ROME (Italy) - Luca Banchi turned Latvia into a formidable team in international basketball, guiding it to a hugely impressive fifth place at the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Manila and to within a single victory of Olympic qualification one year later.
Now Italy are pinning their hopes on one of their own, believing he will help them capitalize on their enormous pool of talent and make them one of the most feared teams in international basketball.
Banchi, whose Latvia team exited EuroBasket 2025 in the Round of 16, in Riga, is now back on home soil and ready to go to work after being signed to a three-year deal to lead the national side.
The Italian Basketball Federation introduced Banchi on Friday in Rome.
Emotions that are impossible to explain
"Many colleagues had warned me about the pitfalls of accepting such a role, especially when you do it for your country", said the new head coach. "After these first four years of experience with Latvia, I think it’s something incredible: it has given me emotions that are impossible to explain. It’s really hard to sum up in just a few words. The national team truly is something that stands above everything else.
You feel that there is something greater
When you work in a club, when you play for a club, there are aspects tied to your personal success that sometimes take over. Those aspects completely fade away every day you put on the national team jersey, because you feel that there is something greater. What you constantly strive to do at a club, making sure the club comes before individual egos, is extremely difficult: it requires an enormous daily effort, and it drains a lot of energy. With the national team, it happens naturally. My task is simply this: to pass on the values that are intrinsic to the national side, especially when we’re talking about the Azzurri."
Banchi, 60, will lead the Azzurri in the upcoming European Qualifiers campaign for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 in Qatar.
The Italians will square off against Great Britain, Iceland and Lithuania in Group D. The first qualifying games will be at home against Iceland on November 27 and at Lithuania on November 30.
Banchi’s most impressive spell at the helm of Latvia was in the previous European Qualifiers for the 2023 World Cup, when the team won nine of its 10 teams and finished first in Group I, ahead of Serbia, Greece and Turkey by the end of the Second Round.
Latvia then caught fire at the World Cup, claiming a come-from-behind upset win over France in the Group Phase, which helped catapult the team to a fifth place finish in Manila.
Banchi’s team gave eventual champions Germany one of their toughest games in the Quarter-Finals but fell, 81-79, when Latvia’s Davis Bertans missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
The performance fueled hopes of Olympic qualification.
The Latvians hosted one of the four FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments in Riga but crashed to a 94-69 defeat to Brazil in the Final of the event.
This summer, Latvia hosted Group A at FIBA EuroBasket 2025 but after losing to its two biggest rivals in the pool, Türkiye and Serbia, Banchi’s team finished third.
Then against Lithuania in the Round of 16, Latvia trailed from start to finish and lost, 88-79.
Banchi takes over an Italian team that has not reached the podium of a major event since it claimed the silver medal at the 2004 Olympics. Italy’s high mark in recent times came when Meo Sacchetti coached the team to victory at the 2021 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Belgrade, which clinched a spot in the Tokyo Games. The Italians then made it to the Quarter-Finals before losing to France.
Banchi takes over from Gianmarco Pozzecco, who had some big wins in tournament play, including a come-from-behind win over Serbia in the Round of 16 at EuroBasket 2022. Pozzecco was ejected in that game, however, when the team was trailing and it battled back to stun the Serbians.
Pozzecco’s team then looked well placed to challenge for a spot on the podium at the World Cup in Manila after finishing first in Group I in the Second Round, yet in their Quarter-Final against USA, the Azzurri collapsed early and lost, 100-63.
Pozzecco's last game in charge was against Luka Doncic and Slovenia in the Round of 16 at EuroBasket 2025.
In their and most important game of the tournament, Italy had an awful start and trailed 29-11 by the end of the first quarter. The team battled back and closed the gap to 78-77 with 1:53 remaining, only for Slovenia to score the last six points of the contest.
FIBA