On 30 May 2009, hours before the final Serie A 2008–09 league game against Sampdoria, Palermo head coach Davide Ballardini announced he was taking a 10-day pause in order to decide with his future with the club.

[3] Successively, Zamparini motivated the appointment of Zenga by saying he wanted a manager he regarded as fit to fulfil his own personal ambitions of a UEFA Champions League spot for the new season.

Mirko Savini and Alberto Fontana's expiring contracts were not renewed, whereas Genoa applied an option to buy one half of Boško Janković rights, something that Sampdoria did not do on Andrea Raggi.

[15] Zenga made his first press conference as Palermo boss on 8 July in Udine, in the eve of the start of the pre-season phase in the training camps of Sankt Veit and Bad Kleinkirchheim, Austria.

[17] The rosanero side made their competitive debut on 15 August, in a third round 2009–10 Coppa Italia single-legged home game against Lega Pro Prima Divisione club SPAL 1907, which they won 4–2.

Another historic victory came on 28 February, as Palermo cruised to defeat Juventus again also in the return leg in Turin, with a 2–0 result provided by goals from Fabrizio Miccoli and Igor Budan.

Palermo will also have a number of players featuring in the 2010 FIFA World Cup: Javier Pastore with Argentina, Simon Kjær with Denmark, Edinson Cavani with Uruguay and out-of-contract Mark Bresciano with Australia.