On 14 April 2019,
Chievo returned to
Serie B after 11 years. Following this on 5 May
Frosinone was relegated after one year while the last team to be relegated was
Empoli (on 26 May 2019) also after just one year. Teams that were promoted directly from
2018–19 Serie B were
Brescia (on 1 May 2019, after 8 years of absence) and
Lecce (10 days later, after 7 years) while the last team to join was
Hellas Verona (after just one season in Serie B) by winning the promotion play-off on 2 June. On 28 June 2019,
Milan were excluded from the Europa League after breaches of the UEFA Financial Fair Play Regulations.
Roma were then moved to the Europa League group phase while
Torino entered the preliminary round.
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Serie A On 22 February 2020,
Prime Minister of Italy,
Giuseppe Conte, suspended all sporting events in the regions of
Lombardy and
Veneto, which included three Serie A matches in those regions, as well as one in
Piedmont, that were to be played the following day, due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in the country. The following week, six matches were initially to be played behind closed doors due to scare of the outbreak, however, all were later outright suspended. On 4 March, the government ruled that all sporting events in Italy would be played behind closed doors until 3 April. On 9 March, the government ruled that all sporting events in Italy be suspended until 3 April. Serie A did not resume play on this date, citing it will only resume once "health conditions allow it". Even there was considered the option of cancelling the championship. On 13 May, it was announced that team training would be resumed on 18 May, and on 18 May it was announced that Italian football would be suspended until 14 June. On 18 June, Spadafora approved the softening of quarantine rules which allowed for the quarantining of only the individual who tests positive for COVID-19, whereas the rest of the squad will ramp up testing, including a rapid-response test the day before a match. ==Teams==