Italbasket in Reggio Calabria, the promise of Gianmarco Pozzecco

An important challenge for the national team, a dip into the past on a personal level.

Italbasket ready to return to the court for the last engagement of the EuroBasket 2025 qualifiers. Next Sunday, at 8:30 p.m., the PalaCalafiore in Reggio Calabria will in fact host Italy-Hungary. A challenge of great importance for our national team, but with a special meaning on a personal level also for coach Gianmarco Pozzecco, who, both as a player and as a coach, has an important history in nearby Capo d'Orlando.

"We have already embraced in these hours all the love of Reggio Calabria,” Pozzecco said in the press conference hosted in the 'Sala dei Lampadari' of the Reggio Municipality. “I had not been to the South for a few years and I found that'humanità that makes this land unique".

But Pozzecco, as mentioned, also retraced his past as a player and symbol of basketball in the deep South of Italy: "Entering Pentimele I felt very strong sensations, remembering my past as a player many years ago. I know we will find an exceptional environment, we want to live up to it".

On the upcoming challenge to Hungary by Italbasket, however, the captain of the national team, Alessandro Pajola, spoke clearly: "Obviously within the group there's great enthusiasm after the victory in Istanbul, but also great concentration because a difficult challenge awaits us. We do not want to repeat the Reggio Emilia misstep, because Hungary will want to win to hope for qualification in extremis. We must take the field with the same heart as last night, that attitude makes us special".