Gianmarco Pozzecco (born 15 September 1972) is an Italian professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

coach and former player. Currently, he is the

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in asso ...

of the senior men's Italy national team. Pozzecco is one of the best known figures in the Italian basketball world. As a player, he had a prominent role in Italy's win of the silver medal at the men's basketball tournament at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...

. He won the Serie A1 1998-1999 and the 1999 Italian Supercup with

Varese Varese ( , , or ; lmo, label=Varesino, Varés ; la, Baretium; archaic german: Väris) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 has reached 80,559. It is the ca ...

, and in 2004 he reached the EuroLeague Final Four with

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different na ...

, eventually lost to

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv ( he, מכבי תל אביב) is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such ...

. He played in the two 1997, the 1998, the 2001, and the 2004 Italian All Star Games, and in the 1999 McDonald's Open Championship. As a coach, Pozzecco won the

2018–19 FIBA Europe Cup The 2018–19 FIBA Europe Cup was the fourth season of the FIBA Europe Cup, a European professional basketball competition for clubs, that was launched by FIBA. The competition began on 20 September 2018, with the qualifying rounds, and concluded ...

and the

2019 Italian Basketball Supercup The 2019 Italian Basketball Supercup ( it, Supercoppa di pallacanestro 2018), also known as Zurich Connect Supercoppa 2019 for sponsorship reasons, was the 25th edition of the super cup tournament, organized by the Lega Basket Serie A (LBA). AX ...

with

Dinamo Sassari Polisportiva Dinamo, commonly known as Dinamo Sassari and currently known as Dinamo Banco di Sardegna Sassari for sponsorship reasons, is an Italian professional basketball club that is based in Sassari, Sardinia. They are the current European Cu ...

Professional career

Raised in

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into pr ...

, in 1991 he made his debut in A2 with

Udine Udine ( , ; fur, Udin; la, Utinum) is a city and ''comune'' in north-eastern Italy, in the middle of the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, between the Adriatic Sea and the Alps (''Alpi Carniche''). Its population was 100,514 in 2012, 176,000 with t ...

Rex. He stayed at the club the following season, playing in the '' Serie B d'Eccellenza''. In 1993 he moved to Libertas Pallacanestro Livorno where he played for one season. He was then traded to

Pallacanestro Varese Pallacanestro Varese, also called by its current sponsor's name, the Openjobmetis Varese, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Varese, Lombardy. Founded in 1945, the team plays in the Italian first division LBA. For past club s ...

. With Varese he won the ''

Scudetto The ''scudetto'' ( Italian for: "little shield") is a decoration having the colors of the flag of Italy which is sewn onto the jersey of the Italian sports clubs that won the highest level championship of their respective sport in the previous sea ...

'' in 1999—Varese's 10th title, coming over two decades after the last one—and immediately afterwards the

Italian Super Cup The Supercoppa Italiana ( en, Italian Super Cup) is an annual football match contested by the winners of the Serie A and the Coppa Italia in the previous season. If the same team wins both the Serie A and Coppa Italia titles in the previous seaso ...

. In the 2000-01 season, Pozzecco averaged 27 points in the

Lega Basket Serie A The Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) is a professional men's club basketball league that has been organised in Italy since 1920. Serie A is organised by Lega Basket, which is regulated by the Italian Basketball Federation (FIP). It is the highest-tier ...

. From 2002 to 2005 he played in Fortitudo Bologna. In 2005, due to conflicts with coach Repeša, he was taken out of the squad, eventually ending the season in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

, at

Basket Zaragoza Basket Zaragoza 2002 S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Basket Zaragoza and as Casademont Zaragoza for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball club based in Zaragoza, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB. Their home arena is th ...

In 1997 he was selected for the first time by the Italian national team, during the 1998-99 and 2000-01 seasons he participated in the Italian

All Star Game An all-star game is an exhibition game that purports to showcase the best players (the "stars") of a sports league. The exhibition is between two teams organized solely for the event, usually representing the league's teams based on region or div ...

and in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

in the

McDonald's Championship The McDonald's Championship (sometimes called the McDonald's Open) was an international men's professional basketball club cup competition that featured a representative of the National Basketball Association (representing North America) agains ...

. In 2001 he tried to join the NBA franchise attending the Summer League with the

Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. They play their home games a ...

, but the attempt was unsuccessful. He had the most assists per game in seven seasons of the Italian League. In the 2000-01 television season he hosted, together with Samantha De Grenet, the '' Candid Camera Show'' on

Italia 1 Italia 1 (Italian pronunciation ) is an Italian free-to-air television channel on the Mediaset network, owned by MFE - MediaForEurope. It is oriented at both young and adult people. Italia 1 was launched on 3 January 1982 and, originally, was o ...

2004 Summer Olympics

Pozzecco joined the

Italian national basketball team The Italy men's national basketball team ( it, Nazionale di pallacanestro dell'Italia) represents Italy in international basketball tournaments. They are administered by the Italian Basketball Federation (FIP). Italy has qualified for 38 EuroBa ...

in 1997 and the following year participated in the

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

; however, he had some arguments with coach Bogdan Tanjević who left him out of the talented roster at the EuroBasket 1999. The new Italian coach Carlo Recalcati let him return to the team, and although he lost the calling for the

EuroBasket 2003 The 2003 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 2003, was the 33rd FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe, which also served as the Europe qualifier for the 2004 Summer Olympics, giving a berth ...

, Pozzecco was part of the Italian expedition to the Athens Olympics. Italy won the silver medal, after they defeated

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

and

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

but lost to Argentina in the final. Pozzecco was the assists leader against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

and

Serbia and Montenegro Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of ...

. He posted a

double-double In basketball, a double-double is a single-game performance in which a player accumulates ten or more in two of the following five statistical categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots. The first "double" in the term ...

of 12 assists, the tournament's game high, 10 points, 4 steals and 4 rebounds against

Yao Ming Yao Ming (; born September 12, 1980) is a Chinese basketball executive and former professional player. He played for the Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) and the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Associa ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

, in the penultimate game of the group stage. Pozzecco was the scoring leader in the last and most difficult game of the preliminary round, an eventual 76–75 win over Argentina. He was the assists leader against Puerto Rico in quarterfinals, and against Lithuania in semifinals. Pozzecco also scored 17 points against Lithuania, including 4 three pointers, and was one of the best players of the game. He tied with

Soragna Soragna ( Parmigiano: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Parma of northern Italy with a population of about 4,800. The town is known from 712, when it was mentioned in a document by the Lombard king Liutprand. From 1198 it was a pos ...

for scoring leader in the gold medal game, a rematch against Argentina lost 69–84.

Final years (2005–2008)

In the 2005-06 season he moved in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

, in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, signing an annual contract with Khimki. The contract was then renewed also for the following season, in which the Russian team played in the ULEB Cup. He returned to Italy for the 2007-08 season. Initially it seemed he would join Virtus Bologna, but eventually, on 25 July 2007, he signed an annual contract with Orlandina Basket. Pozzecco suddenly renounced to join Virtus Bologna, shortly before signing, because he didn't want to enter in Varese with the Virtus' jersey. After playing a high-level regular season, averaging almost 18 points and 8 assists per game, Pozzecco stated he wanted to retire from basketball after playing the playoffs. On 15 May 2008 at the

Palasport Giacomo Del Mauro Palasport Giacomo Del Mauro is an indoor arena, indoor sporting arena that is located in Avellino, Italy. The seating capacity of the arena for basketball games is 5,300 people. The arena is primarily used to host home basketball games of the S. ...

Avellino Avellino () is a town and ''comune'', capital of the province of Avellino in the Campania region of southern Italy. It is situated in a plain surrounded by mountains east of Naples and is an important hub on the road from Salerno to Benevento. ...

he bid farewell to basketball three minutes from the conclusion of the play-off match between

and

Capo d'Orlando Capo d'Orlando ( scn, Capu d'Orlannu) is a in the Metropolitan City of Messina, Sicily, southern Italy, one of the main centers of the mountain and coastal Nebrodi area. History After the destruction of the Greek colony of Agathyrnum ...

, when the game had been already decided, with the elimination of the team of Pozzecco. The match was interrupted to allow the athlete the applause of the audience and the players. Deeply loving basketball and always nurturing the will to play with his brother, in the 2008-09 season, beside collaborating with

Gazzetta dello Sport ''La Gazzetta dello Sport'' (; "The Sports Gazette") is an Italian daily newspaper dedicated to coverage of various sports. Founded in 1896, it is the most widely read daily newspaper of any kind in Italy (in 2018). History and profile ''La ...

and Sky, Gianmarco Pozzecco wore the jersey of Servolana Trieste, a team playing in the Serie C championship (formerly C2). In 2009 he joined the

Olimpia Milano Pallacanestro Olimpia Milano, commonly known as Olimpia Milano or as EA7 Emporio Armani Milan after its title sponsor, is an LBA Italian professional basketball team, based in Milan, Italy. Its colors are white and red, and the team is sometimes ...

staff and returned to play in Serie C Dilettanti with the "new" Orlandina Basket playing a championship game against Amatori Basket Messina, scoring 10 points. He continued his collaboration with Sky, sometimes commenting on NBA games, and co-presenting the ''Rhythm and Basket'' in-depth program. He has also collaborated as a regular commentator with

La7 La7 is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned by Cairo Communication. Until 2013 it was a pay-per-view channel owned by Telecom Italia Media and operated by Telecom Italia. Signal overspill means that parts of Albania, Croatia, Swi ...

and with

Sportitalia Sportitalia is an Italian terrestrial and satellite television channel owned by Italian Sport Communication, specialized in sports broadcasting 24 hours a day. Sports broadcast include soccer, basketball, tennis, cycling, volley, motoristic spo ...

in some basketball programs, such as ''NBA News'' and a program of in-depth study on the Euroleague and in 2012-2013 he hosted ''Sotto Canestro'' together with Italian sports conductor Ugo Francica Nava and basketball player and model Valentina Vignali, a program dedicated to basketball.

Coaching career

After his retirement as a player, having spent a few years as a broadcaster for Sky Sport and

, on 13 November 2012 he was hired as the head coach of Orlandina Basket, the team which he ended his playing career with. In 2014, he went back to Varese as a head coach. On 3 July 2015 he parted ways with Varese. Day later, on 4 July 2015, he signed with the Croatian team

Cedevita Zagreb Košarkaški klub Cedevita Junior ( en, Cedevita Junior Basketball Club), also known as Cedevita Junior, is a men's basketball club based in Zagreb, Croatia. The club is named after its main sponsor Cedevita, and competes in the Croatian HT Pre ...

to be the team's assistant coach. On 27 March 2018 he signed a two-year contract to become the head coach of his former club Fortitudo Bologna. On 11 February 2019 Pozzecco signed with

of the Italian

(LBA). In his last

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and ...

in Sassari, Pozzecco went through some difficulties with the management of the team that resulted in his suspension for 10 days right before the beginning of the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eit ...

. At the end of the season he prematurely parted ways with Sassari. On 30 June 2021, Pozzecco joined the

staff as assistant coach of

Ettore Messina Ettore Messina (born 30 September 1959) is an Italian professional basketball coach who is the head coach of Olimpia Milano of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A (LBA). He has won four EuroLeague championships as a head coach. Messina is regarded a ...

. At the end of the season he parted ways with Milano. On 2 June 2022, he was named as the new head coach of the senior men's Italy national team as replace to

Meo Sacchetti Romeo "Meo" Sacchetti (born August 20, 1953) is an Italian professional basketball coach and former player who is currently a head coach for Pallacanestro Cantù of the Serie A2. Standing at a height of 1.99 m (6 ft. 6 in.), he played ...

Player profile

Standing at , he played at the

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run the team's offense by ...

position. He had great technical skills, court-vision, and shooting ability. He was a player full of fantasy, but weak on defense. He was dubbed as an all-around offensive talent. He is famous for his eccentric character, and, although it has caused problems for him with coaches through the years, it made him one of the most valued players in Italy. His nicknames are “Poz”, and “La Mosca Atomica” (The Atomic Fly). Although he was born in Gorizia and he grew up as a basketball player in Udine, he is originally from

, and considers himself a ''triestino''. NBA star

Tim Duncan Timothy Theodore Duncan (born April 25, 1976) is an American former professional basketball player. Nicknamed "the Big Fundamental", he is widely regarded as the greatest power forward of all time and one of the greatest players in NBA histor ...

once said that he was impressed by the Italian player.

References

External links

Gianmarco Pozzecco
at draftexpress.com

at fiba.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Pozzecco, Gianmarco 1972 births Living people Basketball players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Basket Zaragoza players BC Khimki players Dinamo Sassari coaches FIBA Europe Cup-winning coaches Fortitudo Pallacanestro Bologna coaches Fortitudo Pallacanestro Bologna players Italian expatriate basketball people in Russia Italian expatriate basketball people in Spain Italian men's basketball players Libertas Liburnia Basket Livorno players Lega Basket Serie A players Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic basketball players of Italy Olympic medalists in basketball Olympic silver medalists for Italy Orlandina Basket coaches Orlandina Basket players Pallacanestro Varese players Pallalcesto Amatori Udine players People from Gorizia Point guards Sportspeople from Friuli-Venezia Giulia 1998 FIBA World Championship players