The Italian football league system is a series of interconnected leagues and national tournaments, set up by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), for football clubs in Italy with one club hailing from San Marino.

The first leagues were started by English emigrants in the 1890s in Italy. The first club was Genoa Cricket and Athletic Club (now Genoa Cricket & Football Club). Initially there were separate leagues for Italians and foreigners, they merged around 1897. In March 1898, the Italian Football Federation (Federazione Italiana del Football, later re-called Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio, FIGC) was set up in Turin. With four clubs joining - Genoa, FC Torinese, Internazionale di Torino and the Società Ginnastica di Torino (Gymnastic Society of Torino). Other clubs existed but decided not to join. The first league took place on a single day, May 8, 1898 in Torino. The title was won by Genoa.

Genoa were the initial force in Italian football. They won the championship in 1899, 1900, 1902, 1903, and 1904. Milan CFBC and Juventus FBC joined the league during 1899-1900 season.

A league system is a hierarchy of leagues in a sport, usually with a system of promotion and relegation between consecutive levels of the hierarchy. They are often called pyramids due to their tendency to split into an increasing number of regional divisions the further down the pyramid one descends. League systems are used in a number of sports, especially association football, rugby league and rugby union.

In North America, a similar league system exists, but without promotion or relegation. Most professional sports are divided into major and minor leagues. While baseball and association football (known as soccer in North America) have well-defined pyramid shapes to their minor league hierarchies, ice hockey's professional minor league system is linear, with one league at each level. The systems for American football and basketball are far less organized.

Francesco Totti, Ufficiale OMRI, (born 27 September 1976 in Rome) is an Italian footballer who is the captain of Serie A club Roma. His primary position is that of a trequartista, though he has also been successfully utilized as a lone striker. Totti has spent his entire career at Roma, is the number-one goalscorer and the most capped player in the club's history. He is considered as one of the finest players in his generation, and also Roma's greatest player ever.

A 2006 World Cup winner and Euro 2000 finalist, Totti was selected in the All-Star team for both tournaments. He has won many individual awards, including a record five Italian Footballer of the Year awards and two Serie A Footballer of the Year awards. He was named in the FIFA 100, a list of the 125 greatest living footballers selected by Pelé as a part of FIFA's centenary celebrations. In 2011, Totti has been recognized by IFFHS as the most popular footballer in Europe.

Often referred to as Il Bimbo d'Oro (The Golden Boy), Er Pupone (The Big Baby), and Il Gladiatore (The Gladiator) by the Italian sports media, Totti is currently the top active Serie A goalscorer and fifth all-time in league history with 215 goals.

Claudio Ranieri (born 20 October 1951 in Rome) is an Italian football manager who is the coach of AS Monaco. He previously managed many other well-known European clubs, namely Napoli, Fiorentina, Valencia, Atlético Madrid, Chelsea, Parma, Juventus, Roma and lastly Inter.

Ranieri first signed as a professional football player with Roma, though in his two seasons with the club he only made six appearances; he also had a one-month loan spell with Siracusa. As a player, Ranieri played most of his career as a defender for Catanzaro (1974–1982), Catania (1982–1984), and Palermo (1984–1986). He was involved in four successful promotion campaigns (two with Catanzaro and one each with Catania and Palermo).

After amateur side Vigor Lamezia, his first managerial position was at Campania Puteolana, a small team in Pozzuoli. He took charge there in 1987. However, it was at Cagliari that he made his name, getting them promoted to Serie A from the third division Serie C1 in successive seasons.He moved to coach at Napoli for two seasons. Despite finishing in fourth place in Serie A, he won no silverware. He did, however, introduce Gianfranco Zola to the first team to replace Diego Maradona. He joined Fiorentina in 1993, gaining promotion from Serie B in his first season. He subsequently had success in Serie A, winning the Coppa Italia and SuperCoppa Italiana in 1996. In 1997, Ranieri moved to Spain to take over at Valencia. He was the coach from 1997 to 1999 and guided Valencia to UEFA Champions League qualification and the Copa del Rey in 1999.