Serie A bids farewell to the president who fired the most coaches in history

Maurizio Zamparini, president of Palermo FC, announced his resignation earlier this week after 15 years in the job.

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The resignation of Zamparini, 75, was announced on Palermo's website on Monday. The Italian businessman is known as the Serie A's favorite to fire managers.

In just the last two seasons, he has made 11 changes in the coaching chair, the most recent being Uruguayan strategist Diego Lopez.

He has fired 40 Palermo coaches in the past 15 years, an average of nearly 3 people per season. According to L'Équipe, this is a record number for a club president in European football.

Zamparini is famous beyond the borders of Serie A, for the way he was particularly impatient with the coaches who came to manage Palermo. Photo: La Presse.

"The name of the new president will be announced within 15 days. Hopefully, the new president will help the club regain its rightful position, a place in the European arena for three to five years," Zamparini's announcement said.

Zamparini bought Palermo in 2002, quickly helping the team to be promoted from Serie B to Serie A and regularly compete in European Cups. Palermo, under Zamparini, became famous for its ability to discover and introduce many talents to Italian and European football.

Luca Toni, Andrea Barzagli, Cristian Zaccardo, Fabio Grosso, Simone Barone all started out at Palermo before being named in the Italy squad that won the 2006 World Cup. This was also the launching pad for many contemporary stars such as Edinson Cavani, Javier Pastore, Franco Vazquez, Paulo Dybala, Andrea Bellotti...

However, due to Zamparini's somewhat unusual impatience with his coaching staff, Palermo have rarely achieved the consistency needed to become a force in Serie A. They have been promoted and relegated several times, and currently sit 18th in Serie A, seven points from safety with 12 games remaining.

According to VNE