National basketball team in Bologna: open-door practice (with many local faces)

Bologna, August 11, 2025 – Blue emotions. At the PalaDozza, the national basketball team is training this morning ahead of the European Championships . One might call it a tagliatelle and tortellini team. But be careful, comparing the two specialties of the Two Towers isn't meant to belittle the national team, far from it. It's just that this national team, which is preparing with great professionalism and enthusiasm, has a lot of Bologna in it .

Meanwhile, the team includes four Virtus players : Alessandro Pajola (who sat out today to recover from some aches and pains), Momo Diouf , Nicola Akele , and the latest arrival, Saliou Niang . Niang, who arrives from Trento, has also played for Fortitudo and is well aware of the boost PalaDozza can provide.

But there's also room for Marco Spissu , who won an A2 championship with Virtus and was promoted; Pippo Ricci , who captained the 2021 championship-winning Virtus team; and Gabriele Procida . Procida played for Fortitudo and was long-courted by Virtus at the beginning of the summer before moving elsewhere. And let's not forget the only Italian currently in the NBA: Simone Fontecchio , born in 1995, one of the Azzurri's designated leaders. Fontecchio, who is now in the NBA, went through all of Virtus' youth teams, even making it to the first team, before making his own choices.

But if you think the adopted Bolognese have ended here, you're far from the truth. The coach is Gianmarco Pozzecco, a Fortitudo icon . Among his assistants is Peppe Poeta , who was captain of Virtus. And then Federico Fucà , who coached Gira Ozzano and is currently the assistant coach of Reggio Emilia, and was born and raised in Bologna. There's another figure with ties to Bologna: the athletic trainer, Matteo Panichi , a former Virtus player who trained the Bianconeri's muscles this season.

And then? Well, then at the PalaDozza— doors open , as long as you follow his slides under the basket in religious silence —all you hear is Poz's voice. From the way he speaks and the advice he gives, it's clear why the team would throw themselves into the fire for him .

The match against the Argentine national team is scheduled for Thursday evening, starting at 8:00 PM. This matchup, twenty-one years ago, coincided with the 2004 Athens Olympic final and the historic silver medal won by the boys coached by Charly Recalcati.

There are still some tickets available : it could be sold out, also because the passion for basketball, in the shadow of the Two Towers, never wanes.