Early history (1898–1947) , including: standing from left: De Garston, Olsen, Pirandello, Gaffiero, V. Piero, Marino, Giaconia, R. Pojero, Blake, Macaluso... Fourth person from left seated: Ignazio Majo Pagano The history of the arrival of football in
Palermo city is linked to the solid relationships that the high local bourgeoisie entertained with the
British people. There is some debate and uncertainty about the exact date the club was founded. Some authorities believe that it may have been founded as early as 1898 due to the existence of papers addressed to
Joseph Whitaker, English ornithologist in Palermo and originally believed to be first club president, about a Palermo football team founded in the month of April of that year. Conversely, another source cites that in April 1897, the future founders of Palermo Calcio founded the
Sport Club.
Joseph Whitaker have had an important role in the first years of the club: in 1902 he would then have been appointed honorary president, as evidenced by a letter dated March 14 of that year. The most common and officially stated foundation date is 1 November 1900, as the
Anglo-Palermitan Athletic and Foot-Ball Club. The club is thought to have been founded by Ignazio Majo Pagano, a young Palermitan colleague of Whitaker who had discovered football while at college in
London in the UK, where the modern game of
association football originated. The initial staff comprised three Englishmen and nine natives of Palermo, with Whitaker as honorary chairman, Edward De Garston as inaugural president and with red and blue as the original team colours. The first recorded football match, played by the team on 30 December 1900, ended in a 5–0 defeat to an unidentified amateur English team. The club's first official match, played on 18 April 1901 against
Messina Football Club, ended in a 3–2 victory for 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 Italy's entry in
World War I in 1915, Palermo was featured in the
Lipton Challenge Cup, organised by Scottish businessman
Sir Thomas Lipton. The competition saw them face off against
Naples FBC; Palermo won the competition three times, including a 6–0 victory in 1912. After a gap during the First World War, the club was refounded in 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 in Southern Italy, reaching the semi-finals in 1924 before being knocked out by
Audace Taranto,
Alba Roma and
Internaples. The club was dissolved in 1927 due to financial problems, but was reformed one year later following a merger with
Vigor Palermo under the name
Palermo Football Club. Originally admitted to
Prima Divisione (First Division), the equivalent of today's
Serie C1, the team was promoted to
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 in Serie A until 1936, when they were relegated to Serie B and first played
Catania in the
Sicilian derby. In 1936, Palermo was forced by the fascist regime to change its colours to yellow and red, after the official colours of the local municipality. Meanwhile, economic difficulties arose, and in 1940 the club was expelled by the
Italian Football Federation because of financial problems. The club could not finish the 1942–43 season due to the outbreak of
World War II. At the same time, the pink-and-black colours were chosen because Sicily became a "war zone". After the conflict, the club changed its name to
Unione Sportiva Palermo.
Post-war years (1947–2002) After
World War II, the team returned to Serie A by winning the Serie B championship of
1947–48. The new Palermo squad featured players such as
Czechoslovak legend
Čestmír Vycpálek, who signed from
Juventus alongside Conti,
Carmelo Di Bella and Pavesi. Massive changes in the board, as well as the manager's job and the squad, proved successful, and the club returned to Serie A in 1956. Palermo became a "
yo-yo club", bouncing up and down between the top two Italian leagues. Several stars played for 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
1961–62 season, finishing in eighth place in Serie A. In 1963, however, they were relegated to Serie B, where they played for five seasons. Palermo played again in Serie A between 1968 and 1970. In 1968, with the transformation of the football club into a joint-stock company, Palermo changed its name to
Società Sportiva Calcio Palermo and moreover, in that year, the team returned in
Serie A in the
1967–68 Serie B, with the former player and coach Carmelo Di Bella. In December of the new season, Palermo took part in its second and last Mitropa Cup and, therefore, in its third and last participation in a European competition. In 1970,
Renzo Barbera took over the club as the new chairman. After 1973, Palermo FBC remained firmly rooted in Serie B. Despite this, Palermo reached two
Italian Cup finals, both of which they 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, however, which ended in the summer, was the last for Palermo FBC, as, having just saved themselves from relegation, the club was expelled by the football federation due to financial problems. In the summer of 1987, after a year without professional football in Palermo, the club was re-founded bearing the name
Unione Sportiva Città di Palermo and began to play in
Serie C2, which it promptly won. In the 1990s, Palermo played between Serie B and Serie C1 with a few highs, such as its
1995–96 Serie B and Coppa Italia campaign, the latter ending 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, later revoked by the federation to fill a vacant league slot. In March 2000, Roma chairman
Franco Sensi led a holding company to purchase Palermo and
Sergio D'Antoni became the president of Palermo and Palermo were promoted to Serie B one year later after a dramatic final week of the season, with Palermo coming back from behind to take first place from league-toppers Sicilian rivals
Messina. The first comeback season in the Serie B, with
Bortolo Mutti as head coach, was an eventless one, with Palermo ending in a mid-table placement.
The Zamparini era: back to Serie A and European years (2002–2013) In the summer of 2002,
Friulian businessman and
Venezia owner
Maurizio Zamparini acquired the club from Franco Sensi in a €15 million bid, with the clear intention to bring Palermo back to Serie A and establish the club as a Serie A regular with aims of participations to European competitions. Palermo failed in its first attempt to reach the Serie A in 2002–03 on the final week of the season, but later managed to achieve it after a challenging but successful
2003–04 campaign which saw Palermo crowned as Serie B champions and promoted to Serie A after 31 years, under head coach
Francesco Guidolin, who was hired in January 2004 as replacement for dismissed
Silvio Baldini. The
2004–05 season, the first in Serie A for the Palermo club since 1973, ended with an excellent sixth place, securing qualification 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. In the following season, despite an unimpressive eighth place in the Serie A table, Palermo reached the last 16 in the UEFA Cup as well as the
Coppa Italia semi-finals. The club was however admitted to play UEFA Cup again due to the 2006
Calciopoli scandal, with Palermo players
Andrea Barzagli,
Cristian Zaccardo,
Simone Barone and
Fabio Grosso being crowned
2006 World Cup winners. Several impressive signings were made to establish an ambitious team, and a good beginning in the
2006–07 campaign appeared initially to confirm this. An 11-game winless streak, however, forced Palermo to fall down from third to seventh place, ending the season in fifth place and ensuring another
UEFA Cup qualification. The club successively established as a force in the mid-table part of the Serie A league, also winning a
Campionato Nazionale Primavera national title in 2009. The following season started with new manager
Walter Zenga, whose appointment from Sicilian arch-rivals Catania was greeted with surprise and dismay from supporters of both parties; Zenga's reign, however, lasted only 13 games, as he was dismissed on 23 November 2009 due to poor performances, ironically after a 1–1 home tie to Sicilian rivals and Zenga's former team, Catania, with former Lazio boss
Delio Rossi being appointed at his place. Under the tutelage of Delio Rossi, results dramatically improved, and Palermo established a record of seven consecutive home wins, including wins against Italian giants
Milan and Juventus, and emerging as serious contenders for a Champions League spot, which they ultimately lost to
Sampdoria by only one point. Such season also launched new emerging stars such as midfielder
Javier Pastore and goalkeeper
Salvatore Sirigu, who went on to become integral part of their respective international teams. The 2010–11 season started with Delio Rossi still in charge of the club, and also marked Palermo's return into continental football in the form of the
UEFA Europa League. Palermo reached their third Coppa Italia finals after defeating Milan 4–3 on aggregate on 10 May 2011, losing 3–1 to
Internazionale in the final, in what is considered one of the peak moments of Zamparini's period at the club.
Zamparini's later years and Serie B return (2011–2018) 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. New head coach
Devis Mangia, despite no managerial experience other than at youth team and minor league level, turned Palermo fortunes by leading the
Rosanero into fifth place thanks to an impressive string of six consecutive home wins, thus deserving a long-term deal at the club. A string of poor results, however, led Palermo to three straight 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. Palermo finished 16th. , formerly a Palermo midfielder in the 1990s, replaced Gattuso as head coach during the 2013–14 season and led the club to a Serie B champions title and broke the highest-Serie-B-point record For the 2012–13 season, Zamparini came with another staff revolution, appointing
Giorgio Perinetti as the new director of football and
Giuseppe Sannino as the manager, both coming from Siena. A complete squad restructuring, a total five managerial changes and some staff changes (including a short stint with
Pietro Lo Monaco as sports director) did not help, and Palermo ended its season in 18th place, being thus relegated to Serie B after nine consecutive seasons in the top flight. For the new Serie B campaign, Zamparini appointed former Milan and
Italy international star
Gennaro Gattuso as the new manager, despite him having little prior managerial experience; he was sacked in September 2013, the 28th sacked manager in 11 years. Fortune was reversed rather rapidly, however, as Palermo regained promotion back to Serie A for the 2014–15 season under the guidance of new head coach
Giuseppe Iachini, with the
Rosanero completing a record-breaking Serie B season with 86 points, one more than previous record holders Juventus, Chievo and
Sassuolo (all of them in the 22-team Serie B format). With Iachini confirmed in charge, Palermo played a relatively successful
2014–15 Serie A season, narrowly missing a UEFA Europa League spot also thanks to the all-Argentine striking force of
Paulo Dybala and
Franco Vázquez. In
2015–16 season, Palermo started their season without Dybala after the youngster moved to Juventus; the
Rosanero therefore relied on senior striker
Alberto Gilardino to play as a partner of Vázquez. Another long list of managerial changes during the season (seven in total, with
Davide Ballardini as the final one) marked a very troublesome season, during which Palermo escaped relegation on the last day of the league with the necessary win over Hellas Verona 3–2, securing 16th place. For the 2016–17 season, Zamparini re-appointed
Rino Foschi as sporting director; however, he resigned after just a month in charge and was replaced by former Trapani director Daniele Faggiano. Most senior players such as Gilardino, Sorrentino, Vázquez and
Maresca were sold and mostly replaced with
Alessandro Diamanti plus several young and quasi-unknown foreign players. 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 who ended his stay after seven league losses in a row, with former club captain
Eugenio Corini taking over. More managerial and staff changes followed with little luck and, 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, led by Italian-American
Paul Baccaglini who was named new club president on 6 March. Palermo ended the season in 19th place, being relegated to Serie B. The takeover, originally scheduled to be finalized by 30 April 2017 and then delayed by 30 June, eventually collapsed after Zamparini, who in the meantime had appointed
Bruno Tedino as new head coach for the
2017–18 Serie B campaign, rejected the final offer he received from Baccaglini. On 4 July 2017, Baccaglini resigned as Palermo chairman, falling back into the hands of Zamparini, after the necessary funds were not in place. Palermo's campaign in the
2017–18 Serie B aimed for an immediate return to the top flight, with Bruno Tedino as head coach and
Fabio Lupo as director of football. Initially, the team's form was good, and the
Rosanero ended the first half of the season in first place; however, a string of negative results led to the appointment of new manager
Roberto Stellone, who was ultimately unable to win promotion, ending the regular season in fourth place and eventually losing the playoff finals to
Frosinone.
New ownerships, financial issues and Serie B exclusion (2018–2019) For the
2018–19 Serie B season, Palermo (with
Rino Foschi back for a third time as sporting director) found themselves having to sell many players for financial reasons. On 22 November 2018, the club formally confirmed a takeover agreement between Zamparini and an undisclosed investor, later confirmed to be the
London based Sport Capital Group Investments Ltd., with English businessman Clive Richardson, head of the new group, being named as new club chairman. Following a January 2019 transfer window with no signings at all and serious tensions within the board, Clive Richardson (chairman) and John Treacy (director) both resigned from the club with immediate effect on 4 February 2019, citing that the full nature of the serious financial situation at the club had not been fully disclosed to them at the time of their purchase. Days later, the club was acquired for a nominal fee by Daniela De Angeli (former managing director from the Zamparini days) and Rino Foschi (appointed as chairman), only for them to sell it again to hotel and tourism company Arkus Network S.r.l. later in May. At the end of the 2018–19 Serie B, Palermo finished in third place with 63 points but was demoted by
FIGC to last place in Serie B on 13 May due to serious financial irregularities, which meant relegation to
Serie C for the following season. The club appealed to FIGC against this ruling and was successful in having the penalty revised; rather than automatic demotion, the club was merely docked 20 points instead, which consequently placed them in a comfortable mid-table eleventh position. However, on 24 June 2019, Palermo incorrectly submitted to FIGC their standard application for the following 2019–20 Serie B season, by failing to provide evidence of a valid insurance policy for the new season. A club trading with no insurance is a severe breach of Italian company law, and as such FIGC had no alternative but to formally exclude the club not only from Serie B, but indeed all professional leagues, on 12 July 2019.
A fresh start, City Football Group ownership (2019–present) On 23 July 2019, in compliance of
Article 52 of NOIF, Mayor of Palermo
Leoluca Orlando confirmed six declarations of interests had been presented for a new
phoenix club to be admitted in
Serie D, the highest level of non-professional football in Italy, for the
2019–20 season. The next day, Orlando announced his choice of a bid by a company named "Hera Hora srl", jointly owned by entrepreneurs Dario Mirri (a Palermo native, and
Renzo Barbera's nephew) and a Sicilian-American, Tony DiPiazza. The new club, named
Società Sportiva Dilettantistica Palermo, started with
Rosario Pergolizzi (a former Palermo youth coach) as their first manager, and managed to keep
Andrea Accardi from the previous Serie B campaign, as well as signing former Serie A and Palermo star
Mario Santana. Palermo completed their
Serie D campaign in first place, and was awarded promotion to Serie C by the Italian Football Federation after all the amateur leagues were stopped in March 2020 due to the global
COVID-19 pandemic. On 16 July 2020, the club changed its name to
Palermo Football Club. Palermo, under the guidance of
Silvio Baldini, concluded the
2021–22 Serie C campaign in third place in the Group C, behind
Bari and
Catanzaro, and then made it to the promotion playoff final against
Padova after eliminating
Triestina,
Virtus Entella and
Feralpisalò in the process (during playoffs, Renzo Barbera stadium was always sold out). On 12 June 2022, Palermo were promoted to
Serie B after defeating Padova 2–0 on aggregate, thus returning to the Italian second division just three years after being excluded from the league. On 4 July 2022, in the presence of
Manchester City F.C. CEO
Ferran Soriano, the club was formally announced to have been acquired by
City Football Group, a subsidiary of
Abu Dhabi United Group, with outgoing owner Dario Mirri (who was confirmed as club chairman) keeping a 20% of the quotes. Under new head coach
Eugenio Corini, former Palermo captain in the 2000s, the
Rosanero ended their season in ninth place, missing out on promotion playoffs in the season's final game. The follow-up season saw Palermo aiming for direct promotion; however, inconsistency in league performances led to the dismissal of Corini and the appointment of
Michele Mignani as new head coach for the remainder of the campaign. == Colours and badge ==