February 15 – Italian Serie B club Palermo has been sold for the second time in three months.
A statement on the club website said agreement had been reached “regarding the transfer of ownership of the Palermo Football Club” from the British-based Sport Capital Group.
In December, Maurizio Zamparini, who bought the club in 2002, stepped down as president and announced that he had sold the club. The new owners, he said, were committed to settling Palermo’s outstanding debts of €22.8 million. But now it appears that Sport Capital Group have sold the club back to Zamparini associates Daniela De Angeli and Rino Foschi .
De Angeli worked as a club administrator for 15 years under Zamparini and employed more than 40 coaches during that time. Technical director Rino Foschi has reportedly taken over as President.
Zamparini himself cannot take over the club again because he is reportedly under house arrest accused of money laundering.
Palermo said that the latest move represented “a preparatory step ahead of the arrival of a new major investor who is drawing up their industrial plan for the club.”
Palermo’s fortunes have fluctuated over the past 20 years. In Zamparini’s first few years, they routinely finished in the top half of Serie A, played in the UEFA Cup several times and had four players in Italy’s 2006 World Cup-winning squad.
The Sicilians were relegated to Serie B in 2013, bounced back the following season but went down again in 2017. At present they are second in Serie B.
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