Serie A – Penalties? Never so few in the last 35 years

Considerable drop in penalties decreed during this tournament after the enormous number of those called in previous years

I 187 penalties decreed in 380 matches played in the championship 2019-20 represent the absolute record as regards the single group Serie A championships.

The average of 4,92 penalty per day, in fact, was much higher than 3,68 which represented the previous all-time record set on the season 1949-50 (in which they were assigned 140 penalties during the championship).

We do not know whether or not it is one of the effects of the introduction of the VAR (in use from 2017-18), but the difference, even with most of the averages of previous years, is quite evident as the table below shows .

In this table, in addition to the clear increase in the number of penalties awarded in the last few championships compared to previous seasons, the sharp drop in the average number of penalties awarded during this championship also emerges: