Massimo Palanca is now a citizen of Catanzaro. The City Council of the Calabrian capital has in fact conferred honorary citizenship tonight on the man who is still now referred to as a yellow and red flag for his many years spent with the number 11 shirt on his shoulders between the end of the 70s and the beginning of the 80s, when Catanzaro reached A, the first Calabrian team to achieve this goal. Honorary citizenship therefore bears witness to the deep bond that the former striker has built and consolidated with the fans and with the whole city that still calls him “O Rey”.
To pay homage to Palanca – who celebrated 70 years just yesterday – some comrades from that Catanzaro, including Adriano Banelli and Tato Sabadini, the top management and the technical staff of Us Catanzaro, who returned to Serie B just this year, in addition to many fans of yesterday and today.
With the Catanzaro “O Rey” shirt, he played 367 games between the championship and the cups, scoring 137 goals and distinguishing himself for the ability to score directly from a corner: 13 goals attributed to him by insiders.
Welcomed by the mayor Nicola Fiorita, by the council and by the city council, Palanca also received his number 11 shirt from the general manager of Catanzaro Diego Foresti.
Number that Catanzaro already withdrew 3 years ago.
“Palanca – Fiorita said – was the hero of Catanzaro and of all of Calabria, he was a laboratory of dreams, a champion of our hopes, a refuge for our anguish, he was much more than a footballer”. “I feel part of this city – said the former footballer – your affection makes me understand that I have done something good, my hope is that Catanzaro can grow more and more, I invite all the administrators to work to make it once again the capital of Calabria”.
During the ceremony, a minute’s silence was observed in memory of Carlo Mazzone, Catanzaro’s coach at the end of the 1970s, and Francesco Scorsa.
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