The Serie A fixtures will be announced tonight, with several rules governing the process.
The 2017-18 season gets underway on August 20, and will run until May 20, 2018; finishing early to give Italy time to prepare for the world cup.
Ahead of the fixtures being drawn, the rules in place mean it's possible to rule-out certain opening fixtures and midweek games.
To take Milan as an example, we know the Rossoneri have only 12 possible opponents in Week 1, and that they'll be away from home.
The Serie A fixtures will be announced tonight, with several rules governing the process.
The 2017-18 season gets underway on August 20, and will run until May 20, 2018; finishing early to give Italy time to prepare for the world cup.
Ahead of the fixtures being drawn, the rules in place mean it's possible to rule-out certain opening fixtures and midweek games.
To take Milan as an example, we know the Rossoneri have only 12 possible opponents in Week 1, and that they'll be away from home.
Vincenzo Montella's side will kick off their Serie A campaign away to Atalanta, Benevento, Bologna, Cagliari, Crotone, Hellas Verona, Juventus, Lazio, Sampdoria, Sassuolo, Spal or Udinese.
Below are the rules which will govern today's draw.
For the final four rounds, home and away matches must alternate.
There can be no more than two consecutive home or away matches for any side.
If there are two consecutive home or away matches, the following two fixtures must necessarily be one home and one away.
Teams from the same city cannot be at home on the same day, a rule which affects Bologna and SPAL, Chievo and Verona, Genoa and Sampdoria, Inter and Milan, Juventus and Torino, and Roma and Lazio.
For teams sharing a stadium, the side which was at home for the first day of last season will be away for the first fixture of the new season – Milan will be away from home, Lazio will be at home, Genoa will be away and Verona will play at the Bentegodi.
The sides who played away from home in Week 38 last season will be at home this time, so Juventus, Milan and Napoli will all finish with a home game, while Inter and Roma will be away.
Games between Inter, Juventus, Milan, Napoli and Roma cannot take place in midweek rounds, nor can the five city derbies [Sampdoria-Genoa, Inter-Milan, Roma-Lazio, Juventus-Torino and Chievo-Verona].
None of the derbies can be played on the first or last day, and there cannot be two on the same day.
There cannot be the same fixture, in the same round, in the same order as last season.
The first and last fixtures, regardless of order cannot be the same as either of the past two seasons. So, for example, Milan cannot face Fiorentina or Torino.
Clubs involved in the Champions League [Juventus, Roma and Napoli] cannot meet a side involved in the Europa League [Atalanta, Lazio and Milan] in a round between a Europa League and Champions League tie – so these sides can’t meet in Weeks 6, 9, 12 or 16.
Clubs involved in the preliminary rounds of European competition can’t meet in Week 1 – so Napoli can’t play Milan.
There are also several city events which necessitate clubs playing away from home throughout the year: Atalanta will be away on October 15, Bologna on October 1, Cagliari on August 20 and 27, Fiorentina on November 19 and November 26, Juventus on October 1, Napoli on February 4, SPAL on August 20 and Torino on September 10.
These are for a number of reasons, for example Bologna are away on October 1 as the Pope is visiting, while Fiorentina’s two away fixtures in November are necessary to accommodate the Italian rugby team.