Palermo has played 25 seasons in the divisions covered here since 1994/95: 12 in Serie A and 13 in Serie B. It returned to Serie B in 2022/23 after 3 seasons outside the divisions covered, and has been there for 4 seasons. Its best finish was 5th in Serie A, in 2005/06. Its biggest climb took five seasons: from 11th in Serie B in 2001/02 to 5th in Serie A in 2006/07. It has been promoted 4 times and relegated 4 times.
Palermo
2025/26: 4th in Serie B
How high can Palermo realistically go?
Based on finishing 4th in Serie B in 2025/26
About 3 in 10
Of the 132 times a club finished in the top half of Serie B without going up between 2004/05 and 2020/21, 42 went up within five seasons.
42 of 132 (32%); likely range 20%–44%, 51 different clubs.
| Reached the top flight within ten seasons | about 4 in 10 37 of 96; range 22%–54% |
Palermo itself: 1 of the last 10 seasons in Serie A.
How do we know?
We took every season since 2004/05 in which a club finished in the same part of the same league, and followed each club forward. The figure is the share that reached each goal. Ten-year goals use finishes from 2004/05 to 2015/16, five-year goals from 2004/05 to 2020/21, so every case has had the full time to play out; results run to the end of 2025/26.
It describes what happened to clubs in this position, not a forecast for one club. A club with much more money or history than is usual for its position has better chances than the figure suggests, which is why the club's own record is shown underneath.
The likely range is a 95% interval worked out by resampling clubs rather than seasons, because the same club often appears several times. It is wide where only a few clubs have been in a position, and two leagues whose ranges overlap may not really differ. Reserve teams such as Barcelona B or Real Madrid Castilla are left out of these counts, because they cannot be promoted into their first team's division.
Counts: went up within five seasons: 42 of 132; reached the top flight within ten seasons: 37 of 96.
The story so far
Final position each seasonRinged dots are titles
How to read this chart
Every club in the divisions covered is placed on one ladder each season: the champions are 1st, and the top club of the second division comes straight after the bottom club of the first. Shaded bands are the divisions. Hover over or tap a dot for the season.
25seasons since 1994/95
12seasons in Serie A
0league titles
0top-four finishes
4promotions
4relegations
Against the money
Not available for Italy: wage bills are not published club by club in one place there, so this is shown for England and France only.
Clubs with a similar path
Clubs whose finishing positions over the last 15 seasons were closest to Palermo's, with recent seasons counting more.
In Italy
BariItaly · 17th in Serie B, 2025/26ModenaItaly · 6th in Serie B, 2025/26CesenaItaly · 11th in Serie B, 2025/26EmpoliItaly · 15th in Serie B, 2025/26
Elsewhere in Europe
Hull CityEngland · 6th in the Championship, 2025/26Deportivo La CoruñaSpain · 2nd in the Segunda División, 2025/261. FC KaiserslauternGermany · 6th in 2. Bundesliga, 2025/26
Compare Palermo with another club
Sources
- Final tables to 2025/26. Top-flight positions follow the official classification, including head-to-head tie-breaks and point deductions. Second-division positions before 2025/26 are worked out from match results.
- Relegations include dropping out of the divisions covered.
- All figures can be downloaded on the data page. Spotted a mistake? Report it with a source.