The 2010–11 season of Parma F.C. was Parma's 20th season and 2nd consecutive season in Serie A, having finished in 8th position in the previous season. The club was embroiled in a relegation dogfight for much of the season, but managed to secure their place in Serie A for the following year on 8 May with two games to spare. As well as competing in Serie A as one of twenty teams, Parma took part in the 2010–11 edition of the Coppa Italia but were eliminated by Palermo at the quarter-final stage. Parma started the season with a new head coach after Francesco Guidolin resigned from the post in late May as he was appointed by Udinese. His successor, Pasquale Marino, who was also Guidolin's predecessor at Udinese, was announced as head coach on 2 June 2010, but was sacked with seven games of the season left on 3 April 2011. He was replaced by Franco Colomba two days later. Colomba's arrival brought about a dramatic improvement in results and led to what turned out to be comfortably achieved safety.
Kits
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Pre-season
Results
Kick-off times are in CET.
Serie A
Summary
Without injured Daniele Galloppa, who was ruled out until the new year, Parma opened their season on the last Sunday of August with 2–0 victory over newly promoted Brescia. Valeri Bojinov opened the scoring after just ten minutes when, having played a short pass to débutant Sebastian Giovinco on the edge of the box, was returned the ball after a chipped Giovinco ball over the defence, which beat the offside trap and left the previous season's top scorer Bojinov through on goal. The second goal came on the stroke of half-time through Stefano Morrone, who was left a simple tap-in after a far post header from Alessandro Lucarelli off a lofted free-kick set him up. Parma's second league game of the season involved a trip off the mainland to Catania, where a goal in either half saw off Parma's challenge despite a late goal from Giovinco, but the match ended in regrettable style as Lucarelli was given his marching orders for a second yellow card. Parma then secured consecutive 1–1 draws, first at home to Genoa and then away to Lecce, in very similar fashion as the opposition took the lead through a first-half penalty before Parma drew level halfway through the second half. Two difficult games – away to Fiorentina and at home to A.C. Milan – ended in defeat as Parma slipped into the relegation zone with two- and one-goal reverses respectively, the latter after a spectacular 30-yard strike from Andrea Pirlo. Remarkably, Parma gave away a penalty for four consecutive matches before the run was ended against Milan. Parma went rock-bottom in Serie A after their seventh league game and a 1–1 draw against Cesena as Cristian Zaccardo scored his second league goal of the season, despite having the better of the match. Consecutive goalless draws at home to Roma and Chievo lifted the club out of the relegation zone but prompted sporting director Pietro Leonardi to offer public support to head coach Pasquale Marino. Bizarrely, in the lead-up to the Roma match on 24 October, Parma's fans protested against the lunchtime kick-off by the simultaneous consumption of sandwiches.