2015–16 Serie A


The 2015–16 Serie A was the 114th season of top-tier Italian football, the 84th in a round-robin tournament, and the 6th since its organization under a league committee separate from Serie B. Juventus were the defending champions. The campaign began on 22 August 2015 and ended on 15 May 2016.
On 25 April 2016, Juventus succeeded in defending their title for the fifth consecutive season, after second placed Napoli lost to Roma, giving Juventus a 12-point lead with only three games left.

Events

On 28 April 2015 Carpi obtained its first promotion ever to Serie A, after debuting in Serie B the year before, becoming the 64th team to participate in Serie A since the 1929–30 season. On 16 May, Frosinone also earned its first promotion to Serie A, becoming the 65th to participate. On 9 June 2015 Bologna won Serie B play-off, returning to the Serie A after just one year.
This season of Serie A was the first season to have goal-line technology implemented after severe complaints from various teams' general managers in relation to controversial ghost goals during recent seasons of Serie A.
On 20 March 2016, Gianluigi Buffon broke the previous record of Sebastiano Rossi by setting a longer period of 974 minutes without conceding a goal.
On 14 May, Gonzalo Higuaín broke Gunnar Nordahl's record for most goals scored in Serie A in a season and equaled Gino Rossetti's record in 1928–29 by scoring 36 goals and winning the Capocannoniere.
Three Serie A icons also retired at the end of the season; the Verona captain Luca Toni, who scored 157 goals in 324 league appearances and was twice the league's top scorer, as well as Gianpaolo Bellini, the left-back who spent his entire career with Atalanta, making 435 appearances with the club. Both players also scored in their final games with their clubs on 8 May 2016, Toni in a 2–1 win over champions Juventus and Bellini in a 1–1 draw with Udinese; and on 14 May, Christian Abbiati for Milan in the last fixture of the season at home against Roma, however, he did not get any playing time, totaling 281 league appearances for the club.

Teams

Stadiums and locations

TeamHome cityStadiumCapacity2014–15 season
AtalantaBergamoStadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia17th in Serie A
BolognaBolognaStadio Renato Dall'AraSerie B playoffs winner
CarpiCarpiStadio Alberto Braglia
ChievoVeronaStadio Marc'Antonio Bentegodi14th in Serie A
EmpoliEmpoliStadio Carlo Castellani15th in Serie A
FiorentinaFlorenceStadio Artemio Franchi4th in Serie A
FrosinoneFrosinoneStadio Matusa2nd in Serie B
GenoaGenoaStadio Luigi Ferraris6th in Serie A
Hellas VeronaVeronaStadio Marc'Antonio Bentegodi13th in Serie A
InternazionaleMilanSan Siro8th in Serie A
JuventusTurinJuventus Stadium
LazioRomeStadio Olimpico3rd in Serie A
MilanMilanSan Siro10th in Serie A
NapoliNaplesStadio San Paolo5th in Serie A
PalermoPalermoStadio Renzo Barbera11th in Serie A
RomaRomeStadio Olimpico2nd in Serie A
SampdoriaGenoaStadio Luigi Ferraris7th in Serie A
SassuoloSassuoloMapei Stadium – Città del Tricolore
12th in Serie A
TorinoTurinStadio Olimpico Grande Torino9th in Serie A
UdineseUdineDacia Arena16th in Serie A

Personnel and kits

†Torino to appear Nyalakan Nyali branding to promote Suzuki branding in Indonesia.

Managerial changes

League table

Positions by round

The table lists the positions of teams after each week of matches. In order to preserve chronological evolvements, any postponed matches were not included to the round at which they were originally scheduled, but added to the full round they were played immediately afterwards.

Results

Attendance data

Season statistics

Top goalscorers

RankPlayerClubGoals
1 Gonzalo HiguaínNapoli36
2 Paulo DybalaJuventus19
3 Carlos BaccaMilan18
4 Mauro IcardiInternazionale16
5 Leonardo PavolettiGenoa14
5 Mohamed SalahRoma14
7 ÉderSampdoria, Internazionale13
7 Josip IličićFiorentina13
7 Massimo MaccaroneEmpoli13
10 Andrea BelottiTorino12
10 Lorenzo InsigneNapoli12
10 Nikola KalinićFiorentina12

Top assists

RankPlayerClubAssists
1 Paul PogbaJuventus12
1 Miralem PjanićRoma12
3 Marek HamšíkNapoli11
3 Riccardo SaponaraEmpoli11
5 Lorenzo InsigneNapoli10
6 Diego PerottiGenoa / Roma9
6 Paulo DybalaJuventus9
8 Giacomo BonaventuraMilan8
9 Franco VázquezPalermo7
9 Riccardo MeggioriniChievo7
9 Miroslav KloseLazio7
9 Valter BirsaChievo7
9 José CallejónNapoli7
9 Álvaro MorataJuventus7
9 Alejandro GómezAtalanta7

Hat-tricks

PlayerClubAgainstResultDate
Nikola KalinićFiorentinaInternazionale27 09 2015
SusoGenoaFrosinone03 04 2016
Dries MertensNapoliBologna19 04 2016
Gonzalo HiguaínNapoliFrosinone14 05 2016