Napoli aim for Champions League return as 2015/16 Serie A fixture list unveiled

The Serie A fixture list has been unveiled, and with it officially starts all the hopes and expectations and dreams for the coming season -- and of course, will also eventually bring in suffering and heartbreak and disappointment, but we can only hope for more of the good than the bad.

Napoli will open the season on the road for the second straight year, this time starting things off against Sassuolo on August 23rd against former captain Paolo Cannavaro. The home opener comes a week later against a drastically rebuilt Sampdoria side, who over the last year have lost their manager and most of their best players, and who could lose most of the rest of their top stars in the coming weeks based on current transfer rumors. Week three's road trip takes Napoli to Empoli, giving an early reunion to new Napoli boss Maurizio Sarri and his old team.

After that, there's some really though stretches of the season, including a brutal early three match span. Starting late September, Napoli face a trio of Juventus at home, AC Milan away, and Fiorentina at home -- with an international break between the Milan and Fiorentina matches -- followed by three matches in two weeks against teams that have given Napoli fits lately in Chievo, Palermo, and Genoa.

Other notable matches include the first Derby del Sole, with Roma coming to the Stadio San Paolo in December, and Napoli's first trip of the season to the San Siro in November against Inter Milan. Their first matches against the newly promoted sides see them face Carpi away in the fifth matchday, Bologna away in the 15th, and Frosinone away at the turn in the 19th matchday -- which also means they'll close the season at home against a team widely expected to go straight back down. That could be a huge advantage if there's a tight race for a Champions League spot at the end of the season -- or maybe even a title race.

Some other important dates to keep in mind are for the Europa League group stage matches. Those will be played on September 17th, October 1st, October 22nd, November 5th, November 26th, and December 10th. Napoli will likely have several surrounding league fixtures moved to the following Sunday to allow them time to rest after those Thursday matches. Matchdays five and ten -- against Carpi and Palermo -- are both mid-week matches, which Napoli did not win a single one of in the league last season.

After week 19, the schedule restarts from week 1, with the home sides flipped. The full list of fixtures for the league, listed in a week-by-week format, is here.