B playoffs: it starts with Sudtirol-Reggina and Cagliari-Venice on 26 May

Twelve teams on vacation, eight more on the field until June. A place remains to be assigned for Serie A and another that is worth relegation to C. The playoffs and playouts are underway: Bari, Parma, Cagliari, Sudtirol, Reggina and Venice are playing for promotion. Decisive playoff between Brescia and Cosenza for the stay in B.

Playoff pairings

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Preliminary round in a one-off match, semi-finals and round-trip final: this is how the playoffs are made up. The first to challenge each other will be the teams that finished from fifth to eighth place. Sixth-placed Sudtirol faces Reggina seventh, on the pitch on Friday 26 May. Venezia eighth will face Cagliari fifth, kick-off on Saturday 27. The winner of Sudtirol-Reggina faces Bari third, the winner of Cagliari-Venezia challenges Parma fourth.

The rules

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The preliminaries in a single match are played at the home of the best placed in the standings, therefore Cagliari and Sudtirol. For the semi-finals and final, the team that finished in front of the season plays the first leg away and the second leg in front of their home crowd. In the preliminaries, in the event of a tie, we go to extra time, no penalties: after 120′, whoever finished the championship in front passes. In the event of a draw between the two legs of the semi-finals, whoever has the best placement gets through, without extra-time and penalty shots. Same criterion also for the final, it continues after 90′ only if the teams ended the season with the same points (a hypothesis that would only occur in the event of a match between Parma and Cagliari).

The calendar

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The first leg semi-final that Bari will play against the winner of Sudtirol-Reggina is scheduled for Monday 29 May, the return to San Nicola on Friday 2 June. The other semi-final will be played on Tuesday 30 May with Parma hosting a game between Cagliari and Venice at the Tardini on Saturday 3 June. The first leg is instead scheduled for Thursday 8 June, the return leg on Sunday 11.

The playouts

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Brescia and Cosenza play the round-trip playouts: the first match is scheduled for May 25, the return is scheduled for June 1. Gastaldello’s team hosts their opponents at Rigamonti in the return match. As both teams finished the season with 40 points, extra time and penalties will result in the event of a tie in the double-header.