Mario Balotelli Takes Up Basketball

The 2026-2027 EuroLeague season kicked off with a surprising, narrow victory by Dubai over Real Madrid, the recent winner of the first-ever EuroLeague Super Cup. Among those watching the Emirati club’s 78-77 victory was a special guest, soccer player Mario Balotelli, who was welcomed with full honors by the club, which also presented him with a team jersey bearing his name and the number 9.

Balotelli, who turned 36 on August 12, is currently playing in the United Arab Emirates league for Al-Ittifaq, a relatively young club (founded in 2020) chaired by Italian entrepreneur Pietro Laterza and currently competing in the UAE First Division, the Emirati equivalent of Serie B.

The former striker—who played for Inter, Milan, Manchester City, and Liverpool, has never hidden his passion for basketball: during his time at Milan, for example, he engaged in a sort of long-distance challenge with the late Kobe Bryant—a Rossoneri fan—which quickly went viral on social media. In his social media posts as well, Balotelli has often referenced basketball, showing that he follows not only the NBA but also Italian and European leagues.

Dubai’s participation in the EuroLeague (this is the Emirati club’s second season in the competition) thus proved to be a golden opportunity for Balotelli, who was able to observe Europe’s top competition up close, attending, among other things, on that particular evening, a nail-biting game in which Dwayne Bacon, the game’s top scorer with 24 points, shone brightly.