Maurizio Zamparini (9 June 1941 – 1 February 2022) was an Italian businessman. He was the owner and director of football club

U.S. Città di Palermo Palermo Football Club, more simply known as Palermo F.C. or Palermo (; scn, Paliemmu, link=no, ), is an Italian football club based in the Sicilian city of Palermo, conventionally founded for the first time on 1 November 1900. Among the club� ...

between July 2002 – February 2017 and from July 2017 – December 2018.

Biography

Zamparini had business interests in several fields, with ''Emmezeta'' department stores being the most important one. He entered into football in 1987, after having bought then- Serie C2 club

Venezia Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The islan ...

, saving it from a possible bankruptcy. His investments in the football club led Venezia to reach

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

in a few years. He sold Venezia in 2002 in order to buy then-

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had been ...

club Palermo from

A.S. Roma ' (''Rome Sport Association''), commonly referred to as Roma (), is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its existence, except for ...

chairman

Franco Sensi Francesco Sensi, Cavaliere del lavoro (29 July 1926 – 17 August 2008) was an Italian oil tycoon. He was born in Rome, where he lived throughout his entire life, though he also served time as mayor of Visso, the city where his family came from ...

with the goal to bring the Sicilian team back to Serie A, a goal that was achieved with promotion in the 2003–04 season. In April 2012, Zamparini was suspended one year for involvement in third-party ownership; however, this was shortened to five months after appeal. On 27 February 2017, Zamparini stepped down as chairman of Palermo after 15 years in charge with over 40 managerial changes (the last one being the appointment of Diego López as head coach in place of resigning Eugenio Corini a month previous), announcing he had formally sold his controlling stake to an unspecified Anglo-American fund. On 4 July 2017, Paul Baccaglini resigned as Palermo chairman, falling back into the hands of Zamparini, after the necessary funds were not in place. Zamparini had declared that he would not seek the place of chairman after Baccaglini's resignation. He became a member of the board of directors of the club, with a vacant chairman position. Giovanni Giammarva was later appointed chairman in November 2017. On 1 December 2018, Zamparini confirmed the sale of the club to an unnamed London company for the "symbolic" price of €10 (£8.75). He died from complications of

peritonitis Peritonitis is inflammation of the localized or generalized peritoneum, the lining of the inner wall of the abdomen and cover of the abdominal organs. Symptoms may include severe pain, swelling of the abdomen, fever, or weight loss. One part o ...

in Cotignola on 1 February 2022 at the age of 80.È morto Maurizio Zamparini, l'ex presidente di Palermo e Venezia

References

1941 births 2022 deaths Italian football chairmen and investors Palermo F.C. chairmen and investors People from Bagnaria Arsa Deaths from peritonitis {{italy-business-bio-stub