Palermo promotion and upcoming financial takeover
For most of its history, Palermo has tossed between Italy’s top two divisions and has given a big break to many great stars. After a financial collapse, demotion and subsequent resurgence, the club found itself back in the second division and possibly under new ownership.
See what the most historical side of the south of Italy – Palermo means.
Once in Serie A, they were kicked out to Serie D due to financial problems + they formed a new Phoenix club. Now back to Serie B from Serie C.
36,000 fans gathered at the Renzo Barbera stadium to enjoy the moment.#PalermoPadua pic.twitter.com/BU2j05YTdn
— Sasha Pisani (@Sachk0) June 13, 2022
Luca Toni, Paulo Dybala and Edinson Cavani called Palermo home early in their careers before being snatched up by bigger clubs on their way to world fame. Palermo played in Serie A as recently as 2017, but the club has fallen on hard times in recent years after the Italian football federation noticed some financial irregularities as well as an incorrectly filed standard Serie B entry.
The club was eliminated from all competition in Italy and a new phoenix club was created to take the place of what used to be called Palermo.
List of Palermo players over the years:
Edinson Cavani
Paolo Dybala
Javier Pastore
Andrea Barzagli
Luca Toni
Alberto Gilardino
Salvatore Sirigu
Andrea Belotti
Josip Ilicic
Matteo Darmian
Fabio Grosso
Fabrizio Miccoli
Kyle Lafferty#Palermo pic.twitter.com/14vtNDrT4g
— William Hill (@WilliamHill) June 27, 2019
After starting in the fourth division in Italy, Palermo began their ascent back in 2019, securing promotion to Serie C in their first season. The following year in Serie C was not as prolific as the club missed out on promotion in the third round of an extremely difficult promotion play-off at the fault of Avellino.
Palermo FC 2020-21 Profile
After winning the Serie D group, Rosanero expects a second promotion in a row. The West Sicilian side acquired an experienced tactician and made some good acquisitions. pic.twitter.com/qkXidAvAo3— Sicilian Football (@SicilianCalcio) September 21, 2020
Palermo made good progress in their second season under Matteo Brunori, the 27-year-old forward on loan from Juventus. Brunori led Serie C with 25 goals and went on to add four more during the promotion play-offs, including three in the semi-final and final.
After beating Padua 2-0 in the play-off final, Palermo finally returned to the professional level after a three-year hiatus, and his comeback has attracted some serious attention.
Several sources said City Football Group had reached an agreement to buy 80% of FC Palermo. pic.twitter.com/dbXK6CyM1t
On 15 May 2022, Sky Sport Italia reported that takeover talks between Palermo and City Football Group were progressing and the announcement could be expected any day. City Football Group controls many elite clubs in leagues around the world such as Manchester City and New York City to name a few.
This new funding could be a huge opportunity for Palermo as the club start their new life at a professional level and look to properly recover and return to the top of Italian football, just a few years after being at the bottom.
