Italbasket: The 16 Players Called Up by Luca Banchi

Luca Banchi, head coach of the national basketball team, has selected the 16 players who will take part in Italbasket’s training camp from August 10 to 31: After securing two crucial victories in July—in Iceland and at home against Lithuania—the Azzurri face a two-game series in August that could already prove decisive for their World Cup qualification. For Italy, the first “window” of the second phase of the Qualifiers will open with an away game in Tuzla against Bosnia and Herzegovina (August 28, 8:00 p.m., live on DAZN, Sky Sport, and Now) and will conclude in Pesaro on August 31 against none other than Serbia (7:30 p.m., live on DAZN, Sky Sport, and Now).

Matteo Spagnolo, Gabriele Procida, Sal Niang, Francesco Ferrari, Tommaso Baldasso, Nicola Akele, Alessandro Pajola, and John Petrucelli will report to the training camp in Folgaria starting August 10. Starting August 14, Nico Mannion, Stefano Tonut, Niccolò Melli, Simone Fontecchio, Darius Thompson, Amedeo Tessitori, Giampaolo Ricci, and Giovanni Emejuru will also join the team in Trentino.

The Italian national team’s coaching staff has also called up eight athletes who will be invited to the training camp to participate in practice sessions: Alfredo Boglio, Stefano Conte, Matteo Gherardini, Marco Restelli, Riccardo Salvioni, Willis Tio Tiagande, Lorenzo Vanin, and Mauro Zacchigna.

All training sessions in Folgaria will be open to the public. The schedule of sessions is subject to change based on the needs of the coaching staff. The training camp on Alpe Cimbra will conclude with the traditional Trentino Basket Cup, which this year will feature the Azzurri taking on Estonia on Saturday, August 22, at the BTS Arena in Trento (7:30 p.m., live on Sky Sport).