Renzo Barbera (19 April 1920 in

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

– 20 May 2002 in Palermo) was an Italian businessman and the chairman of

Palermo Football Club Palermo Football Club () is an Italian professional football club based in Palermo, Sicily, that currently plays in Serie B. It is part of the City Football Group. Founded for the first time on 1 November 1900 as Anglo Palermitan Athletic and F ...

from 1970 to 1980. He was nicknamed ''"Presidentissimo"'' and ''"The Last

Leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant cat species in the genus ''Panthera''. It has a pale yellowish to dark golden fur with dark spots grouped in rosettes. Its body is slender and muscular reaching a length of with a ...

"''. During his presidency the ''" rosanero"'' team reached two

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

finals in 1974 (against

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

) and in 1979 (against

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

). After the experience as chairman of Palermo, he was elected president of the Sicilian Organising Committee of the

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second ...

. He died on 20 May 2002 of heart disease. On 18 September 2002, the Palermo stadium

La Favorita ''La favorite'' (''The Favourite'', frequently referred to by its Italian title: ''La favorita'') is a grand opera in four acts by Gaetano Donizetti to a French-language libretto by Alphonse Royer and Gustave Vaëz, based on the play ''Le com ...

was renamed as Renzo Barbera.''Stadium Guide: Stadio Renzo Barbera, Palermo''
– ''worldsoccer.com''

References

Further reading