U.S. Città di Palermo played the season 2005-06 in the Serie A league, the second consecutive time since the 2004 promotion. During this season, Palermo also competed in the UEFA Cup, thus making its historical first appearance in a European competition.

Review and events

After having ended the 2004-05 Serie A campaign in sixth place, Palermo automatically qualified to the next UEFA Cup for an historical first time. Meanwhile, Francesco Guidolin resigned following the last matchday and Luigi Delneri was appointed to replace him. The summer market was heavily conditioned by the sale of powerful striker Luca Toni to Fiorentina for €10mln in a highly controversial move. Two young strikers, Andrea Caracciolo from Brescia and Stephen Makinwa from Atalanta, were signed as potential replacements for Toni.

Palermo had a good start in the season, showing a spectacular style of playing with impressive results, with an exciting 3-2 home win against Inter Milan as the highest point of the first half of the season. Palermo also successfully passed to the UEFA Cup group stage, after having defeated Cypriot side Anorthosis Famagusta FC in a 6-1 aggregate win. The club also succeeded to win its UEFA Cup round against the likes of RCD Espanyol, FC Lokomotiv Moscow, Maccabi Petah Tikva F.C. and Brøndby IF.

However, the initial successes were not repeated at the domestic one, as the team gradually lost touch with the top sides of the Serie A table. Despite intensive activity during the January football market, which brought David Di Michele, Federico Agliardi, Cristiano Lupatelli and Denis Godeas to the club, Palermo continued not to win matches, and a 3-1 home loss against Siena convinced Maurizio Zamparini to sack Delneri and replace him with Giuseppe Papadopulo. The new Palermo boss made an astonishing debut in a 3-0 home win to AC Milan in the quarter-finals of Coppa Italia, thus overturning the 1-0 defeat in the first leg and qualifying to the semi-finals of Coppa Italia with AS Roma as its opponent.

In the meanwhile Palermo also qualified to the UEFA Cup round of 16 after having defeated SK Slavia Praha. In the round of 16, Palermo challenged FC Schalke 04: a 1-0 home win in the first leg, with a goal by Franco Brienza, was followed by a 3-0 loss at Gelsenkirchen, with Palermo playing the whole second half in 10 players after team captain Eugenio Corini was sent off. Just six days after the UEFA Cup loss, Palermo won the first leg of the Coppa Italia semifinal over AS Roma by 2-1. The return match, played at the Stadio Olimpico of Rome on April 12, ended in a 1-0 win for AS Roma which eliminated the rosanero.

Palermo ended the season in eighth place, being initially qualified for the UEFA Intertoto Cup 2006. However, following the 2006 Serie A scandal, the team was admitted to play UEFA Cup for the next season.

Match results

Serie A

+LegendWinDrawLoss Date and timeOpponentVenueResultScorersAttendanceAugust 28, 2005 – 15.00ParmaAwayDrew 1-1Terlizzi12,733September 10, 2005 – 18.00InterHomeWon 3-2Corini, Terlizzi, Makinwa31,309September 18, 2005 – 15.00SienaAwayWon 2-1Terlizzi, Makinwa7,492September 21, 2005 – 20.30RegginaHomeWon 1-0Terlizzi28,145September 25, 2005 – 15.00LazioAwayLost 2-4Caracciolo, González23,935October 2, 2005 – 15.00EmpoliHomeDrew 2-2Caracciolo, Makinwa26,642October 16, 2005 – 15.00ChievoHomeDrew 2-2Corini, Caracciolo27,092October 23, 2005 – 15.00AC MilanAwayLost 1-2Caracciolo63,115October 26, 2005 – 20.30LecceHomeWon 3-0Bonanni, Mutarelli, Ferri27,084October 30, 2005 – 20.30UdineseAwayDrew 0-016,561November 6, 2005 – 20.30SampdoriaHomeLost 0-229,087November 20, 2005 – 15.00TrevisoAwayDrew 2-2Ferri, Brienza5,540November 27, 2005 – 15.00AscoliAwayDrew 1-1Bonanni9,790December 4, 2005 – 15.00CagliariHomeDrew 2-2Caracciolo, Makinwa26,209December 11, 2005 – 15.00AS RomaAwayWon 2-1Biava, Caracciolo35,316December 18, 2005 – 15.00LivornoHomeLost 0-226,151December 21, 2005 – 20.30FiorentinaAwayLost 0-129,487January 7, 2006 – 20.30JuventusHomeLost 1-2Terlizzi33,149January 14, 2006 – 20.30MessinaAwayDrew 0-020,233January 18, 2006 – 20.30ParmaHomeWon 4-2Corini, Barzagli, Di Michele (2)26,990January 21, 2006 – 20.30InterAwayLost 0-348,942January 28, 2006 – 18.00SienaHomeLost 1-3Godeas26,428February 5, 2006 – 15.00RegginaAwayDrew 2-2Barone, Caracciolo13,683February 8, 2006 – 20.30LazioHomeWon 3-1González, Tedesco, Caracciolo27,074February 12, 2006 – 15.00EmpoliAwayWon 1-0Barzagli5,379February 19, 2006 – 15.00ChievoAwayDrew 0-05,580February 26, 2006 – 15.00AC MilanHomeLost 0-231,868March 5, 2006 – 15.00LecceAwayLost 0-210,890March 12, 2006 – 15.00UdineseHomeWon 2-0Di Michele, Tedesco25,792March 19, 2006 – 15.00SampdoriaAwayWon 2-0Mutarelli, Di Michele21,073March 26, 2006 – 15.00TrevisoHomeWon 1-0Makinwa26,025April 2, 2006 – 15.00AscoliHomeDrew 1-1Caracciolo26,440April 9, 2006 – 15.00CagliariAwayDrew 1-1Di Michele10,000April 15, 2006 – 15.00AS RomaHomeDrew 3-3Di Michele, Barone (2)27,855April 22, 2006 – 15.00LivornoAwayLost 1-3Tedesco10,635April 30, 2006 – 15.00FiorentinaHomeWon 1-0Di Michele30,056May 7, 2006 – 15.00JuventusAwayLost 1-2Godeas56,488May 14, 2006 – 15.00MessinaHomeWon 1-0Godeas26,558

UEFA Cup +Date and timeRoundOpponentVenueResultScorersAttendanceSeptember 15, 2005 – 20.301st Round – 1st Leg Anorthosis FamagustaHomeWon 2-1Corini, Brienza13,047September 29, 2005 – 17.001st Round – 2nd Leg Anorthosis FamagustaAwayWon 4-0Caracciolo, Makinwa (2), Santana12,000October 20, 2005 – 17.00Group Stage – Group B Maccabi Petah TikvaAwayWon 2-1Brienza, Terlizzi2,000November 3, 2005 – 21.00Group Stage – Group B Lokomotiv MoscowHomeDrew 0-015,823November 24, 2005 – 21.15Group Stage – Group B EspanyolAwayDrew 1-1González22,000December 15, 2005 – 20.45Group Stage – Group B BrøndbyHomeWon 3-0Makinwa, Rinaudo (2)4,521February 16, 2006 – 20.45Round of 32 – 1st Leg Slavia PrahaAwayLost 1-2Tedesco6,706February 23, 2006 – 16.00Round of 32 – 2nd Leg Slavia PrahaHomeWon 1-0Godeas8,063March 9, 2006 – 18.00Round of 16 – 1st Leg Schalke 04HomeWon 1-0Brienza10,581March 16, 2006 – 20.30Round of 16 – 2nd Leg Schalke 04AwayLost 0-352,151

Coppa Italia +Date and timeRoundOpponentVenueResultScorersAttendanceDecember 7, 2005 – 18.00Round of 16 – 1st LegBariAwayDrew 0-02,969January 10, 2006 – 15.00Round of 16 – 2nd LegBariHomeWon 5-4González (2), Corini, Biava, Terlizzi1,470January 25, 2006 – 21.00Quarter-finals – 1st LegAC MilanAwayLost 0-12,105January 31, 2006 – 21.00Quarter-finals – 2nd LegAC MilanHomeWon 3-0González (2), Caracciolo10,739March 22, 2006 – 18.15Semi-finals – 1st LegAS RomaHomeWon 2-1Brienza, Mutarelli12,847April 12, 2006 – 21.00Semi-finals – 2nd LegAS RomaAwayLost 0-149,790

Player details

|colspan="12"|Players sold or loaned out during the January transfer market:

January transfer market bids In

Out

References