With the outright odds, we can easily calculate the probability that each team will be relegated from Serie A, according to the bookmakers.
Team | Odds | Probability |
---|---|---|
Venezia | 4/9 | 69.23% |
Verona | 11/10 | 47.62% |
Monza | 5/4 | 44.44% |
Genoa | 7/4 | 36.36% |
Lecce | 15/8 | 34.78% |
Cagliari | 10/3 | 23.08% |
Parma | 7/2 | 22.22% |
Como 1907 | 5/1 | 16.67% |
Empoli | 6/1 | 14.29% |
Torino | 16/1 | 5.88% |
Udinese | 20/1 | 4.76% |
Roma | 40/1 | 2.44% |
Bologna | 150/1 | 0.66% |
Fiorentina | 500/1 | 0.20% |
Lazio | 500/1 | 0.20% |
AC Milan | 750/1 | 0.13% |
Atalanta | 1000/1 | 0.10% |
Juventus | 1000/1 | 0.10% |
Napoli | 1000/1 | 0.10% |
Inter Milan | 15000/1 | 0.01% |
As of 5 December 2024, according to the odds, the favourite to be relegated from Serie A is Venezia, best priced at 4/9 with William Hill.
The odds mean that the probability for Venezia to be relegated is 69.23%.
The title race may not have been close in the 2023-24 season, but the relegation battle certainly was. Empoli, down and out many times, somehow managed to stay up (by one point) after beating Roma in the final game of the season. The likes of Cagliari, Udinese, Lecce and Verona were also within three points of relegation, which truly says a lot.
The newly-promoted side Venezia are the odds favourites to be relegated at 8/11, arriving in the league with a far from star-studded team. Their most recent effort in the top tier, back in 2021-22, ended in disaster as they finished rock bottom. The feeling is that they will go down immediately once again but perhaps they will put up a better fight this time.
As for the rest, well, there isn't a huge difference in the odds and that just shows once again how difficult the Serie A relegation race is to predict. In addition to Venezia, the likes of Empoli (4/5), Cagliari (6/5) and Verona (11/10) are also favourites to go down. I was a bit surprised by the long odds of Parma at 3/1, though it should be noted that they have many talents.
Empoli have made some good reinforcements, such as Lorenzo Colombo, and their academy product Jacopo Fazzini has done very well in pre-season. Cagliari still have some high-profile players in their squad but Davide Nicola's tactics have been rather hit-or-miss in recent years, following the amazing run to keep Crotone up years ago (those who know, know).
As for Verona, they seem to have a knack for getting out of the relegation battle even if it means doing so by just a few points. They also have a quite few good players, even if some have left this summer. Lecce, meanwhile, have odds of 10/3 and that is way too high, in my opinion, with a far from convincing manager (Luca Gotti) and a squad that doesn't exactly scream Serie A quality.
Como, just like Parma and Venezia, were promoted ahead of this season but they have made several good signings this summer. They should be able to stay out of the relegation zone, in other words.
The bottom three teams in Serie A at the end of the season are relegated to Serie B, replaced by the top two teams and the play-off winner of the second tier. Serie A recently changed the rules for tiebreakers as well, which apply to both the relegation and title fight. If two teams finish on the same points, it will be decided by a one-off clash instead of going by goal difference or head-to-head.
This actually happened in the 2022/23 season of Serie A, when Hellas Verona and Spezia finished on the same points. The do-or-die clash took place at neutral ground, more specifically at Sassuolo's Mapei Stadium, and Verona prevailed 3-1 after four goals in the first half. The Bentegodi side thus escaped relegation, while Spezia failed to do so.