U.S. Città di Palermo played the season 2004-05 in the Serie A league. It was the first time Palermo entered the top division since 1973.

Review and events

Palermo returned to Serie A in 2004 as Serie B champions. Francesco Guidolin was confirmed at the helm of the rosanero and a number of valuable signings were made in the summer market: among them, Andrea Barzagli, Cristian Zaccardo, Simone Barone (all three then part of the Italian squad that won the 2006 FIFA World Cup) and Argentines Mariano González and Ernesto Farías. The team was widely expected to be a candidate for a mid-table place because of the high quality of its roster. All these events provoked a notable excitement among the local fanbase, leading to a sale of over 30,000 season tickets which caused each Stadio Renzo Barbera seat to be assigned to a season ticket holder.

Palermo enjoyed a great start and quickly entered into the race for a UEFA Cup spot, ending the first half of the season in fifth place, only three points behind fourth-placed Inter. For a while the team appeared also capable to fight for a place in the next Champions' League, but failed in do so and Udinese eventually gained the last of the four available spots. Palermo ended in sixth place with 53 points, nine behind Udinese and eight behind fifth-placed Sampdoria. After the final match, Guidolin tended his resignations, and Luigi Delneri was quickly appointed at his place.

In the Coppa Italia tournament, the rosanero reached the round of 16 after having defeated Salernitana 3-2 on aggregate. The return match notably marked the only two goals by Argentine striker Ernesto Farías, who failed to impress in the Italian top league and was sold to River Plate in the January transfer window. In order to replace him, Davide Possanzini was signed by from AlbinoLeffe. Palermo then went on to be defeated 4-1 on aggregate by AC Milan.

2004-05 squad

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Serie A		Coppa Italia
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
99	GK	ITA	Guardalben	37	-41	37	-41	0	0
11	DF	ITA	Grosso	38	1	36	1	2	0
21	DF	ITA	Biava	32	0	29	0	3	0
43	DF	ITA	Barzagli	40	0	37	0	3	0
2	DF	ITA	Zaccardo	37	2	35	2	2	0
5	MF	ITA	Corini	37	0	35	0	2	0
8	MF	ITA	Barone	38	2	35	2	3	0
10	MF	ITA	Zauli	28	4	27	4	1	0
18	MF	ARG	Santana	33	3	30	3	3	0
90	MF	ITA	Brienza	37	11	33	10	4	1
9	FW	ITA	Toni	36	21	35	20	1	1
1	GK	ITA	Santoni	5	-9	1	-3	4	-6
6	DF	ITA	Terlizzi	19	1	15	1	4	0
25	DF	SLE	Conteh	15	0	14	0	1	0
4	MF	ITA	Morrone	27	0	23	0	4	0
19	MF	ARG	Gonzalez	25	2	21	2	4	0
20	MF	ITA	Raimondi	17	0	14	0	3	0
22	MF	ITA	Mutarelli	26	1	24	1	2	0
84	GK	ITA	Comi	0	0	0	0	0	0
13	DF	ITA	Accardi	3	0	1	0	2	0
81	DF	ITA	Ferri	9	0	7	0	2	0
14	FW	ITA	Possanzini	2	0	2	0	0	0
26	FW	ITA	Balistreri	3	0	2	0	1	0
Players sold or loaned out during the January transfer market:
30	DF	BRA	da Silva	3	0	1	0	2	0
46	MF	ITA	Gasbarroni	9	0	9	0	0	0
7	FW	ARG	Farias	16	2	13	0	3	2

January transfer market bids

In

14

FW

ITA

Davide Possanzini (from AlbinoLeffe)

Out

30	DF	BRA	Adriano Pereira da Silva (loaned to Atalanta)
46	MF	ITA	Andrea Gasbarroni (to Sampdoria)
7	FW	ARG	Ernesto Farías (to River Plate)

Results

References