Seven rounds into 2025-26 and we are at the second international break of the season – time to take a look at how the land lies in the wonderful world of Serie B.

DCTV viewers have been treated to 21 live matches since the campaign kicked off in August and there are plenty more to come.

Palermo are living up to their billing as promotion favourites and a few other sides are following the script but, as ever, the Italian second division is throwing up thrills and spills all over the place.

Here’s the state of play.

Surprise packages

It is hard to look past Avellino, who are quietly taking the league by storm in their first season back in Serie B in seven years. The Irpini sit in fifth place with 12 points after seven games.

Raffaele Biancolino has built success on the sort of resilience newly-promoted sides need to survive and on a surprisingly free-flowing attack, with eight different players finding the net in the first seven matches.

If there is a source of concern for Avellino is their leaky defence, which has already conceded an alarming nine goals but kept a clean sheet against Mantova last time out.

Cesena and Juve Stabia last season went close to back-to-back promotions. Can the Irpini go one better?

Modena also deserve a mention. Yes, the Canaries strengthened their squad in the summer and appointed Andrea Sottil and, yes, they openly targeted promotion at the beginning of the campaign.

But having a plan is one thing, executing it quite another, particularly as Modena had missed the play-offs in the past two seasons. They also sold Antonio Palumbo to Palermo for £2m, losing their chief creator and most reliable finisher with 10 assists and nine goals last season.

Under Sottil, they have put teams away with the swagger of promotion favourites and the feeling is there is still room for improvement as they head into the break top of the table with 17 points, two clear of Palermo and three ahead of Frosinone.

Underachievers

When it comes to Sampdoria, the light at the end of the tunnel remains as distant as it ever did over the past 12 months. Is the light even there?

Barely four months on from their great escape after Brescia’s points deduction, Samp looked to be drifting towards the abyss again before finally getting off the mat with a 4-1 win over Pescara on Sunday.

But welcome as the win was, five points after seven games is a pitiful return. Boss Massimo Donati has tried to stay positive but his optimism cannot paper over the cracks.

Only three teams have scored fewer goals and only five have let in more, hardly a recipe for success. The win over Pescara must be the start of a turnaround and a trip to local rivals Virtus Entella after the international break offers the Blucerchiati a glorious chance to make it two wins in two.

Further south in Liguria, Spezia are having a torrid time themselves. Four months on from losing the play-off final against Cremonese, the Bianconeri are still winless and bottom of the table with just three points.

And if the gap left by Francesco Pio Esposito, who returned to Inter Milan after scoring 19 goals in all competitions last season, has not been filled – Spezia have the worst attacking record in Serie B – Luca D’Angelo has problems all over the park. His team have lost the spark they had last season and a second promotion tilt appears unlikely.

Empoli, meanwhile, have been the most disappointing of the sides to come down from Serie A. The Tuscans were one of the promotion favourites but are yet to click and sit in 12th place with nine points. Can their 96th-minute winner away at Sudtirol on Sunday spark a new vein of form?

Standout players

Modena owe a large slice of their success so far to the goals of Ettore Gliozzi, who has rattled in five, already matching his combined total from the past two seasons in Serie B.

Palermo’s push for promotion has also been built on a prolific striker, with Joel Pohjanpalo scoring four, including the opener in the 2-1 win at Spezia on Saturday, a tally matched by Empoli’s Ukrainian starlet Bohdan Popov.

Giacomo Calo and Farès Ghedjemis have been key to Frosinone’s fast start to the season. The former has been the heartbeat of Massimiliano Alvini’s side in midfield, scoring twice and setting up two more goals, while the latter averages a goal every two matches.

Elsewhere, Giacomo Olzer has been Pescara’s only shining light so far, netting three times from midfield.

Mangers under pressure

Donati is a man living on borrowed time. Sampdoria sacked Andrea Pirlo three matches into the season a year ago and the only reason the current boss has lasted as long as he has is a lack of credible alternatives.

If Sampdoria are drifting and there is no sign Donati can steer them to safer water, the same can be said of Mantova, who are just a point above rock-bottom Spezia.

The Virgilians treaded water in their first season back in Serie B last term, secured survival by finishing two points clear of the relegation play-off spots and were forced to operate on a budget this summer to strengthen a squad in dire need of improvement.

Mantova deserve credit for staying the course with boss Davide Possanzini even as the season looked to have turned sour, but the former Brescia striker is rapidly running out of time.

He received the dreaded vote of confidence last week and must reverse course after the international break. The same can be said of D’Angelo, who is rapidly running out of credit at Spezia after a dreadful start to the campaign.

Where we want to go next

Newly-promoted Padova, Virtus Entella and Avellino top the list of our destinations, for footballing and cultural reasons.

The Biancoscudati have so far punched above their weight upon their return to Serie B and the ultras have returned to the Stadio Euganeo after boycotting home fixtures last season, while Papu Gomez will make his long-awaited debut later this month.

Avellino’s Stadio Partenio has looked a picture whenever the Irpini have played at home this season and it should be high on the visiting wish list of any travelling calcio fan.

Entella, meanwhile, have not fared as well as their fellow Serie B newcomers but play in the division’s third-smallest ground (after Sudtirol and Carrarese) and will host Sampdoria in a spicy Ligurian derby in less than two weeks. What’s not to like?