1909–10 Prima Categoria

Prima Categoria
Season	1909–10
Champions	Internazionale; 1st title
Top goalscorer	Ernest Peterly (23)
	← 1909 1910–11 →

The 1909-10 Prima Categoria was the thirteenth edition of the Italian Football Championship and the seventh since the re-brand to Prima Categoria. This was the first season in which the Italian Football Championship was contested in an all round robin format, (other than the tie-break play-off that was ultimately needed). The playoff was won by Internazionale. Their play-off opponents and champions of the two previous and three subsequent seasons were Pro Vercelli. Vercelli fielded a team of 15 year old boys to protest against the play-off scheduling this season. This was Inter's 1st title as Italian champions.

Regulation

Following the creation of the Italy national football team, the Italian Football Federation revamped its championship. The round robin was introduced in Italy this season. The competition was expanded from eight clubs the previous season to nine. All clubs came from the 3 Northern Italian regions of Liguria, Lombardy and Piedmont.

Registration was free and only subject to a quality committee. The eight clubs of the last years were joined by Ausonia, a Milanese car factory‘s club which paid the enrolment tax to try the experience of a national football championship.^[1]

Final classification

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Internazionale (C)	16	12	1	3	55	26	+29	25	Tie-breaker required
2	Pro Vercelli	16	12	1	3	46	15	+31	25	Tie-breaker required
3	Juventus	16	8	2	6	28	19	+9	18
4	Torino	16	8	1	7	43	30	+13	17
4	Genoa	16	7	3	6	29	23	+6	17
6	Milan	16	6	1	9	23	36	−13	13
6	US Milanese	16	6	1	9	35	53	−18	13
8	Andrea Doria	16	5	1	10	18	39	−21	11
9	Ausonia Milano (E)	16	0	5	11	16	52	−36	5	Financial crisis

Source: Panini
(C) Champions; (E) Eliminated

Results table

Home \ Away	ADO	AUS	GEN	INT	JUV	MIL	PVE	TOR	USM
Andrea Doria		3–0	3–0	1–3	0–1	1–7	2–0	3–1	4–2
Ausonia Milano	0–0		3–3	2–6	2–2	2–2	0–4	0–2	1–4
Genoa	3–1	6–2		4–0	2–0	0–1	1–2	0–0	1–0
Internazionale	5–0	2–2	2–0		1–0	5–1	1–4	7–2	7–2
Juventus	4–0	6–0	0–2	2–0		5–3	0–0	3–0	1–2
Milan	2–0	2–1	1–0	0–5	0–1		0–3	0–1	1–0
Pro Vercelli	1–0	3–0	5–2	1–2	4–0	4–0		0–1	5–1
Torino	5–0	2–0	0–2	3–4	3–1	6–2	2–4		13–1
US Milanese	5–0	5–1	3–3	2–5	0–2	2–1	3–6	3–2

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio - La Storia 1898-2004, Panini Edizioni, Modena, September 2005 (in Italian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Championship tie-breaker

Played in Vercelli on April 24

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Pro Vercelli	3-10	Internazionale

Pro Vercelli had previously planned to join two football exhibitions on April 17 and 24, and asked FIGC to postpone the tie-breaker to May 1; however, Inter was against playing the game on May 1 due to its own planned exhibitions. FIGC granted the first postponement, but since Pro Vercelli no longer took part in the April 17 exhibition, the second postponement was withdrawn and the tie-breaker scheduled on 24 April. Pro Vercelli fielded its fourth squad (15-year-old boys) in protest; after that, FIGC imposed to the club a penalty for insubordination and unsportsmanlike conduct.

References and sources

Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio - La Storia 1898-2004, Panini Edizioni, Modena, September 2005
Carlo Chiesa, La grande storia del calcio italiano, Chapter 2: Juve, scippati due titoli! Inter, l'atroce beffa, pp. 17–32, Guerin Sportivo #5, May 2012.

Notes

^ Meanwhile, Piemonte F.C. refused to join the championship, leaving incomplete the FIGC’s desired top-ten format.

[1] Meanwhile, Piemonte F.C. refused to join the championship, leaving incomplete the FIGC’s desired top-ten format.

[1]

v t e Serie A seasons
Prima Categoria	1897–98 1898–99 1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 FIGC
Prima Divisione	1921–22 CCI 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26
Divisione Nazionale	1926–27 1927–28 1928–29
Serie A	1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43
Divisione Nazionale	1943–44 1944–45 1945–46
Serie A	1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Wartime tournaments: 1916 Coppa Federale 1944 Alta Italia

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