Former Palermo and Venezia President Maurizio Zamparini has died aged 80.
According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, Zamparini was admitted to hospital earlier last week due to peritonitis. He died at Ravenna’s Cotignola hospital last night.
Zamparini was a crucial figure in Italian football between the late 90s and the start of the new century.
Serie C2 club Pordenone was the first professional club he ran as a president from 1986. He then bought Venezia which managed to gain Serie A promotion in a decade. But it was at Palermo where Zamparini reached the peak.
He acquired the club in 2002 from Franco Sensi and some of the best players in Europe wore the Rosanero shirt during his tenure.
The likes of Andrea Barzagli, Luca Toni, Paulo Dybala, Franco Vazquez and Edinson Cavani, just to name a few, played in Sicily during Zamparini’s time at the club. Palermo even managed to qualify for Europe for three years in a row.
Zamparini was famous for his temper and sudden decisions, especially regarding coaches’ sacking.
He remained at the helm of the club for 15 years, from July 2002 to February 2019.
One of his five sons, Armando, died aged 23 this past October in London.