By Cesare Milanti/ info@eurohoops.net
Latvia, Riga – After losing to Slovenia and exiting the 2025 EuroBasket in the Round of 16, Gianmarco Pozzecco is leaving the Italian national team.
At the postgame press conference, he announced his decision to step down.
“It’s my last game with Italy. I want to thank my president, Giovanni Petrucci, for giving me the honor of becoming coach of the national team. From the bottom of my heart, it’s like… maybe, no — for sure, the best moment of my life. It was truly an honor to have this role in Italian basketball.”
He went on to thank everyone who had trusted him from the beginning, but saved his deepest gratitude for his players
“To my players, I really love all of them. I don’t give a f*ck about what type of coach I am. I’m not focused on that. I’m not focused on my career. I don’t give a f*ck about what you think about me. In my life, in my coaching life, I’m just focused on them.”
Emotions were running high.
“Today I’m really sad, not because we lost the game, but because I see them suffer. And I can be the worst coach in the world, I don’t give a f*ck, really. Believe me. I’m not lying, I’m not lying to you. But as I told them at the end of the game in the locker room, nobody has the respect that I have for Italian players. And I tell them, nobody will ever love them more than me.“