Serie A: Spezia promoted to Italy's top division despite defeat in second leg of playoff final

Spezia were promoted to Italy’s Serie A for the first time on Thursday.

Spezia lost 1-0 to Frosinone in the second leg of the Serie B playoff final, which finished 1-1 on aggregate. However, Spezia was promoted on the tiebreaker rule of having finished higher in the table in the regular season. Spezia finished third and Frosinone eighth.

The other promoted teams are Benevento, which won Serie B by 18 points, and Crotone.

Spezia were founded in 1906 and last played in Italy’s first division in the 1920s, before the Serie A was formed. The team is based in La Spezia, a city along Italy’s northwestern coast with a population of less than 100,000.