Italian Football League - Serie A
The Italian football championship has been held since 1898 in various guises, with its current incarnation, Serie A, having been formed in 1929.
The Italian football champions are known as the Scudetto (meaning little shield), which dates back to 1924 when title winners Genoa added a small shield to their shirts to celebrate their 9th Italian title.
The original Italian Championships were actually held on a single day, with just 4 teams competing in a knockout tournament, and Genoa coming out on top as the inaugural winners. This tournament was called the Prima Categoria and the format was used up until 1909, when a league was started with 9 teams, all of which were from the north of Italy. Indeed, it wasn't until the formation of the Serie A in 1929 that the competition was opened up to the whole of the country, instead of it just being limited to a number of teams from the north.
In the early days of the competition the main clubs were Genoa, Pro Vercelli, and Milan, and this period saw continuous disagreements amongst the governing bodies over foreign players, with some championships being limited to Italian-only players, and some allowing foreign players. The disagreements and controversies continued through the 1920s, with the championship chopping and changing - being renamed twice as Prima Divisione and Divisione Nazionale. It wasn't until 1929 and the decision to rename the league yet again, to Serie A (and Serie B), that things eventually settled down. The formation of Serie A would see the likes of Bologna, Torino and Internazionale also coming to the fore (as well as the previously mentioned Milan), but it would be Juventus who would be the one club to really dominate the championship throughout its history, as you'll discover if you check out the list of Italian Title Winners.