History of Palermo FC

Conventionally, the history of Palermo has been begun on 1º November 1900, thanks to the contribution, as well as the English community in the city, by Ignazio Majo Pagano, a young man who had known football in England and who had decided to import it in his native town.

Re-admitted to the category of belonging, in the 1947–1948 season Palermo won the girone C of the Serie B championship and obtained the promotion: in that team they played players like the Czechoslovakian Čestmír Vycpálek and the Italians Gaetano Conti, Carmelo Di Bella and Aurelio Pavesi De Marco.

One of the symbol players of this period was the former River Plate striker Santiago Vernazza, a fans' idol thanks to 54 goals in 121 total games which also make him the third in the all-time scorer list of Palermo.

At the end of the 1962–1963 season Vilardo was disqualified for life for an illegal attempt: he asked to the referee Concetto Lo Bello the Bari's win on the last day of the Serie B championship, so that once the Apulian freshman was promoted would be bought the player José Ferdinando Puglia, healing the coffers of the rosanero company.

On March 7, 1980 Barbera sold the club to constructor Gaspare Gambino, following a five-points deduction imposed by the Football Federation due to a match fixing scandal which involved Palermo midfielder Guido Magherini, then disqualified for 3 years and a half.

In the 1990s, the 1995–1996 season was the highlight for Palermo, obtaining a seventh place after having fought hard for promotion, and even appearing in the quarter-finals of the Coppa Italia after eliminating Parma and Vicenza among others, with a team mostly composed of Palermitan footballers and coached by Palermo-born Ignazio Arcoleo.

In the summer of 2002, after a quiet Serie B season ended in mid-table place, Palermo was sold by Sensi to retail trade entrepreneur Maurizio Zamparini in a 15 million euro bid.

Zamparini was ambitious and reinforced the team with top signings such as Luca Toni, Lamberto Zauli and Eugenio Corini, and promising youngsters Simone Pepe, Andrea Gasbarroni and Christian Terlizzi.

During the summer football market, Luca Toni was sold to ACF Fiorentina for €10 m and a couple of young internationals, Andrea Caracciolo and Stephen Ayodele Makinwa, were signed to replace him.

The team had a good start in the new season, most notably with an exciting 3–2 win against Inter Milan and a successful UEFA Cup debut against Anorthosis Famagusta, defeated 6–1 on aggregate (2-1 and 4-0).

In the transfer window, Palermo spent millions adding players to their squad, including Aimo Diana, Mark Bresciano, Fábio Simplício and Amauri, but sold World Cup winner Fabio Grosso to Internazionale.

Club chairman Maurizio Zamparini became more critical of Guidolin and finally sacked him on April 23, 2007 following a 3–4 home defeat to third-last placed Parma which extended the run of poor results to 11 games without a single win.

[24] Guidolin's return brought two victories, to Siena[25] and Udinese, ending the season in fifth place, obtaining thus qualification to the UEFA Cup 2007-08 for the third consecutive time and breaking its previous record of 53 points of two years before.

[28] Palermo's moves in the summer market included notable signings such as Boško Janković[29] and Fabrizio Miccoli[30] to replace Andrea Caracciolo[31] and David Di Michele,[32] sold to Sampdoria and Torino respectively.

A fairly unimpressive start in the season, including a shock UEFA Cup elimination against Czech minnows FK Mladá Boleslav, however convinced Zamparini to sack Colantuono after a crush 5–0 loss to Juventus, re-calling Guidolin at the helm of the rosanero.

A 3–2 home loss to Genoa, the third in a row for Palermo, followed by Guidolin's controversial attacks against the supporting fanbase and the club management, brought in to Colantuono being reinstated as rosanero boss on March 24, 2008.

[36] After the end of the season, Palermo dismissed Ballardini from the coaching post following disagreements with the board, and replaced him with Walter Zenga, whose appointment from Sicilian arch-rivals Catania was greeted with surprise and dismay from supporters of both parties.

The latter win, achieved on February, led Palermo to climb over the Bianconeri in fourth place, establishing the Rosanero as serious contenders for a Champions League spot, which they ultimately lost to Sampdoria by only one point.

For the 2011–12 season, Delio Rossi was replaced by former Chievo boss Stefano Pioli, who was, however, sacked before the Serie A kickoff after being eliminated by Swiss minnows FC Thun in the Europa League third preliminary round.

A string of poor results, however, led Palermo to three consecutive defeats, including elimination from the Coppa Italia and a disappointing loss in the Sicilian derby, persuading Zamparini to replace Mangia with the more experienced Bortolo Mutti.

The season started in unfashionable manner, leading to the sacking of Sannino and his replacement with Gian Piero Gasperini; days later, Perinetti resigned and Pietro Lo Monaco was named as the new club managing director.

A new director of football, Franco Ceravolo (formerly a scout for Juventus), was instead named in place of Perinetti, but was removed (with Iachini being instead confirmed) after a dismal season start led Zamparini to intervene in order to turn the team's fortunes.

Ballardini, who was originally confirmed as head coach, left his position after a draw at Inter Milan at the second matchday of the season and was replaced with Serie A newbie Roberto De Zerbi.

[53] De Zerbi's stint as Palermo head coach ended in dismal as he was sacked following Coppa Italia elimination at home against Serie B team Spezia, and after seven league losses in a row, with former club captain Eugenio Corini taking over.

On 27 February 2017, Zamparini stepped down as chairman of Palermo after 15 years in charge, announcing he had agreed in principle to sell his controlling stake to an unspecified Anglo-American fund,[55] led by Italian-American Paul Baccaglini who was named new club president on 6 March.

As results did not improve, Tedino was ultimately dismissed as well and replaced by Roberto Stellone, who however failed on winning promotion, ending the regular season in fourth place and eventually losing the playoff finals to Frosinone.

For the 2018–19 Serie B season, Palermo found themselves forced to sell a number of players due to financial issues, with Antonino La Gumina sold to Empoli for a reported fee of €9m and Igor Coronado to Sharjah FC for €6m.

With Tedino reappointed as head coach, Zamparini also decided to rehire Rino Foschi as director of football for a third time, and Giammarva resigning from his chairman post on 8 August 2018.

[63] Following a January 2019 transfer session with no signings at all and tensions within the board, on 4 February 2019 Clive Richardson (chairman) and John Treacy (director) left the club with immediate effect.

[76] The next day, Orlando announced to have chosen "Hera Hora srl", owned by entrepreneurs Dario Mirri (Palermo native, and Renzo Barbera's nephew) and Sicilian-American Tony DiPiazza, as the new owners.