Italbasket ready for World Cup qualifiers: Luca Banchi honors Achille Polonara’s courage

The head coach of the men&#8217s national basketball team, Luca Banchi, has summoned 17 players for the first qualifying engagements for the 2027 World Cup: among them, with the role of captain, the name of Achille Polonara stands out, to whom the coach wanted to confirm the closeness of the Azzurri environment despite the absence from the parquet of the basketball player from Marche, who is fighting a much more important battle than the sporting one.

The Azzurri will play two games in the late November international qualifying bracket: on the 27th, at 8 p.m., there will be a debut in official matches with Banchi on the bench against Iceland in Tortona while on the 30th Italbasket will be engaged in Klaipeda, at 5:30 p.m. Italian time, against Lithuania. In the group, which includes four teams, there&#8217s also Great Britain, the Azzurri&#8217s opponent in the next international bracket, between February and March 2026.

The following is the complete list of summoned players released Thursday by the Federbasket:
00 Amedeo Della Valle 1993 194 Guard Germani Brescia
7 Stefano Tonut 1993 194 Guard EA7 Emporio Armani Milan
16 Amedeo Tessitori 1994 207 Center Umana Reyer Venezia
19 Gabriele Procida 2002 198 Guard/Ala Real Madrid – Spain
23 Diego Garavaglia 2007 201 Wing Ratiopharm Ulm – Germany
24 Francesco Ferrari 2005 205 Wing Gesteco Cividale del Friuli
25 Tommaso Baldasso 1998 192 Guard Bertram Tortona
26 Luigi Suigo 2007 220 Center Mega Superbet Basket – Serbia
27 Leonardo Candi 1997 190 Play/Guard Umana Reyer Venezia
28 Davide Casarin 2003 196 Guard Ferramenta Vanoli Cremona
33 Achille Polonara 1991 205 Guard Banco di Sardegna Sassari
37 Matteo Librizzi 2002 181 Playmaker Openjobmetis Varese
38 Riccardo Rossato 1996 189 Guard Trapani Shark
44 Sasha Grant 2002 201 Guard Ferramenta Vanoli Cremona
45 Nicola Akele 1995 203 Ala Virtus Olidata Bologna
50 Luca Vincini 2003 207 Ala/Centro Banco di Sardegna Sassari
77 John Petrucelli 1992 188 Guard/Ala Trapani Shark

The schedule for the first qualifying phase sees the Azzurri engaged, after challenges with Iceland and Lithuania, on February 27 and March 2 against Great Britain, first away and then at home, on July 2 in Iceland and on July 5 at home against Lithuania. The top three from each group advance to the next stage: these will take part in a group of six that will promote three national teams to the 2027 World Cup.