19th Devis Mangia Spezia Nenad Bjelica Sacked 15th Domenico Di Carlo Livorno Christian Panucci Bortolo Mutti surprised to replace Christian Panucci at Livorno 7th Bortolo Mutti Bari Davide Nicola 6th Andrea Camplone Livorno Bortolo Mutti 18th Christian Panucci Virtus Lanciano Roberto D'Aversa 21st Primo Maragliulo Salernitana Vincenzo Torrente 20th Leonardo Menichini Latina Mario Somma 14th Carmine Gautieri Como Gianluca Festa 22nd Stefano Cuoghi Vicenza Pasquale Marino 20th Franco Lerda Livorno Christian Panucci 19th Franco Colomba Avellino Attilio Tesser 12th Dario Marcolin Modena Hernán Crespo 17th Cristiano Bergodi Livorno Franco Colomba 21st Ezio Gelain Avellino Dario Marcolin 13th Attilio Tesser
League table
Promotion play-offs Because teams 4-8 finished within the 14 point margin to third, six teams played in the promotion play-offs. A preliminary one-legged round, played at the home venue of the higher placed team, involved the teams from 5th to 8th place. The two winning teams played against the 3rd and 4th-placed teams in the two-legged semi-finals. The higher placed team played the second leg of the promotion playoff at home. Pescara won the promotion play-offs to Serie A.
Relegation play-out
Results
Top goalscorers RankPlayerClubGoals1 Gianluca LapadulaPescara272 Francesco CaputoVirtus Entella17 Daniele CaciaAscoli4 Ante BudimirCrotone16 Simone GanzComo6 Massimo CodaSalernitana15 Daniele VantaggiatoLivorno8 Diego FariasCagliari149 Gianluca CaprariPescara13 João PedroCagliari Felice EvacuoNovara Riccardo ManieroBari
Attendance data
References