2003–04 Parma A.C. season

Parma
2003–04 season
President	Stefano Tanzi
Manager	Cesare Prandelli
Stadium	Stadio Ennio Tardini
Serie A	5th
Coppa Italia	Quarter-finals
UEFA Cup	Third round
Top goalscorer	League: ; Alberto Gilardino (23); All: ; Alberto Gilardino (26)
Average home league attendance	15,904
Home colours	Away colours
	← 2002–03 2004–05 →

Last updated July 25, 2022

During the 2003-04 season Parma Associazione Calcio competed in Serie A, Coppa Italia and UEFA Cup.

Summary

The team endured a season of horror, in which the club formerly known as Parma A.C. went into bankruptcy in the middle of the season, seeing out the season in order to avoid the chaos it would cause to the league pyramid. The reason for the bankruptcy was the financial fraud of its owner Calisto Tanzi, who had embezzled money from his company Parmalat, which also went out of business. On 28 June 2004 the club was reformed under its original name as Parma F.C., and finished fifth in the standings. Its glory days were over, however, and the club was forced to sell several key players in the summer of 2004, among them Hidetoshi Nakata, Matteo Ferrari and Matteo Brighi. However, its two most noted players, goalkeeper Sébastien Frey and top scorer and youngster Alberto Gilardino remained with the club, since it did not receive good enough offers to part with the two players.

The season was also the last in which Parma wore its distinctive blue and yellow colours at home, those being associated with Parmalat's ownership. From the 2004–05 season onwards the club reverted to its original white shirt with a black cross design. Club legend Antonio Benarrivo finished his career following the season, being the last player from the 1999 UEFA Cup winning team to leave.

Players

Squad information

Squad at end of season^[2]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	FRA	Sébastien Frey
2	DF	ITA	Sebastiano Girelli
3	DF	ITA	Antonio Benarrivo
4	DF	CRO	Anthony Šerić (on loan from Hellas Verona ^[3])
5	DF	ITA	Daniele Bonera
6	DF	ITA	Giuseppe Cardone
7	MF	ROU	Ianis Zicu (on loan from Dinamo București)
8	MF	ITA	Simone Barone
10	MF	ITA	Domenico Morfeo
11	FW	ITA	Alberto Gilardino
13	DF	ARG	Gabriel Oyola
14	DF	ITA	Marcello Castellini
15	MF	ITA	Marco Donadel
16	DF	ITA	Mirko Stefani
18	FW	ITA	Benito Carbone
19	DF	ITA	Alessandro Potenza (on loan from Internazionale)


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
20	MF	ITA	Alessandro Rosina
21	DF	ITA	Matteo Ferrari
22	GK	ITA	Giordano Vanin
23	MF	AUS	Mark Bresciano
24	GK	ITA	Fabio Virgili
25	FW	ITA	Alex Gibbs
26	MF	GUI	Ibrahima Camara
28	DF	ITA	Paolo Cannavaro
30	MF	ITA	Manuele Blasi (on loan from Juventus)
31	MF	ITA	Paolo Ruffini
32	MF	ITA	Marco Marchionni
33	MF	ITA	Lorenzo Carotti
34	GK	ITA	Marco Amelia (on loan from Lecce)
36	MF	ITA	Manuele Sorti
37	FW	ITA	Daniele Degano (on loan from Ancona)
38	FW	ITA	Fabrizio Cammarata(on loan from Cagliari)

Transfers

In
Pos.	Name	from	Type
MF	Domenico Morfeo	Internazionale
MF	Benito Carbone	Como Calcio
DF	Marcello Castellini	Bologna F.C.
MF	Marco Donadel	U.S. Lecce
DF	Anthony Seric	Brescia Calcio
MF	Manuele Blasi	Perugia Calcio	loan ended
MF	Stephen Appiah	Brescia Calcio	loan ended
DF	Mirko Stefani	A.C. Milan
DF	Emiliano Moretti	Juventus

Out
Pos.	Name	To	Type
FW	Adrian Mutu	Chelsea F.C.
MF	Stephen Appiah	Juventus
MF	Sabri Lamouchi	Internazionale
DF	Alessandro Pierini	Udinese Calcio
GK	Claudio Taffarel		retired

Winter

In
Pos.	Name	from	Type
DF	Alessandro Potenza	Ancona Calcio
FW	Fabrizio Cammarata	Cagliari Calcio
FW	Ianis Zicu	Internazionale	loan
FW	Daniele Degano	Ancona Calcio
GK	Marco Amelia	U.S. Lecce
DF	Ibrahima Camara

Out
Pos.	Name	To	Type
FW	Adriano	Internazionale
MF	Hidetoshi Nakata	Bologna F.C.	loan
DF	Júnior	A.C. Siena	loan
MF	Emanuele Filippini	Palermo
MF	Emiliano Moretti	Bologna F.C.	loan
FW	Gaetano Grieco	Genoa
GK	Alfonso De Lucia	Salernitana	loan
GK	Vincenzo Sicignano	Lecce	loan
MF	Matteo Brighi	Brescia Calcio	loan
FW	Tonino Sorrentino	Avellino
MF	Jorge Bolaño	Lecce
FW	Isah Eliakwu	Internazionale	loan

Competitions

Serie A

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
3	Juventus	34	21	6	7	67	42	+25	69	Qualification to Champions League third qualifying round
4	Internazionale	34	17	8	9	59	37	+22	59	Qualification to Champions League third qualifying round
5	Parma	34	16	10	8	57	46	+11	58	Qualification to UEFA Cup first round
6	Lazio	34	16	8	10	52	38	+14	56
7	Udinese ^{[lower-alpha 1]}	34	13	11	10	44	40	+4	50

Source: Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio – La Storia 1898-2004, Panini Edizioni, Modena, September 2005
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) tiebreaker for relevant positions 3) head-to-head points and goal difference; 4) head-to-head goals scored; 5) goal difference; 6) number of goals scored.
Notes:

↑ Udinese gained entry to the 2004–05 UEFA Cup as Coppa Italia because both finalists Lazio and Juventus qualified for the 2004–05 UEFA Cup and the 2004–05 UEFA Champions League through league position, respectively.

Results summary

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
34	16	10	8	57	46	+11	58	9	5	3	32	20	+12	7	5	5	25	26	−1

Last updated: 16 May 2004.
Source: Competitive matches

Results by round

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34
Ground	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H
Result	D	W	W	D	W	L	W	W	D	L	W	W	L	L	W	W	D	D	D	L	W	W	L	D	D	L	W	W	W	D	D	W	L	W
Position	6	6	1	4	3	4	4	4	4	6	5	5	6	6	6	5	4	4	5	6	5	5	5	4	4	4	4	4	4	5	5	4	5	5

Source: Competitive matches
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss; = Leader, UEFA Champions League Groups stage ; = UEFA Champions League Groups stage ; = UEFA Champions League Qualifying round ; = 2004–05 UEFA Cup ; = 2004–05 Serie B

Matches

31 August 2003 1	Bologna	2–2	Parma	Bologna
20:30 CEST (UTC+02:00)	Guly 8' Locatelli 78'	Report	Adriano 20', 87'	Stadium: Stadio Renato Dall'Ara Attendance: 21,414 Referee: Cosimo Bolognino

14 September 20032	Parma	3–0	Perugia	Parma
15:00 CEST (UTC+02:00)	Bresciano 27' Adriano 50' (pen.) Gilardino 83'	Report		Stadium: Stadio Ennio Tardini Attendance: 13,815 Referee: Massimiliano Saccani

21 September 20033	Lazio	2–3	Parma	Rome
15:00 CEST (UTC+02:00)	Stam 33' S. Inzaghi 79'	Report	Bresciano 1', 88' Adriano 63'	Stadium: Stadio Olimpico Attendance: 48,500 Referee: Cosimo Bolognino

28 September 20034	Parma	1–1	Siena	Parma
15:00 CEST (UTC+02:00)	Adriano 79'	Report	Lazetić 41'	Stadium: Stadio Ennio Tardini Attendance: 15,412 Referee: Domenico Messina

5 October 20035	Parma	1–0	Sampdoria	Parma
15:00 CEST (UTC+02:00)	Adriano 19'	Report		Stadium: Stadio Ennio Tardini Attendance: 18,102 Referee: Stefano Cassarà

19 October 20036	Roma	2–0	Parma	Rome
15:00 CEST (UTC+02:00)	Samuel 28' Cassano 61'	Report		Stadium: Stadio Olimpico Attendance: 54,531 Referee: Pierluigi Collina

26 October 20037	Parma	3–0	Modena	Parma
15:00 CET (UTC+01:00)	Morfeo 28' Adriano 86' Marchionni 88'	Report		Stadium: Stadio Ennio Tardini Attendance: 16,938 Referee: Pasquale Rodomonti

2 November 20038	Brescia	2–3	Parma	Brescia
15:00 CET (UTC+01:00)	Matuzalém 4' Di Biagio 38'	Report	Morfeo 12' Marchionni 43' Gilardino 71'	Stadium: Stadio Mario Rigamonti Attendance: 13,724 Referee: Paolo Bertini

9 November 20039	Parma	0–0	Milan	Parma
15:00 CET (UTC+01:00)		Report		Stadium: Stadio Ennio Tardini Attendance: 23,663 Referee: Pierluigi Collina

23 November 200310	Empoli	1–0	Parma	Empoli
15:00 CET (UTC+01:00)	Foggia 90+1'	Report		Stadium: Stadio Carlo Castellani Attendance: 4,663 Referee: Paolo Bertini

30 November 200311	Parma	3–1	Chievo	Parma
15:00 CET (UTC+01:00)	Morfeo 52' Marchionni 70' Gilardino 81' (pen.)	Report	Pellissier 74'	Stadium: Stadio Ennio Tardini Attendance: 12,414 Referee: Emidio Morganti

7 December 200312	Lecce	1–2	Parma	Lecce
15:00 CET (UTC+01:00)	Chevantón 73' (pen.)	Report	Gilardino 47', 78'	Stadium: Stadio Via del Mare Attendance: 21,528 Referee: Mauro Bergonzi

14 December 200313	Juventus	4–0	Parma	Turin
15:00 CET (UTC+01:00)	Miccoli 10', 32' Del Piero 71' Nedvěd 72'	Report		Stadium: Stadio delle Alpi Attendance: 35,074 Referee: Gianluca Paparesta

20 December 200314	Parma	1–2	Reggina	Parma
18:00 CET (UTC+01:00)	Gilardino 83' (pen.)	Report	Di Michele 27' Cozza 90'	Stadium: Stadio Ennio Tardini Attendance: 11,463 Referee: Massimiliano Saccani

6 January 200415	Ancona	0–2	Parma	Ancona
15:00 CET (UTC+01:00)		Report	Barone 27', 64'	Stadium: Stadio del Conero Attendance: 10,433 Referee: Massimo De Santis

10 January 200416	Parma	1–0	Internazionale	Parma
20:30 CET (UTC+01:00)	Filippini 41'	Report		Stadium: Stadio Ennio Tardini Attendance: 22,302 Referee: Paolo Bertini

17 January 200417	Udinese	1–1	Parma	Udine
20:30 CET (UTC+01:00)	Ferrari 23' (o.g.)	Report	Adriano 80'	Stadium: Stadio Friuli Attendance: 15,012 Referee: Emilio Pellegrino

25 January 2004 18	Parma	0–0	Bologna	Parma
15:00 CET (UTC+01:00)		Report		Stadium: Stadio Ennio Tardini Attendance: 14,251 Referee: Mauro Bergonzi

1 February 200419	Perugia	2–2	Parma	Perugia
15:00 CET (UTC+01:00)	Hübner 8' Zé Maria 41' (pen.)	Report	Gilardino 35' Morfeo 38'	Stadium: Stadio Renato Curi Attendance: 8,835 Referee: Roberto Rosetti

8 February 200420	Parma	0–3	Lazio	Parma
15:00 CET (UTC+01:00)		Report	López 40' (pen.), 57' Corradi 65'	Stadium: Stadio Ennio Tardini Attendance: 14,208 Referee: Antonio Dattilo

15 February 200421	Siena	1–2	Parma	Siena
15:00 CET (UTC+01:00)	Chiesa 42'	Report	Gilardino 58' Bresciano 90+1'	Stadium: Stadio Artemio Franchi – Montepaschi Arena Attendance: 9,941 Referee: Roberto Rosetti

21 February 200422	Sampdoria	1–2	Parma	Genoa
18:00 CET (UTC+01:00)	Flores 82'	Report	Gilardino 59' Bresciano 74'	Stadium: Stadio Luigi Ferraris Attendance: 23,436 Referee: Stefano Farina

29 February 200423	Parma	1–4	Roma	Parma
15:00 CET (UTC+01:00)	Gilardino 30'	Report	Cassano 44' Emerson 52' Totti 70' Mancini 77'	Stadium: Stadio Ennio Tardini Attendance: 19,031 Referee: Pierluigi Collina

6 March 200424	Modena	2–2	Parma	Modena
18:00 CET (UTC+01:00)	Pivotto 42' Domizzi 60'	Report	Gilardino 45+1' (pen.) Ferrari 87'	Stadium: Stadio Alberto Braglia Attendance: 14,247 Referee: Tiziano Pieri

14 March 200425	Parma	2–2	Brescia	Parma
15:00 CET (UTC+01:00)	Carbone 4' Marchionni 60'	Report	Di Biagio 32' R. Baggio 74'	Stadium: Stadio Ennio Tardini Attendance: 13,992 Referee: Paolo Dondarini

20 March 200426	Milan	3–1	Parma	Milan
20:30 CET (UTC+01:00)	Tomasson 33', 52' Shevchenko 65'	Report	Gilardino 82'	Stadium: San Siro Attendance: 63,433 Referee: Stefano Farina

28 March 200427	Parma	4–0	Empoli	Parma
15:00 CEST (UTC+02:00)	Barone 37' Gilardino 60' (pen.), 63' Bresciano 79'	Report		Stadium: Stadio Ennio Tardini Attendance: 12,995 Referee: Nicola Rizzoli

4 April 200428	Chievo	0–2	Parma	Verona
15:00 CEST (UTC+02:00)		Report	Marchionni 31' Gilardino 71'	Stadium: Stadio Marc'Antonio Bentegodi Attendance: 11,047 Referee: Stefano Farina

10 April 200429	Parma	3–1	Lecce	Parma
15:00 CEST (UTC+02:00)	Carbone 1' Gilardino 42', 84'	Report	Chevantón 63'	Stadium: Stadio Ennio Tardini Attendance: 13,095 Referee: Tiziano Pieri

18 April 200430	Parma	2–2	Juventus	Parma
15:00 CEST (UTC+02:00)	Carbone 35' Gilardino 81'	Report	Di Vaio 78' Tudor 90+2'	Stadium: Stadio Ennio Tardini Attendance: 20,501 Referee: Matteo Trefoloni

25 April 200431	Reggina	1–1	Parma	Reggio Calabria
15:00 CEST (UTC+02:00)	Torrisi 48'	Report	Bresciano 9'	Stadium: Stadio Oreste Granillo Attendance: 19,165 Referee: Emilio Pellegrino

2 May 200432	Parma	3–1	Ancona	Parma
15:00 CEST (UTC+02:00)	Gilardino 9' Carbone 15' Bresciano 30'	Report	Bucchi 32'	Stadium: Stadio Ennio Tardini Attendance: 12,755 Referee: Paolo Dondarini

9 May 200433	Internazionale	1–0	Parma	Milan
15:00 CEST (UTC+02:00)	Adriano 62'	Report		Stadium: San Siro Attendance: 64,112 Referee: Roberto Rosetti

16 May 200434	Parma	4–3	Udinese	Parma
15:00 CEST (UTC+02:00)	Gilardino 60', 72', 78', 86'	Report	Krøldrup 56' Jørgensen 75' Jankulovski 90+2'	Stadium: Stadio Ennio Tardini Attendance: 10,711 Referee: Matteo Trefoloni

Coppa Italia

Round of 16

25 November 2003First leg	Venezia	0–2	Parma	Venice
			Rosina 53' Grieco 71'	Stadium: Stadio Pier Luigi Penzo Referee: Daniele Tombolini

16 December 2003Second leg	Parma	0–1 (2–1 agg.)	Venezia	Parma
			Mazzeo 90+1'	Stadium: Stadio Ennio Tardini Referee: Marco Gabriele

Quarter-finals

13 January 2004First leg	Lazio	2–0	Parma	Rome
	Muzzi 36' Stanković 60'			Stadium: Stadio Olimpico Referee: Emilio Pellegrino

20 January 2004Second leg	Parma	1–1 (1–3 agg.)	Lazio	Parma
	Bresciano 81'		Stanković 71'	Stadium: Stadio Ennio Tardini Referee: Emidio Morganti

UEFA Cup

First round

24 September 2003First leg	Metalurh Donetsk	1–1	Parma	Donetsk, Ukraine
17:00 CEST (UTC+02:00)	Shyshchenko 44' Beqiri 61' Checher 63'	Report	Adriano 67'	Stadium: Metalurh Stadium Referee: Tonny Kolbech Poulsen (Denmark)

15 October 2003Second leg	Parma	3–0 (4–1 agg.)	Metalurh Donetsk	Parma, Italy
20:45 CEST (UTC+02:00)	Gilardino 44', 46' Donadel 71' Marchionni 73'	Report	Checher 34'	Stadium: Stadio Ennio Tardini Referee: Leif Sundell (Sweden)

Second round

6 November 2003 First leg	Austria Salzburg	0–4	Parma	Linz, Austria
20:30 CET (UTC+01:00)	Laeßig 59'	Report	Gilardino 8', 65' Filippini 60' (pen.) Ferrari 63' Nakata 84' Rosina 87'	Stadium: Linzer Stadion Referee: Eduardo Iturralde González (Spain)

27 November 2003 Second leg	Parma	5–0 (9–0 agg.)	Austria Salzburg	Parma, Italy
18:00 CET (UTC+01:00)	Carbone 1', 7' Filippini 43' Sorrentino 47', 86'	Report	Winkler 77' Teber 90'	Stadium: Stadio Ennio Tardini Referee: Nikolay Ivanov (Russia)

Third round

26 February 2004 First leg	Parma	0–1	Gençlerbirliği	Parma, Italy
19:45 CET (UTC+01:00)	Barone 90+2'	Report	Ümit 26' Skoko 60' Youla 73'	Stadium: Stadio Ennio Tardini Referee: Wolfgang Stark (Germany)

3 March 2004 Second leg	Gençlerbirliği	3–0 (4–0 agg.)	Parma	Ankara, Turkey
16:45 CET (UTC+01:00)	Daems 37' (pen.), 75' Ferrari 81' (o.g.) Tandoğan 90+5'	Report	Frey 34' Benarrivo 90+2'	Stadium: Ankara 19 Mayıs Stadium Referee: Éric Poulat (France)

Statistics

Players statistics

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		2003-04 Serie A
No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	GK	FRA	Sébastien Frey	33	-46	33	-46
14	DF	ITA	Marcello Castellini	32	0	32	0
5	DF	ITA	Daniele Bonera	24	0	24	0
28	DF	ITA	Paolo Cannavaro	16	0	14+2	0
21	DF	ITA	Matteo Ferrari	33	1	33	1
8	MF	ITA	Simone Barone	33	3	33	3
15	MF	ITA	Marco Donadel	24	0	19+5	0
23	MF	AUS	Mark Bresciano	33	8	32+1	8
32	MF	ITA	Marco Marchionni	32	5	30+2	5
18	FW	ITA	Benito Carbone	19	4	12+7	4
11	FW	ITA	Alberto Gilardino	34	23	27+7	23
	GK	ITA	Sicignano	1	0	1	0
10	MF	ITA	Domenico Morfeo	23	4	16+7	4
4	DF	CRO	Anthony Šerić	17	0	12+5	0
30	MF	ITA	Manuele Blasi	12	0	12	0
19	DF	ITA	Alessandro Potenza	13	0	6+7	0
7	MF	ROU	Ianis Zicu	7	0	2+5	0
3	DF	ITA	Antonio Benarrivo	6	0	2+4	0
20	MF	ITA	Alessandro Rosina	7	0	1+6	0
6	DF	ITA	Giuseppe Cardone	1	0	1	0
13	DF	ARG	Gabriel Oyola	1	0	0+1	0
37	FW	ITA	Daniele Degano	4	0	1+3	0
38	FW	ITA	Fabrizio Cammarata	8	0	0+8	0
16	DF	ITA	Mirko Stefani	0	0	0	0
22	GK	ITA	Giordano Vanin	0	0	0	0
24	FW	ITA	Eliakwu	0	0	0	0
34	GK	ITA	Marco Amelia	0	0	0	0
36	MF	ITA	Manuele Sorti	0	0	0	0
26	MF	GUI	Ibrahima Camara	0	0	0	0
	DF	BRA	Junior	14	0	12+2	0
	MF	ITA	Filippini	12	1	5+7	1
	MF	JPN	Nakata	12	0	6+6	0
	FW	BRA	Adriano	9	8	8+1	8
	FW	ITA	Grieco	2	0	0+2	0
	MF	COL	Jorge Bolaño	2	0	0+2	0

Source: http://calcio-seriea.net/presenze/2003/1235/

Goalscorers

Rank	No.	Pos	Name	Serie A	Coppa Italia	UEFA Cup	Total
1	11	FW	Alberto Gilardino	23	0	3	26
2	9	FW	Adriano	8	0	1	9
2	23	MF	Mark Bresciano	8	1	0	9
4	18	FW	Benito Carbone	4	0	2	6
4	32	MF	Marco Marchionni	5	0	1	6
6	10	MF	Domenico Morfeo	4	0	0	4
7	8	MF	Simone Barone	3	0	0	3
7	17	MF	Emanuele Filippini	1	0	2	3
9	20	MF	Alessandro Rosina	0	1	1	2
9	27	FW	Tonino Sorrentino	0	0	2	2
11	7	MF	Hidetoshi Nakata	0	0	1	1
	19	FW	Gaetano Grieco	0	1	0	1
	21	DF	Matteo Ferrari	1	0	0	1
Own goal				0	0	0	0
Totals				57	3	13	73

Last updated: 16 May 2004

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Associazione Sportiva Roma had a tremendous season in the league, scoring most goals and conceding the fewest goals of all teams, but despite this, A.C. Milan were able to run away with the title, due to a greater efficiency in winning their matches.

The 2003–04 season was Football Club Internazionale Milano's 95th in existence and 88th consecutive season in the top flight of Italian football.

The 2005–06 season was ACF Fiorentina's 80th season in its history and its 68th season in Serie A. The club had its best season on the pitch since the 1998–99 season, originally finishing 4th with 74 points and securing a spot in the qualifying round of the 2006–07 UEFA Champions League. However, the club was punished with a 30-point penalty for its involvement in the 2006 Italian football scandal, resulting in Fiorentina being pushed down the table to 9th. This was a much better outcome than its original punishment, as La Viola were originally relegated to Serie B. Following a successful appeal, Fiorentina was admitted to play in Serie A the following season, albeit losing its Champions League slot and having to start the season with a 15-point penalty, removing any chance of mounting a genuine title challenge and building on the success of the 2005–06 season.

The 2005–06 season was Juventus Football Club's 108th in existence and 104th consecutive season in the top flight of Italian football before the 2006 Italian football scandal stripped the club of its previous league title as well as this season's league title, later awarded to Internazionale, and relegated to Serie B.

In 2005–06 seasonAssociazione Calcio Milan had a rather modest season compared to its previous seasons, before being rocked by a minor involvement in the 2006 Italian football scandal, where rivals Juventus was relegated and stripped of two league titles. Due to Milan's involvement, it did not inherit either of the titles, instead being penalised and dropped down the 2006 order, initially out of European football but later reinstated into fourth, which meant UEFA Champions League qualification, a tournament Milan then went on to win. However, Milan started the 2006–07 Serie A season with an eight-point deduction, which complicated hopes of a new league title.

A.C. Milan had a second consecutive disastrous season. Fabio Capello returned as coach, following the dismal second half of the 1996–97 league campaign, but failed to turn the corner, and Milan was a shadow of the team he had left the year before. With Capello's reputation seemingly ruined, he was sacked at the end of the season, with Milan finishing a mere 10th in the league.

U.C. Sampdoria returned to Serie A after a four year-absence, and immediately re-established itself as a team on the top half of the domestic championship. Goalkeeper Francesco Antonioli offered crucial experience, but apart from him did the bulk of the squad play in the 2002-03 Serie B, with top goalscorers Fabio Bazzani and Francesco Flachi quickly adjusting themselves to the higher pace of Serie A. Midfielders Sergio Volpi and Angelo Palombo also stood out. Right back Aimo Diana even earned a call-up to the national team following his performances.

During the 2002–03 Italian football season, Brescia competed in the Serie A.

During the 2003–04 Italian football season, Brescia Calcio competed in the Serie A.

During the 2005–06 season, the Italian football club Parma F.C. was placed 7th in the Serie A. The team reached the fourth round of the Coppa Italia.

During the 2003–04 Italian football season, U.S. Lecce competed in the Serie A.

References

↑ "Statistiche Spettatori Serie a 2003-2004 Attendance Statistics of Serie A (1st Div) 2003-2004".
↑ "FootballSquads - Parma - 2003/04".
↑ Šerić was born in Sydney, Australia.

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[table_note_UDI0.026719135710373-4] Udinese gained entry to the 2004–05 UEFA Cup as Coppa Italia because both finalists Lazio and Juventus qualified for the 2004–05 UEFA Cup and the 2004–05 UEFA Champions League through league position, respectively.

[1] "Statistiche Spettatori Serie a 2003-2004 Attendance Statistics of Serie A (1st Div) 2003-2004".

[2] "FootballSquads - Parma - 2003/04".

[3] Šerić was born in Sydney, Australia.

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