Football

Serie A, the calendar of big matches and European crossings

For the teams involved in the Champions League it will be decisive to avoid the play-offs and save energy between January and February when 12 big matches are scheduled in Serie A

by Marco Bellinazzo

7 June 2025

4' min read

Key points

The 450 parameters
Match Highlights
Christmas matches
The return leg

4' min read

The Lega Serie A has brought forward the construction of the calendar for the 2025/26 season. The tournament starts on 24 August 2025 and ends on 24 May 2026, with two midweek rounds on days 9 and 19, and will not have a break at Christmas. It will only stop during the four Fifa windows for national team commitments (7 September, 12 October, 16 November, 29 March). Matches will also be played over the Christmas period on 21 December, 28 December and 3 January, in addition to the midweek round on 6 January.

The 450 parameters

The calendar unveiled in Parma on Friday 6 June as part of the Serie A Festival will be asymmetrical, meaning that the sequence of matches in the return leg will be different from those in the first leg, with a minimum of eight days' distance between the first leg and return matches against the same opponent. The League has had to respect some 450 parameters, including those relating to matches between teams participating in European cups: clubs admitted to the Champions League will not meet with clubs in the Europa League and Conference League on days numbered 5, 22, 26, 29, 32 and 35 between two rounds of the Uefa competitions.

The match highlights

But which will be the decisive days to determine the outcome of the competition, i.e. those on which the challenges between the top clubs will take place?

oma, 6 Jun (askanews) - The calendar for Serie A 2025/2026 was drawn in Parma. These are all the big matches of the season, including the direct clashes of Napoli, Inter, Juventus, Milan, Lazio, Roma and Atalanta.

In the first round, the third day on 14 September with Juventus-Inter, Fiorentina-Napoli and Milan-Bologna is marked with the classic circle of sorro. In the fourth, on 21 September, there is the Lazio-Roma derby. On the fifth day on 28 September, there is Uventus-Atalanta and Milan-Naples. One week later, on 5th October, there is Juventus-Milan.

The seventh day on 19 October includes: Atalanza-Lazio, Milan-Fiorentina and Roma-Inter. Three more highlights on 26 October: Napoli-Inter, Lazio-Juventus and Fiorentina-Bologna, derby of the Apennines. At the ninth, on 29 October, the challenges between Atalanta and AC Milan and Inter and Fiorentina are scheduled. Milan v Roma takes place on the tenth day on 2 November. Then, on 9 November: Inter v Lazio, Bologna v Napoli and the Turin derby.

On 23 November (day 12) Napoli-Atalanta, Fiorentina-Juventus and Inter-Milan. Milan-Lazio will be on 30 November, on the same day the 13th Roma-Napoli. On 7 December there will be Napoli-Juventus and Lazio-Bologna.

Christmas matches

For matchday 15, on 14 December, the calendar features Bologna v Juventus. Juve then face Roma on 21 December. On 28 December there is Atalanta-Inter. On 3 January 2026 for day no. 18 there is Lazio-Napoli, Inter-Bologna and Atalanta-Roma. The first leg ends on 6 January with Bologna-Atalanta.

The return leg

It starts with Inter-Napoli and Fiorentina-Milan on 11 January. Juventus-Napoli and Roma-Milan are on the calendar for day 22 on 25 January. On 1 February Bologna-Milan and Napoli-Fiorentina and on 8 February Juventus-Lazio. On day no. 25 Inter-Juventus, Napoli-Roma and Lazio-Atalanta are played. Atalanta-Napoli is scheduled for 22 February. Roma v Juventus is scheduled for matchday 27 on 1 March. Milan v Inter is scheduled for matchday No. 28 on 8 March. For matchday no. 29 on 15 March, there will be Inter-Atalanta and Lazio-Milan. On 22 March, day no. 30, Bologna-Lazio and Fiorenata-Inter cross each other. Inter-Roma and Napoli-Milan, on the other hand, enrich day no. 31 on 4 April 2026. Atalanta-Juventus will be played on 12 April and Napoli-Lazio on 19 April. For day No. 34, Bologna-Roma and Milan-Juventus are scheduled. Roma-Fiorentina is the highlight of match day 35. In day 36 on 10 May, a triptych of potentially decisive matches: Milan-Atalanta, Napoli-Bologna and Lazio-Inter. On the penultimate day Juventus-Fiorentina and Roma-Lazio, while for the last day on 24 May: Bologna-Inter, Fiorentina-Atalanta and Torino-Juventus.

Crossovers with the Champions

Obviously, for the four teams involved in the Champions League (Napoli, Inter, Atalanta and Juventus) it will be crucial to cross this calendar with that of the European competition. The single round will see the first day spread out between 16, 17 and 18 September (in the so-called 'exclusive week', in which the other cups are not played), while the eighth and final day of the first phase will be 28 January with all the matches taking place at the same time. The playoffs will be played on 17/18 February and 24/25 February, and then it will be the turn of the round of 16 (10/11 March and 17/18 March), the quarters (7/8 April and 14/15 April), the semi-finals (28/29 April and 5/6 May) until the final in Budapest on 30 May 2026.

Obviously, arriving at the return round of Serie A on 11 January 2026 with a solid Champions League standings situation, thus avoiding the play-offs, will be crucial. Saving energy between January and February 2026 when 12 big matches are scheduled in Serie A will indeed be very useful in view of the final rush in spring, as the experience of this season teaches.