Virtus Bologna are facing one of the most turbulent seasons in its recent history. Internal conflicts, budget cuts, and poor planning have led to a crisis that threatens the club’s future.
On January 29, Massimo Zanetti, majority owner of Virtus Bologna, held a press conference that raised many questions about the future of the Bologna team.
This has been an extremely troubled season for Virtus: a change of coach, a clearly delayed planning of the season, and many internal doubts that did not help to create a peaceful atmosphere.
It seems like an eternity since Virtus won the EuroCup in 2022, guaranteeing themselves the right to return to the EuroLeague after years of absence.
Tornike Shengelia
| Team: |
Virtus Segafredo Bologna |
| Position: | PF |
| Age: | 33 |
| Height: | 206 cm |
| Weight: | 103 kg |
| Birth place: | Tbilisi, Georgia |
At that moment, Massimo Zanetti's project reached its peak, but from then on, things didn't go as hoped.
After a rather disappointing EuroLeague season opener and increasing tensions with the club, Sergio Scariolo left the Italian team and was replaced by Luca Banchi, fresh off as the winner of the FIBA World Cup best head coach award.
After a year in which Banchi managed to get Virtus to the EuroLeague play-in and to the final of the Italian championship, the last offseason was, as mentioned above, extremely difficult.
It started quite late due to uncertainty about whether or not they would be in the EuroLeague and management issues, which led to a rather substantial budget reduction.
After a very difficult start to the season and an increasingly shaky relationship with the management, Banchi resigned as head coach and was replaced by Dusko Ivanovic, who signed a contract until the end of the season.
But what led to the difficulties this season? What went wrong in the relationship between Massimo Zanetti, the club's majority owner, and Luca Baraldi, the company's managing director and long-time collaborator of Zanetti himself?
And what does the near future hold for the Italian team? Let's try to clarify things and answer some of these questions.
The broken relationship between Zanetti and Baraldi
The main topic
