10 things about Palermo ahead of Anglo Palermitan Trophy | OneFootball

City face City Football Group sister club Palermo in the inaugural Anglo Palermitan Trophy in Sicily next month.

We’ll travel to the Renzo Barbera Stadium to play the Serie B side at 20:00 (UK) on Saturday 9 August as we finalise preparations for the 2025/26 campaign.

The match will be shown live on mancity.com and our official app for those with a CITY+ subscription.

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Ahead of the game, get to know a little more about our opponents…

Early years

English sailors and shipyard workers in Sicily, as well as politicians and businessmen, helped set up the Anglo Palermitan Athletic and Football Club in 1900.

They initially played in white and red shirts as a homage to the Union Flag and changed their name to Palermo Football Club a few years later.

The Anglo Palermitan Trophy commemorates the Sicilian club’s maiden fixture against a team of British sailors in 1900.

Home

Palermo play at the Renzo Barbera Stadium and have done since 1932. It takes its name from Palermo’s chairman in the 1970s – a celebrated era for the club.

Fans will commonly call it ‘La Favorita’ in recognition of its name between 1945 and 2002.

Initially built with a running track, that was removed in 1948 meaning the stands around the ground now feel tight to the pitch.

With a capacity of more than 36,000, it’s been used sporadically for Italy home matches as well as three times in the 1990 World Cup – with Netherlands, Republic of Ireland and Egypt all playing there.

Kits

Playing in red and blue early on, Palermo chose the striking pink and black base with the change of name in 1907.

To this day, they remain one of few clubs around the world to wear pink in home matches and have gained something of a cult following around the world thanks to this.

Crest

Palermo’s crest has gone through many changes in their long, storied history.

It has been predominantly pink and black, in line with the home kits, since 1921.

Many of the iterations have also featured an eagle, which also features on the city’s coat of arms.

The current design was unveiled in 2019, with the eagle’s head pointed in a stylised ‘P’.

Star names

Having gone through a golden period during the 2000s, many of Palermo’s most recognisable names are still active or recently retired professionals.

Uruguayan striker Edinson Cavani, stoic defender Andrea Barzagli and Argentinian creative talents Javier Pastore and Paulo Dybala are amongst those, while the likes of World Cup winners Luca Toni and Fabio Grosso feature in the previous generation.

In 2020, the club held a vote for entries into their Hall of Fame – with Italian forward Fabrizio Miccoli earning more votes than anyone else. Miccoli scored 81 times in 179 appearances between 2007 and 2013.

Trophies won

Having been up and down through the Italian football pyramid, Palermo have had a rollercoaster existence.

Thye’ve been Serie B champions on five occasions, with the first coming back in 1931/32 and the most recent in 2013/14.

In their early days, they were often winners of the Lipton Challenge Cup which was played between teams from Sicily and the south of the mainland.

This meant that the final was often competed for by Palermo and Napoli, who are the current champions of Italy.

European history

Palermo’s glory days in the 2000s saw them feature in the UEFA Cup/Europa League five times between 2005 and 2012.

Their best performance came in 2005/06, when they reached the Round of 16 after meeting the likes of Lokomotiv Moscow, Espanyol, Brondby and Slavia Prague.

In total, they’ve played 28 games in European competition and won 13 of them.

Widespread support

As one of Sicily’s leading clubs, support for Palermo is often closely associated with a strong sense of identity and pride in the island itself.

Many Sicilian immigrants to mainland Italy continue to support the club after moving, while some Palermo fans based in Germany even started their own club in honour of their team back home, named FC Rosaneri.

CFG connection

‘I Rosanero’ became the eleventh member of CFG in 2022 and opened their own City Football Academy just two years later.

The historic Sicilian club will become the fourth CFG side that the Manchester City men’s first team have faced on the pitch, following previous friendly matches with Melbourne City FC, Yokohama F. Marinos and Girona FC

Looking to the future…

After an eighth-place finish in Serie B last season, Palermo have this summer appointed legendary former striker Filippo Inzaghi as their new manager.

Since retiring as a player in 2012, he’s turned his hand to management for multiple Italian clubs but will now be targeting a return to the top-flight for his new club.

This will be his first home game as Palermo boss, so there will be a great sense of anticipation amongst the home support as well as excitement about the game itself.