Palermo
Monday, October 6th, 2008
There is some debate about the exact founding date of the club: some date the club foundation to as early as 1898 due to the existence of papers addressed to Joseph Whitaker, English consul in Palermo and originally believed to be first club president, about a Palermitan football team founded in that year. However, the most common and officially stated foundation date is November 1, 1900, as the Anglo Panormitan Athletic and Football Club. The club is stated to be founded by Ignazio Majo Pagano, a young Palermitan colleague of Whitaker who had discovered football while at college in London, England where the sport was already popular. The staff foundations of the Palermo football organisation was composed of 3 Englishmen and 9 natives of Palermo, with Whitaker as honorary chairman, Edward De Garston as first president and red and blue as original team colours. The first known football match, played by the team on December 30, 1900, ended in a 5-0 defeat to an unidentified amateur English team. first official match, played on April 18, 1901 against Messina Football Club ended in a 3-2 win to the Palermitan side.In 1907, the club changed its name to Palermo Foot-Ball Club, and the team colours were changed to the current pink and black. From 1908 until the final one in 1914, Palermo was featured in the Lipton Challenge Cup, organised by English billionaire Sir Thomas Lipton. The competition saw them face off against Naples; Palermo won the competition three times, including a 6-0 victory in 1912.After the football halting due to World War I, the club was refounded on 1919 as Unione Sportiva Palermo, by a committee of young university students and sportsmen. During the early 1920s the club mainly competed in the Campionato Lega Sud (a football league of Southern Italy) reaching the semi-finals in 1924, before being knocked out when facing Audace Taranto, Alba Roma and Internaples. The club was cancelled in 1927 due to financial reasons, but was reformed one year later following a merger with Vigor Palermo under the denomination Palermo FootBall Club. Originally admitted to Prima Divisione (First Division), the equivalent of today’s Serie C1, the was promoted into Serie B in 1930 and finally reached Serie A in 1932. From its debut season in Italy’s top division, Palermo relocated to a new home, the Stadio Littorio (Lictorian Stadium) in the Favorita neighbourhood, today known as Stadio Renzo Barbera. The club played Serie A until 1936, when they were relegated to Serie B and first challenged Catania in the Sicilian derby. In 1936 Palermo was also forced by the fascist regime to change its colours to yellow and red, after the official ones of the local municipality. Meanwhile, economical troubles arose, and in 1940 they were expelled by the Italian Football Federation because of financial problems.
Palermo goalscorer, Santiago Vernazza.
After the World War II, the team returned to Serie A by capturing the Serie B championship of 1947–48; the refreshed Palermo squad featured players such as Czechoslovakian legend Čestmír Vycpálek who was signed from Juventus alongside Conti, Di Bella and Pavesi. Palermo played Serie A until they were relegated in 1954.Massive changes in the board, as well as the managing post and the playing squad, proved to be successful and the club returned to Serie A in 1956. Palermo then became a sort of “yo-yo” club, bouncing up and down between the top two Italian leagues. Several stars appeared with Palermo during this period, such as Argentine striker Santiago Vernazza (51 goals in 115 games with the rosanero), goalkeepers Roberto Anzolin and Carlo Mattrel, Giuseppe Furino and Franco Causio. Palermo marked its best campaign in the 1961–62 season, finishing 8th in Serie A. In 1963 they however were relegated in Serie B, and played there for five seasons.
In 1970, Renzo Barbera took over the club, becoming the new chairman. After 1973, Palermo FBC played exclusively in Serie B for a long time. Despite this, in this period Palermo reached two Italian Cup finals, both narrowly lost: in 1974 to Bologna on penalty shoot-outs, and in 1979 to Juventus after extra time. Barbera left the club in 1980 and Palermo were relegated to Serie C1 four years later. The 1985–86 season which ended in the summer was however the last for Palermo FBC, as the club, after a struggling saving from relegation, was expelled by the federation because of financial problems. In the summer of 1987, after a year without professional football in Palermo, the club was refounded, bearing the current name, and began to play down from Serie C2, which was promptly won.
In the 1990s Palermo played extensively between Serie B and Serie C1, with a few highs, such as its 1995–1996 Serie B and Coppa Italia campaign, the latter ended in the quarter-finals, and a number of lows such as the 1998 relegation to Serie C2 after defeat in the play-offs to Battipagliese, then revoked by the federation to fill a league vacancy.[15] AS Roma chairman Franco Sensi bought the team in 2000 and Palermo were promoted to Serie B one year later. In the summer of 2002 Maurizio Zamparini acquired the club with the intention to bring it back to Serie A.[16] This happened after a hard but successful 2003–04 campaign which saw Palermo being crowned as Serie B champions and promoted to Serie A after 31 years under head coach Francesco Guidolin.
The 2004–05 season, the first back in Serie A for the Palermo club since 1973, ended with an excellent sixth place, allowing it to qualify for the 2005–06 UEFA Cup for the first time in its history. Luca Toni broke the Palermo Serie A scoring record by notching up 20 league goals. Guidolin left in 2005, and was replaced by Luigi Del Neri, who did not manage to repeat his predecessor’s successes and was later replaced by Giuseppe Papadopulo. Despite an unimpressive eighth place in the Serie A table, Palermo reached the round of 16 in the UEFA Cup as well as the Coppa Italia semifinals. Guidolin’s return was followed by Palermo being admitted to play UEFA Cup again due to the 2006 Serie A scandal and Palermo players Andrea Barzagli, Cristian Zaccardo and Fabio Grosso being crowned 2006 FIFA World Cup winners. A number of impressive signings were made to establish an ambitious team, and a good beginning in the 2006–07 campaign appeared initially to confirm this. However, a winless 11 games streak caused Palermo to fall down from third to seventh place. The club ended the season with a fifth place and will play again UEFA Cup in the next season, with Stefano Colantuono at Guidolin’s place. A number of unimpressive performances left the rosanero to eighth place, seven points shy of the fourth UEFA Champions League spot, and a crushing 5–0 away defeat to Juventus led Zamparini to sack Colantuono on November 26, 2007 and call in Guidolin for a personal fourth spell as Palermo boss. On March 24, 2008 Guidolin was sacked and left the club for the fourth time with his predecessor Stefano Colantuono taking charge for the second time this season. Colantuono was confirmed as Palermo boss for the 2008–09 season. During the summer market, club stars like Amauri, Barzagli and Zaccardo were sold. New signings included former and current Italian internationals Marco Amelia, Fabio Liverani and Antonio Nocerino. The rosanero started their season with a disappointing 1–2 home loss to Lega Pro Prima Divisione side Ravenna in the Third Round of the Coppa Italia. After just one game from the new campaign, a 1–3 loss to Udinese, Zamparini sacked Colantuono, and the head coach role was then given to Davide Ballardini
