1921–22 Prima Divisione

Last updated
Prima Divisione
Season1921–22 (CCI)
Champions Pro Vercelli
7th title
Relegated Vicenza
Venezia
1922–23 →

The 1921-22 Prima Divisione season was the equal twenty-first of the Italian Football Championship. In a highly political season of Italian football, to rival the Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio (FIGC) organised 1921-22 Prima Categoria, Italy's strongest clubs organised a separate championship named Prima Divisione. The rivalry lasted only this one season. Afterwards, the FIGC recognised the Prima Divisione format as the official championship. Hence, 1921-22 was the last season in which the Prima Categoria winners were awarded Italian Football Champions.

Contents

Like the Prima Categoria had been scheduled, the Prima Divisione was scheduled as regional competitions to lead to a national final. The 1921-22 Prima Divisione was the seventh and most recent Italian Football Championship won by Pro Vercelli.

Regulation

During the summer of 1921, Italy's most powerful clubs asked the Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio (FIGC) to reduce the number of clubs in Prima Categoria. Vittorio Pozzo developed a plan to accommodate the request. However, smaller clubs fearing they would disappear if such a reduction was passed, voted against Pozzo's plan and causing the plan to be rejected. That led to the creation of a rival new Italian football federation, the Confederazione Calcistica Italiana (CCI). The CCI organised the Prima Divisione that ran concurrent to the FIGC championship.

This rivalry only lasted one season. The following summer FIGC accepted a reduction in the number league participants. Subsequently the FGCI recognised the 1921-22 CCI championship as an official title, alongside the 1921–22 Prima Categoria. Prima Divisione was accepted as the new format from the summer of 1922 onwards, lasting until 1926. 1921-22 was the last season in which the Prima Categoria winners were awarded Italian Football Champions.

Northern League

As a private league, the Northern League was composed by the 24 richest clubs of 1920–21 Prima Categoria.

Regular season

Group winners went to the final. Under original regulations, bottom clubs went to a salvation play-off against the two best clubs of the Second Division.

Group A

Classification
P
Team
Pld
W
D
L
GF
GA
GD
Pts
Qualifications
1. Pro Vercelli 2217236114+4736Qualified
2. Novara 2212644719+2832
3. Bologna 2211564422+2227
4. Mantova 2211294034+624
5. Andrea Doria 22111103632+423
6. Juventus 227872732-522
6. Hellas Verona 22102102936-722
8. US Milanese 226882429-520
9. Milan 2274112936-718
10. Livorno 2283112341-1817Play-offs won
11. Spezia 2256112131-1016
12. Vicenza (R)2223171873-557Preliminary play-off lost
Results table
Home \ Away ADO BOL HEL JUV LIV MAN MIL NOV PRO SPE USM VIC
Andrea Doria —1–25–26–23–14–21–21–21–01–01–03–0
Bologna 0–1—4–11–15–02–04–02–12–12–01–111–1
Hellas Verona 2–00–2—1–23–02–12–10–40–13–22–13–1
Juventus 2–01–12–0—3–11–20–00–11–72–21–21–0
Livorno 3–12–01–00–0—1–53–20–21–20–01–12–1
Mantova 1–01–03–00–12–1—2–12–21–24–00–26–2
Milan 0–02–10–11–31–22–2—0–51–00–12–07–0
Novara 4–01–12–22–11–03–13–2—0–11–01–14–2
Pro Vercelli 3–04–03–21–15–15–05–01–0—1–03–010–0
Spezia 2–01–01–21–11–03–21–20–01–3—1–11–2
US Milanese 2–41–10–02–02–10–20–02–21–22–1—2–1
Vicenza 0–31–20–11–11–20–10–30–61–12–22–1—
Source: [ citation needed ]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Group B

Classification
P
Team
Pld
W
D
L
GF
GA
GD
Pts
Qualifications
1. Genoa 2216516113+4837Qualified
2. Alessandria 2291034124+1728
3. Pisa 2212375328+2727
4. Modena 2212283433+126
5. Padova 2210393036-623
6. Casale 227693327+620
6. Legnano 227692829-120
6. Savona 2292112833-520
6. Torino 226882129-820
10. Venezia (R)2273121945-3617Extra play-off lost
11. Brescia 2263131933-1415Play-offs won
12. Internazionale 2235142966-3711
Results table
Home \ Away ALE BRE CAS GEN INT LEG MOD PAD PIS SAV TOR VEN
Alessandria —2–21–11–15–03–11–03–13–03–02–05–2
Brescia 0–1—4–00–13–11–11–01–00–23–01–00–3
Casale 0–04–0—3–27–00–16–00–10–02–11–13–0
Genoa 2–21–05–0—2–02–07–07–12–02–02–07–0
Internazionale 2–24–31–31–4—2–21–23–42–22–00–12–0
Legnano 0–00–01–01–36–0—0–03–14–22–11–13–0
Modena 2–0 [1] 1–02–11–15–12–0—2–12–12–03–04–1
Padova 3–12–01–10–12–22–12–1—2–13–11–11–0
Pisa 3–25–02–01–17–24–04–13–1—4–04–15–0
Savona 1–12–0 [1] 2–01–13–12–12–02–03–1—3–13–0
Torino 1–11–01–10–22–22–03–22–00–22–0—1–1
Venezia 2–22–01–01–51–01–00–2 [2] 0–12–02–10–0—
Source: [ citation needed ]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Finals

Played on May 7 and 14, 1922.
Team 1 Agg. Tooltip Aggregate scoreTeam 21st leg2nd leg
Pro Vercelli 2-1 Genoa 0–02–1

Southern League

The Southern League was a separate amatorial league, still divided in five regions. The winner were Fortitudo Rome.

National Finals

Played on June 11 and 18, 1922.
Team 1 Agg. Tooltip Aggregate scoreTeam 21st leg2nd leg
Fortitudo Roma 2-8 Pro Vercelli 0-32-5

Play-offs

Preliminary play-offs

Played on July 2, 1922.
Team 1 Score Team 2
Derthona 3-1(*) Vicenza

(*) This match was invalidated due to a referee's technical error. The match was repeated a week later:

Played on July 9, 1922, in Legnano.
Team 1 Score Team 2
Derthona 4-0 Vicenza

Vicenza were relegated to 1922–23 Seconda Divisione.

Internazionale received a walkover as their opponents Sport Club Nazionale Lombardia went bankrupt and disbanded.

Barrage play-offs

The CCI was very rich but it suffered the lack of international recognition by the FIFA, so an agreement with the FIGC was found. On July 9 and 16, Inter and Derthona and the other four bottom clubs of the Northern League were challenged by six FIGC’s clubs.

Venezia was the sole CCI club to be relegated to the 1922–23 Seconda Divisione following the defeat by FIGC’s Rivarolese. Spezia was re-elected when CCI’s Livorno bought and merged with its FIGC's counterpart Pro Livorno, freeing a slot.

Team 1 Agg. Tooltip Aggregate scoreTeam 21st leg2nd leg
Brescia X (*) Sestrese 2-00-5
Internazionale 4-1 Libertas Firenze 3-01-1
Piacenza 1-6 Livorno 1-4 [3] 0-2 [1]
Rivarolese2-1 Venezia 0-02-1
Spezia 2-3Pastore Torino1-11-2
Treviso 0-2Derthona0-10-1

(*) Since the away goal rule wasn't applied, a tie-break was needed:

Played on July 23, 1922, in Piacenza.
Team 1 Score Team 2
Brescia 2-0 Sestrese

Extra play-offs

After U.S. Livorno and Pro Livorno's merger, a spot in the Prima Divisione was freed and extra-rounds had to be organized.

Extra Round 1

Played on September 17, 1922. [4]
Team 1 Score Team 2
Sestrese 1-0 Venezia
Spezia 3-0 Treviso

Extra Round 2

Played on September 24, 1922, in Reggio Emilia.
Team 1 Score Team 2
Sestrese 1-2 Spezia

References and sources

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 3 Forfeit.
  2. ↑ Decided by the CCI.
  3. ↑ The 1st leg, in Piacenza, suffered the referee's absence so the first match became 'friendly'. Livorno won 4-2. On July 16 the match was repeated, again in Piacenza, and Livorno won 4-1. Anyway, Piacenza retired before playing the second leg.
  4. ↑ Libertas Firenze and Piacenza forfeited.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.