After yesterday’s defeat (4-0) on the final day, it’s play-off time. Gubbio will be Rimini’s opponent in the first round of the play-off group stage. The match will not be played on Saturday 4th (but almost certainly on Tuesday 7th May) as the CONI Board of Guarantee will only meet on Thursday 2nd to discuss Taranto’s appeal against the 4-point penalty. The president of the Lega Pro made it clear yesterday at the Orogel Stadium before the start of Cesena-Perugia: the postponement will be made official today, the date of 7 May will be announced after the Coni ruling.
The group stage
If the dates are uncertain at this point, the regulations are clear. 21 teams will participate in the first phase, ranked from 4th to 10th place in each group: 6 (two per group) will enter the national phase. In Group B the pairings of the first round of the group phase are as follows: Gubbio-Rimini, Pescara-Pontedera, Juve Next Gen-Arezzo.
The three winners will advance to the second round of Group B, when Perugia will also come into play (who will host the “worst” of the three qualifiers). The two winners will advance to the national stage.
The national phase
The national phase is divided into two rounds. In the first round, the 6 qualifiers from the group stage, the three third-placed teams from the regular season (Vicenza, Carrarese and Benevento) plus the winner of the Italian Cup (Catania) participate, for a total of ten teams. The pairings will be established based on the regular season rankings: from this stage they will be played over 180 minutes, with the top seed returning home. The five winners and three group runners-up (Padova, Torres and Avellino) will play the second round.
The Final Four
The four winners will advance to the Final Four, which includes the semi-finals on Saturday 25 and Tuesday 28 May and the finals on Sunday 2 and Sunday 9 June.
