2003–04 U.S. Città di Palermo season
# 2003–04 U.S. Città di Palermo season

U.S. Città di Palermo played the season 2003-04 in the Serie B league and Coppa Italia.

## Summary

Ambitious Palermo, for the first time since 1973, failed to gain promotion to Serie A in the previous season following a 3-0 away defeat in the final match against Lecce, which were promoted at Palermo's place. That dramatic defeat was also the last appearance in his playing career for team captain Antonino Asta, who seriously injured during the match and did not manage to recover; he was part of the first team squad in the season 2003-04, without however making a single appearance. Following the events, Palermo made a number of prominent signings in the summer market, such as Eugenio Corini, Andrea Gasbarroni and Luca Toni; in addition, Palermo-born star Gaetano Vasari agreed to join the rosanero with a salary based on the number of appearances he would have made in the season. Silvio Baldini was appointed as new boss to replace Nedo Sonetti. Several football pundits suggested Palermo to be the real favourite team to win the Serie B league because of the quality of its roster.

The team made a very impressive start by defeating Gianfranco Zola's Cagliari Calcio, and managed to be always in the promotion spots. However, following a surprising 3-1 home defeat to Salernitana that brought Palermo down to third place, Baldini heavily criticized club chairman Maurizio Zamparini who consequently fired him and appointed Francesco Guidolin at his place. On the last day of the January transfer market, three new notable signings were made: Antonio Filippini, Emanuele Filippini and Fabio Grosso. Palermo later returned to top the table and eventually won the league, ending with the same points than Cagliari, but being crowned as Serie B champions due to head-to-head matches and promoted to Serie A after 31 years in the lower divisions.

## Squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | GK | ITA | Gianluca Berti |
| 2 | DF | ITA | Paolo Cotroneo |
| 3 | DF | ITA | Francesco Modesto |
| 4 | DF | ITA | Gianluca Atzori |
| 5 | MF | ITA | Eugenio Corini |
| 6 | DF | ITA | Christian Terlizzi |
| 7 | MF | ITA | Gaetano Vasari |
| 8 | MF | ITA | Daniele Di Donato |
| 9 | FW | ITA | Luca Toni |
| 10 | MF | ITA | Lamberto Zauli |
| 11 | MF | ITA | Salvatore Masiello |
| 12 | GK | ITA | Nicola Santoni |
| 13 | DF | ITA | Pietro Accardi |
| 14 | MF | CMR | Frank Oliver Ongfiang |
| 14 | DF | ITA | Rocco D'Aiello |
| 16 | FW | ITA | Pietro Balistreri |
| 17 | FW | ITA | Antonino Asta |
| 18 | FW | ITA | Franco Brienza |
| 18 | DF | ITA | Fabio Grosso |
| 19 | DF | ITA | Daniele Zito |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 20 | FW | ITA | Simone Pepe |
| 21 | MF | ROU | Paul Codrea |
| 21 | DF | ITA | Giuseppe Biava |
| 22 | MF | ITA | Massimo Mutarelli |
| 23 | MF | ITA | Ighli Vannucchi |
| 23 | MF | ITA | Emanuele Filippini |
| 24 | FW | NGA | John Olufemi |
| 25 | DF | SLE | Kewullay Conteh |
| 26 | MF | ITA | Antonio Filippini |
| 27 | MF | ITA | Michele Trionfante |
| 29 | DF | ROU | Valentin Năstase |
| 30 | FW | BRA | Jeda |
| 32 | MF | ITA | Marco Fina |
| 46 | MF | ITA | Andrea Gasbarroni |
| 51 | MF | ITA | Vincenzo Giannusa |
| 79 | MF | ITA | Evans Soligo |
| 81 | DF | ITA | Michele Ferri |
| 82 | MF | ITA | Nicola Milano |
| 84 | GK | ITA | Paolo Comi |

### Transfers

In :

| Pos. | Name | from | Type |
| - | - | - | - |
| GK | Gianluca Berti | Empoli | |
| GK | Paolo Comi | Monza | |
| DF | Michele Ferri | A.C. Milan | |
| DF | Gianluca Atzori | Empoli | |
| DF | Christian Terlizzi | Cesena | |
| MF | Evans Soligo | Venezia | |
| MF | Ighli Vannucchi | Empoli | |
| MF | Andrea Gasbarroni | Juventus | |
| MF | Eugenio Corini | Chievo Verona | |
| MF | Gaetano Vasari | Cesena | |
| FW | Simone Pepe | A.S. Roma | |
| FW | Franco Brienza | Ascoli | loan ended |
| FW | Luca Toni | Brescia Calcio | |

Out :

| Pos. | Name | To | Type |
| - | - | - | - |
| GK | Vincenzo Sicignano | Parma | |
| DF | Alessandro Lucarelli | Fiorentina | |
| DF | Oscar Brevi | Ascoli | |
| DF | Matteo Pivotto | Modena | |
| DF | Leandro Rinaudo | Salernitana | loan |
| MF | Valentino Lai | Salernitana | loan |
| MF | Manolo Pestrin | Cesena | |
| MF | Frank Oliver Ongfiang | Cesena | |
| FW | Filippo Maniero | Brescia Calcio | |
| FW | Cristian La Grottería | Padova | |

**Winter**

**In**

| 18 | DF | ITA | Fabio Grosso (from Perugia) |
| - | - | - | - |
| 21 | DF | ITA | Giuseppe Biava (from AlbinoLeffe) |
| 23 | MF | ITA | Emanuele Filippini (from Parma) |
| 26 | MF | ITA | Antonio Filippini (from Brescia) |
| 30 | FW | BRA | Jeda (from Vicenza) |

**Winter**

**Out**

| 3 | DF | ITA | Francesco Modesto (to Reggina) |
| - | - | - | - |
| 18 | MF | ITA | Franco Brienza (on loan to Perugia) |
| 21 | MF | ROU | Paul Codrea (on loan to Perugia) |
| 23 | MF | ITA | Ighli Vannucchi (to Empoli) |

## Competitions

### Serie B

**League table**

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Palermo (P, C) | 46 | 22 | 17 | 7 | 75 | 39 | +36 | 83 | Promotion to Serie A |
| 2 | Cagliari (P) | 46 | 23 | 14 | 9 | 80 | 51 | +29 | 83 | Promotion to Serie A |
| 3 | Livorno (P) | 46 | 20 | 19 | 7 | 75 | 45 | +30 | 79 | Promotion to Serie A |
| 4 | Messina (P) | 46 | 21 | 16 | 9 | 71 | 45 | +26 | 79 | Promotion to Serie A |
| 5 | Atalanta (P) | 46 | 19 | 20 | 7 | 59 | 36 | +23 | 77 | Promotion to Serie A |

**Results by round**

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Ground | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Result | P | D | W | W | D | L | W | D | W | W | D | W | D | W | W | D | W | D | W | D | D | L | W | L | L | D | D | L | D | W | W | W | L | W | W | D | W | D | L | W | W | D | W | D | W | D | W |
| Position | - | 7 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |

## Statistics

### Players statistics

| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | Serie B | Serie B | Coppa Italia | Coppa Italia |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| 1 | GK | ITA | Berti | 43 | -35 | 42 | -35 | 1 | 0 |
| 18 | DF | ITA | Fabio Grosso | 21 | 1 | 21 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 | DF | ITA | Pietro Accardi | 35 | 0 | 31+1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 26 | MF | ITA | Antonio Filippini | 21 | 2 | 20+1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 | DF | SLE | Kewullay Conteh | 34 | 0 | 31+1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 81 | DF | ITA | Michele Ferri | 39 | 2 | 35+1 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| 8 | MF | ITA | Daniele Di Donato | 39 | 3 | 28+11 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 22 | MF | ITA | Massimo Mutarelli | 44 | 2 | 41 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| 5 | MF | ITA | Eugenio Corini | 43 | 12 | 38+2 | 12 | 3 | 0 |
| 46 | MF | ITA | Andrea Gasbarroni | 41 | 6 | 26+13 | 6 | 2 | 0 |
| 9 | FW | ITA | Luca Toni | 47 | 30 | 45 | 30 | 2 | 0 |
| 12 | GK | ITA | Santoni | 8 | -10 | 4 | -4 | 4 | -6 |
| 21 | DF | ITA | Giuseppe Biava | 19 | 3 | 19 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 | MF | ITA | Emanuele Filippini | 20 | 4 | 18+2 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | MF | ITA | Lamberto Zauli | 24 | 4 | 17+4 | 4 | 3 | 0 |
| 4 | DF | ITA | Atzori | 18 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 6 | DF | ITA | Terlizzi | 15 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 11 | MF | ITA | Salvatore Masiello | 22 | 0 | 9+9 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 29 | DF | ROU | Valentin Năstase | 19 | 1 | 9+7 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| 7 | MF | ITA | Gaetano Vasari | 30 | 2 | 8+18 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| | MF | ITA | Franco Brienza | 18 | 1 | 8+10 | 1 |
| 30 | FW | BRA | Jeda | 17 | 3 | 8+9 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | FW | ITA | Simone Pepe | 24 | 3 | 5+14 | 1 | 5 | 2 |
| | MF | ROU | Codrea | 8 | 0 | 5+3 | 0 |
| 79 | MF | ITA | Evans Soligo | 13 | 1 | 3+6 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| | MF | ITA | Ighli Vannucchi | 8 | 0 | 3+5 | 0 |
| | DF | ITA | Francesco Modesto | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 84 | GK | ITA | Comi | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 | MF | ITA | Antonino Asta | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 82 | MF | ITA | Nicola Milano | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 24 | FW | NGA | John Otuagomah Olufemi | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |

* Source: http://calcio-seriea.net/presenze/2003/2962/
