'Team X' Scheduled to Play in Serie B Just 3 Days Before League Kick-off

Things are a tad chaotic in Serie B at the moment.

With Italy's second tier due to kick off on Saturday, one of the 22 teams involved has still to be decided.

Hence, the official Serie B fixture list states that Latina are due to visit "Squadra X" ("Team X") on the opening day.

The confusion has arisen because Siena were automatically relegated to the fourth tier due to financial irregularities. Metro picks up the story: 

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League chiefs initially planned to just have a 21-team league but this was appealed by Novara, the highest-placed of the four teams relegated last season.

An Italian Olympic Committee tribunal insisted that the league must continue with 22 teams, but as Novara have been involved in a match-fixing scandal recently, the Italian football federation (FIGC) decided not to automatically include them.

Instead they devised a complex system, based on factors such as average attendance and ‘sporting tradition’, to work out who, out of last year’s relegated teams and teams from the top half of the third tier, will compete in Serie B.

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Pisa and Juve Stabia are among the favourites to earn the 22nd slot, but with plenty more clubs in the regional third tier vying for the place, a clear solution is not at hand.

The Italian Football Federation (FIGC) is due to give a ruling on Thursday. 

[Metro]