Research · Serie B
Season-level reference. Single-matchday material has been stripped: this is the shape of the division, not a form guide. Nothing here feeds the model.
Compiled 22 August 2026. Where I've derived a number myself rather than lifted it from a source, I've said so.
Bookmakers disagreed more than usual this year, which itself is a signal. Two distinct camps:
| Club | Snai/Sisal | GoldBet | Eurobet | Consensus read |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Palermo | 4.00 | 3.50 | 2.85 | Joint favourite |
| Hellas Verona | 5.00 | 2.75 | 3.45 | Joint favourite |
| Cremonese | 4.00 | 5.00 | 5.00 | Clear third |
| Pisa | 6.00 | 8.00 | 8.50 | Fourth, well adrift |
| Sampdoria | 12.00 | – | 14.00 | Best of the rest |
| Empoli | 12.00 | – | 18.00 | Outsider |
| Modena | 12.00 | – | 36.00 | Big spread, worth a look |
| Padova | 25.00 | – | 36.00 | Ambitious mid-table |
| Catanzaro | 25.00 | – | 75.00 | Big spread |
| Benevento, Vicenza, Juve Stabia, Cesena | 33.00 | – | 75-101 | |
| Ascoli, Avellino, Arezzo, Mantova, Südtirol | 50.00 | – | 101 | |
| Carrarese, Virtus Entella | 100.00 | – | 151 | Rank outsiders |
Interpretive note. The Palermo/Verona disagreement is the most exploitable pre-season inefficiency here. GoldBet priced Verona at 2.75 while Snai had them at 5.00. That is a huge spread on a headline market and reflects genuine uncertainty about whether Verona's retained Serie A core translates down a division. The Modena spread (12 vs 36) and Catanzaro spread (25 vs 75) are similarly wide.
Final table (regular season):
| Pos | Club | Pts | 2026/27 status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Venezia | 82 | Promoted (champions) |
| 2 | Frosinone | 81 | Promoted |
| 3 | Monza | 76 | Promoted via playoff |
| 4 | Palermo | 72 | In B |
| 5 | Catanzaro | 59 | In B (lost playoff final) |
| 6 | Modena | 55 | In B |
| 7 | Juve Stabia | 51 | In B |
| 8 | Avellino | 49 | In B |
| 9-11 | Mantova, Padova, Cesena | 46 | In B |
| 12-13 | Carrarese, Sampdoria | 44 | In B |
| 14 | Virtus Entella | 42 | In B |
| 15-16 | Empoli, Südtirol | 41 | In B |
| 17 | Bari | 40 | Relegated via playout |
| 18 | Reggiana | 37 | Relegated |
| 19-20 | Spezia, Pescara | 35 | Relegated |
In: Cremonese, Pisa, Hellas Verona (down from Serie A); Vicenza, Arezzo, Benevento (Serie C group winners), Ascoli (Serie C playoff winners, beat Union Brescia 1-1, 3-0).
Out: Venezia, Frosinone, Monza (up); Bari, Reggiana, Spezia, Pescara (down).
Ordered alphabetically. Formations are the pre-season projected XIs published on 20 August, so treat them as intent rather than fact.
City: Arezzo, Tuscany. Ground: Stadio Città di Arezzo (13,128). Coach: Cristian Bucchi (kept, contract to 2028).
Back in Serie B after 19 years, their 17th B campaign. Won Girone B of Serie C. Bucchi's continuity is the asset: a defined identity in a squad the club deliberately intends to keep young to bank the Italian youth-minutes financial incentives.
Key players: Alberto Cerri (signed permanently from Como, the category weight up front), Leone (Sassuolo), Iaccarino (Napoli), Illanes and Cagnano in defence, plus holdovers Chiosa, Ionita, Pattarello, Tavernelli and Arena.
Projected XI (4-3-3): Nunziante; Renzi, Illanes, Chiosa, Cagnano; Iaccarino, Viviani, Ionita; Arena, Cerri, Varela Djamanca.
Expectation: survival. Consensus is that Arezzo face the steepest step-up of the four promoted sides, not on quality but because Serie B punishes momentary drops in intensity.
Lore: their last two B debuts both came against Mantova (a draw and a defeat). Last opening-day win was September 2004.
City: Ascoli Piceno, Marche. Ground: Cino e Lillo Del Duca. Coach: Francesco Tomei (kept, long extension).
Back after two seasons, their 28th B campaign. Came up the hard way, finishing second in Girone B behind Arezzo and then winning the playoff final against Union Brescia. Squad work concentrated on midfield: De Pieri and Perciun as development bets, Acampora for experience. Losing Forte to Entella left a hole up front.
Key players: Gori, D'Uffizi, Perciun, Corradini, Damiani, Curado, Gattoni.
Projected XI (4-2-3-1): Vitale; Oliveri, Gattoni, Curado, Guiebre; Corradini, Damiani; Olivieri, Perciun, D'Uffizi; Gori.
Expectation: survival. Opened away at Verona, which is about as unkind a fixture as the draw could produce.
Lore: Ascoli hosted the calendar draw in July at the Teatro dei Filarmonici. The Costantino Rozzi era in the 1970s and 80s made this small city a Serie A regular, which is why the club still carries more weight than its size suggests.
City: Avellino, Campania. Ground: Partenio-Adriano Lombardi. Coach: Alessandro Nesta (new).
Grabbed the last playoff place on the final day last season, finishing 8th on 49 points after being in freefall earlier in the campaign. Ballardini's rescue job earned the club a big-name replacement: Nesta arrives for what is a genuine reputational reset for both parties. Recruitment leaned young, raiding the Atalanta, Juventus, Fiorentina and Inter academies.
Key players: Armando Izzo (major experience signing at centre-back), Palmiero, Faticanti, Sounas, Favilli, Antonio Palumbo, plus incoming Cinquegrano (Sassuolo) and Rodrigo Marina (Betis).
Projected XI (4-3-1-2): Martinelli; Cancellotti, Izzo, Venturi, Sala; Sounas, Palmiero, Faticanti; Palumbo; Palumbo, Favilli.
Expectation: upper mid-table if Nesta settles quickly. 21st B season; only Salernitana has more among Campanian clubs.
Lore: ten consecutive Serie A seasons from 1978 to 1988, which is why the Partenio still generates a Serie A atmosphere on a Serie B budget.
City: Benevento, Campania. Ground: Ciro Vigorito (16,867). Coach: Antonio Floro Flores (kept).
Won Girone C. Sixth B campaign. Of the four promoted sides, Benevento have been the most aggressive in the market, and several observers rate them the most interesting. President Vigorito backed Floro Flores, a coach in only his second season in professional management, with genuine category signings.
Key players: Simone Verdi (the technical reference on the trequarti), David Okereke, Beruatto, Sernicola, Caldirola, Dalle Mura, Maita, Kouan, Tumminello.
Projected XI (4-2-3-1): Vannucchi; Sernicola, Scognamillo, Caldirola, Beruatto; Maita, Kouan; Verdi, Okereke, Lamesta; Tumminello.
Expectation: comfortable survival, playoff upside. Priced 33-75 but the squad reads higher.
Lore: Le Streghe (the Witches), a reference to the town's witch-trial folklore. Their 2017/18 Serie A debut produced the infamous ten straight defeats to start, broken only when goalkeeper Brignoli scored a 95th-minute equaliser against Milan.
City: Carrara, Tuscany. Ground: Stadio dei Marmi. Coach: Gabriele Cioffi (new).
Third consecutive B season, fifth overall, and by far the smallest operation in the top half of the division. Cioffi is a significant appointment: a coach with real Serie A mileage (Udinese, Verona) taking a job at a club of this scale.
Key players: Abiuso (11 goals last season), Cissé, Bleve, Vujevic. Lost Illanes to Arezzo and Imperiale to Catanzaro.
Projected XI (3-5-2): Bleve; Ruggeri, Oliana, Vujevic; Belloni, Khafi, Parlanti, Rubino, Rouhi; Cissé, Abiuso.
Style: second-highest cross volume in the league last season, behind only Modena. Wing-back heavy, direct.
Expectation: survival fight. Longest odds in the division alongside Entella.
Lore: Carrara is the marble town; the stadium name is literal.
City: Catanzaro, Calabria. Ground: Nicola Ceravolo. Coach: Giorgio Gorgone (new, previously Pescara).
Lost the 2025/26 playoff final to Monza, winning the second leg 2-0 after losing the first 2-0 and going out on regular-season position. Fourth consecutive B season, something the club hadn't managed since the 1970s. Aquilani has gone; so have young stars Liberali and Favasuli.
Key players: Simone Pafundi (the most interesting individual in the division: the once-hyped Udinese prodigy now needing a season that defines his career), Pietro Iemmello (club talisman), Pittarello (11 goals), Mosti, Pigliacelli. Added Samuel Giovane (Atalanta), Emanuele Pecorino (Juventus, four-year deal), Marco Imperiale (returning after eight years).
Projected XI (3-4-2-1): Pigliacelli; Frosinini, Antonini, Ruggero; Candela/D'Alessandro, Mosti, Petriccione, Dorval; Pafundi, Iemmello; Pittarello.
Style: goals spread wide. Twenty different scorers last season, joint-most with Monza. Not reliant on one striker.
Expectation: playoffs. The wide odds spread (25 vs 75) suggests the market hasn't settled on how much the coaching change costs them.
Lore: in ten of their most recent B campaigns they've drawn eight opening fixtures.
City: Cesena, Emilia-Romagna. Ground: Orogel Stadium Dino Manuzzi. Coach: Alessandro Diamanti (new).
35th B campaign. Finished 46 points after collapsing in the second half of the season and losing a playoff place on the final day. Diamanti is a headline appointment and a gamble: a much-loved former player with a thin coaching CV taking on a big Romagna club.
Key players: Cristian Shpendi, Bisoli, Ciofi, Mangraviti, Frabotta, Francesconi.
Projected XI (4-3-3): Siano; Magni, Ciofi, Mangraviti, Frabotta; Pagano, Bisoli, Francesconi; Fiori, Shpendi, Druiventak.
Expectation: mid-table, playoff outside chance. Flagged as one of the squads still incomplete in mid-August.
Lore: Cesena have won their last two opening fixtures. A third would be a club record. The Shpendi twins (Cristian at Cesena, Stiven at Empoli) are one of the division's better subplots.
City: Cremona, Lombardy. Ground: Giovanni Zini. Coach: Marco Giampaolo (kept after relegation).
34th B campaign, straight back down from Serie A. Keeping Giampaolo through relegation is the interesting call: continuity of method over a reset. The squad retains real Serie A quality.
Key players: Federico Bonazzoli, Jari Vandeputte, Andrea Collocolo, Sebastiano Luperto, Baschirotto, Fulignati, Pezzella.
Projected XI (4-3-3): Fulignati; Barbieri, Bianchetti, Baschirotto, Pezzella; Gerli, Pontisso, Berti; Elia, Bonazzoli, Vandeputte.
Outbound: Okereke, Ceccherini, Sernicola, Tsadjout, Zanimacchia, Silvestri.
Expectation: top two contender. Consistently priced third but with the most stable management structure of the three relegated clubs.
Lore: Cremona is Gianluca Vialli's hometown and Cremonese his first club. Won the Anglo-Italian Cup in 1993.
City: Empoli, Tuscany. Ground: Carlo Castellani. Coach: Guido Pagliuca (returning after being sacked early last season).
24th B season, second in a row. Survived on the last day in 2025/26 on 41 points, saved by a Stiven Shpendi brace. The Pagliuca re-appointment after a chaotic coaching search says a lot about the club's current position: still contractually tied to him, so they went back.
Key players: Stiven Shpendi (14 goals), Saporiti, Yepes, Ceesay, Di Stefano (Fiorentina). Heavy outbound traffic: Anjorin, Konate, Ignacchiti (to Mantova), Zanaga, Guarino sold to Turkey.
Projected XI (3-4-1-2): Perisan; Indragoli, Cauz, Romagnoli; Ceesay, Magnino, Yepes, Zedadka; Saporiti; Di Stefano, Shpendi.
Style: most headed goals in the league last season (16). Aerial threat is a real, repeatable edge.
Expectation: the market says top-six outsider (12-25), but the balance of the summer has been outbound. Fans consider the last two seasons a disappointment against payroll.
Lore: unbeaten in their opening B fixture in each of the last twelve B campaigns (9 wins, 3 draws). One of the most durable pattern-facts in the division. Also one of Italy's great academy clubs.
City: Verona, Veneto. Ground: Marcantonio Bentegodi. Coach: Marco Baroni (returning, contract to 2028 plus option).
54th B campaign, first since 2018/19; only Modena has more B seasons among this year's twenty. Retained a serious chunk of their Serie A squad and hold the parachute payment. Structurally the best-resourced side in the division alongside Palermo.
Key players: Sarr, Livramento, Bernede, Edmundsson, Suslov, Kastanos. Signed Leali (goalkeeper), Korac (defence), Mulattieri (from Sassuolo, the big rebuild bet up front), Compagnon (from Venezia).
Projected XI (4-2-3-1): Leali; Oyegoke, Korac, Edmundsson, Bradaric; Bernede, Kastanos; Compagnon, Serdar, Suslov; Mulattieri.
Expectation: automatic promotion. Some books make them clear favourite, others fourth.
Lore: 1985 Scudetto, one of the great outlier titles in Italian football. Their return revives the Veneto derbies with Vicenza and Padova, which are among the most fiercely contested fixtures in the country.
City: Castellammare di Stabia, Campania. Ground: Romeo Menti (Castellammare). Coach: Pietro De Giorgio (new).
Third consecutive B season, 7th last year on 51 points. Abate left for Torino; De Giorgio arrives having won the Serie C Coppa Italia with Potenza. There was uncertainty over the club's registration in June, now resolved. The squad has been rebuilt substantially.
Key players: Candellone, Piscopo, Buglio, Bellich, Boer. Additions include Patane, Caccavo, Scuderi, Gallea, Pietrangeli (Südtirol).
Projected XI (4-3-3): Boer; Maggioni, Bellich, Giorgini, Douglas; Kumi, Buglio, Artioli; Fernandes, Candellone, Piscopo.
Expectation: survival with mid-table upside. They punched above weight for two seasons running.
Lore: Le Vespe (the Wasps). Lost their first five B openers historically, then went unbeaten in the last two.
City: Mantua, Lombardy. Ground: Danilo Martelli. Coach: Francesco Modesto (kept, three-year deal after taking over mid-season).
Third consecutive B season, 10th last year on 46. Modesto rescued a campaign that was heading for relegation and earned a long contract. Already knocked Lazio out of the Coppa Italia this month, which is the loudest early signal any Serie B club has produced.
Key players: Bardi (goalkeeper, made a decisive save in the run-in), Gliozzi (arrived from Modena, 11 goals last season), Mancuso (captain), Ignacchiti (Empoli), Benaissa, Trimboli. Chasing Vlahovic (Atalanta U23) and Gooijer.
Projected XI (3-4-2-1): Bardi; Tomasevic, Cella, Castellini; Radaelli, Ignacchiti, Trimboli, Benaissa; Chinetti, Bragantini; Gliozzi.
Style: second-best pass completion rate in the league last season, behind only champions Venezia. Genuinely a possession side at this level, which is rare and model-relevant.
Expectation: priced 50-101 but the underlying process is better than the price.
Lore: the 1960s Mantova side was nicknamed il Piccolo Brasile.
City: Modena, Emilia-Romagna. Ground: Alberto Braglia. Coach: Daniele Galloppa (new, two years plus option). President: Carlo Rivetti.
55th B campaign, the most of any club in this division. Finished 6th on 55 points and reached the playoffs. Galloppa, a former Modena player, takes his first senior job here.
Key players: Giuseppe Ambrosino (the marquee striker signing), Caso, Brugman, Azzi, Santoro, Chichizola, Nieling. Lost Gliozzi to Mantova.
Projected XI (4-2-3-1): Chichizola; Tonoli, Nador, Nieling, Zampano; Santoro, Bianco; Caso, Brugman, Azzi; Ambrosino.
Style: highest cross volume in the league and one of the best defences for open-play goals conceded. A structured, wide, defensively sound team.
Expectation: the widest odds spread in the division (12 at Snai, 36 at Eurobet). If you think Galloppa lands, this is the value bet on the board.
Lore: the canarini. Rivetti (of Stone Island) has run one of the more sober ownerships in Italian football.
City: Padua, Veneto. Ground: Euganeo. Coach: Antonio Calabro (new, two years).
40th B campaign. Finished 46 points in their first season back after six years away and beat Cesena 4-3 on the final day. The club has explicitly set out to be the division's outsider, and the market half-agrees (25-40).
Key players: Gianluca Caprari (a genuine Serie A name), Bortolussi (10 goals), Lovato, Dellavalle, Marco Pompetti (signed from Catanzaro), Zanimacchia (Cremonese), Luca Moro (Sassuolo), and a pursuit of Artistico (Lazio).
Projected XI (3-5-2): Sorrentino; Dellavalle, Lovato, Pastina; Carissoni, Zuelli, Pompetti, Varas, Zanimacchia; Bortolussi, Caprari.
Style: highest proportion of goals from corners in the league last season. A set-piece team, and that is a stable, repeatable trait.
Expectation: playoff push. Derbies against Verona and Vicenza both return this season.
Lore: Nereo Rocco's club. Third in Serie A in 1958, one of Italian football's great small-club seasons.
City: Palermo, Sicily. Ground: Renzo Barbera. Coach: Filippo Inzaghi (kept, to 2027 plus promotion option). Owner: City Football Group (94.94%), chairman Dario Mirri.
48th B campaign, fifth consecutive season in the division. Finished 4th on 72 points and went out in the playoffs for a third year running. This is the club's clearest "now or never" season and CFG has spent accordingly.
Key players: Joel Pohjanpalo (24 goals, league top scorer, retained), Gabriel Strefezza (roughly 5-7m from Olympiacos, four-year deal, second-highest wage at the club), Hernani (Monza), Estévez (free from Parma), Vavassori, Cassandro, Bani (captain), Magnani, Augello, Johnsen, Palumbo, Ranocchia.
Projected XI (4-2-3-1): Joronen; Cassandro, Magnani, Bani, Augello; Estévez, Ranocchia; Strefezza, Palumbo/Hernani, Johnsen; Pohjanpalo.
Style: 17 clean sheets last season, most in the league. Inzaghi has switched to a 4-2-3-1 explicitly to be more aggressive and dominant than last year's version.
Expectation: promotion, and they are out of excuses. Already beat Lecce in the Coppa Italia.
Lore: bankrupted in 2019 and restarted in Serie D; played in Europe as recently as 2011. CFG bought them in 2022. Their Australian pre-season included a 2-0 win over sister club Melbourne City. The Barbera drew 32,922 for a Serie B game last October, the highest attendance in the division. Around 35,000 turned up for the Coppa Italia tie on 17 August.
City: Pisa, Tuscany. Ground: Arena Garibaldi-Romeo Anconetani. Coach: Paolo Bianco (new, two years plus option).
39th B campaign, a Tuscan record. Down from Serie A after one season. Bianco arrives having just won the playoff with Monza, which is a shrewd hire: a coach who has proven he can get out of this division.
Key players: Canestrelli, Caracciolo, Matteo Tramoni, Angori, Semper. Signings: Leone (regista, from Juve Stabia), Marras (Mantova), Rao (Bari), Zanon (Carrarese), Confente (Juve Stabia), with Andrea Petagna arriving up front. Moreo linked away to Palermo.
Projected XI (4-3-3): Semper; Zanon, Canestrelli, Caracciolo, Angori; Leone, Piccinini, Vural; Rao, Moreo, Tramoni.
Style: over half of Pisa's goals last season came from set pieces. Physically imposing squad built for difficult pitches. If you model set-piece dependency, Pisa are the extreme case in this division.
Expectation: top four, priced fourth favourite but a long way behind the top three at 6-9.
Lore: the Romeo Anconetani era in the 1980s brought Dunga, Klinsmann and Diego Simeone to a provincial Tuscan club. Anconetani famously threw salt onto the pitch for luck.
City: Genoa, Liguria. Ground: Luigi Ferraris (shared with Genoa). Coach: Bernardo Corradi (new, first head coach role). DS: Américo Branco. CEO Football: Jesper Fredberg. Reference shareholder: Joseph Tey Wei Jin (Singapore), represented by Nathan Walker.
This is the story of the season, and it is a cautionary tale for anyone building a football model.
Fourth consecutive B season, something that hadn't happened since the early 2000s. Finished 13th on 44 points after three coaching changes (Donati to 18 Oct, Gregucci to 9 Mar, Lombardo caretaker to the end). The previous season was worse: 17th, saved only by a points deduction handed to Brescia after the season ended, then a playout win, with four coaches in one campaign.
Scored fewer goals than any other team in the league last season.
Fredberg is a data-and-algorithm recruiter (ex-Anderlecht, Viborg). Local reporting has been blunt that the algorithmic approach produced what they consider the worst transfer window in the club's history. The fanbase's protest has been directed at Walker and Fredberg specifically, not at the players or the coach, and season-ticket sales still hit record levels. Average home attendance was 24,068 with a peak of 28,652.
Summer rebuild: Peter Vindahl Jensen (GK, Sparta Prague), Mattia Viti, Stefan Gartenmann, Luca Ravanelli, Di Pardo, Depaoli in defence; Yari Verschaeren (the wildcard, still recovering), Salvatore Esposito, Abildgaard in midfield; Tobias Lauritsen, Tutino and Insigne up front. Ferri and La Gumina frozen out. Coda departed.
Projected XI (4-3-3): Vindahl; Di Pardo, Ravanelli, Viti, Meijer; Verschaeren, Esposito, Abildgaard; Begic, Lauritsen, Insigne.
Expectation: priced 12-14 as the best of the outsiders. Stated club target is promotion; realistic target is a top-eight finish and stability.
City: Bolzano/Bozen, Trentino-Alto Adige. Ground: Druso. Coach: Davide Possanzini (new, from Mantova, to 2028).
Fifth consecutive B season, a regional record. Survived the playout against Bari on 41 points. Castori was not retained despite the survival. Possanzini brings a more proactive style than the club is used to.
Key players: Casiraghi, Bjarkason, Tait, Plizzari, Merkaj (9 goals, linked to Sampdoria), Pecorino left for Catanzaro, Pietrangeli left for Juve Stabia.
Projected XI (4-2-3-1): Plizzari; Molina, Giorgini, Stabile, Veroli; Vasic, Tait; Vasco Lopes, Casiraghi, Bjarkason; Burnete.
Style: best cross-completion percentage in open play last season. But also the longest winless run in the division (13 matches). A team that does one thing well and struggles to convert it.
Expectation: relegation candidate.
Lore: the only German-speaking club in Italian professional football. Bolzano is bilingual and the club's identity sits distinctly apart from the rest of the division.
City: Vicenza, Veneto. Ground: Romeo Menti (12,000). Coach: Fabio Gallo (kept).
Back after four years. Dominated Girone A with 89 points and one of the best attacks in Italian professional football. Of the four promoted clubs, Vicenza started planning earliest and are widely rated the most likely to overachieve. The club's stated philosophy is continuity, sustainability and planning.
Key players: Maxime Leverbe (rated the most dominant centre-back in last season's Serie C), Nicola Rauti (the one who could make the jump), Gabriele Moncini (11 goals for Bari last season), Mattia Valoti (from Spezia), Tsadjout (Cremonese), Gagno, Marchizza, Cuomo, Zonta, Carraro.
Projected XI (3-5-2): Gagno; Leverbe, Cuomo, Marchizza; Caferri, Valoti, Zonta, Carraro, Costa; Moncini, Rauti.
Expectation: survival stated, top half realistic. Priced 33-101, which looks generous.
Lore: the 1977/78 "Real Vicenza" finished second in Serie A with Paolo Rossi scoring 24. Won the 1997 Coppa Italia and reached a Cup Winners' Cup semi-final.
City: Chiavari, Liguria. Ground: Comunale. Coach: Andrea Chiappella (kept).
Eighth B campaign and by some distance the smallest club in the division. Finished 14th on 42 points. Recorded the lowest attendance in the league last season, 1,591.
Key players: Franzoni, Karic, Cuppone, plus incoming Forte (from Ascoli) and Corona (from Palermo). Motolese and Previtali added at the back.
Projected XI (3-5-2): Colombi; Parodi, Tiritiello, Motolese; Bariti, Karic, Franzoni, Squizzato, Di Mario; Cuppone, Forte.
Style: took 81% of available home points last season, the best home record in the division. Extreme home/away split. If your model has a per-club home advantage term, Entella should carry the largest coefficient in the league.
Expectation: relegation favourite alongside Carrarese on price (100-151), but the home-form profile makes them more survivable than the odds imply.
League-level priors
| Metric | 2025/26 value | Model implication |
|---|---|---|
| Goals per match | 2.56 | Over 2.5 is roughly a coin flip. Second-highest in ten seasons, so a slight upward trend. |
| Draw share | 31.1% (derived) | A never-predicts-draws model is hard-capped at ~69% accuracy here. Matches the pattern in your 40-league backtest. |
| Attendance range | 1,591 to 32,922 | 20x spread. Crowd-based home-advantage features will behave very differently across this division than in a top flight. |
| Verdict timing | All decided in the last two rounds | Late-season motivation effects are unusually strong. End-of-season models trained on top flights will under-fit here. |
Club-level stylistic markers worth encoding as features
Structural notes
Main sources: Lega B, Wikipedia (Serie B 2025/26 and 2026/27, Palermo and Sampdoria season pages), Sky Sport, Il Fatto Quotidiano, Tuttomercatoweb, Gazzetta dello Sport via secondary reporting, Corriere dello Sport via secondary reporting, InfoOggi, Primocanale, Samp News 24, Il Mattino di Padova, Sisal, Eurobet, Snai, GoldBet.