Marco Belinelli is Virtus Bologna's new captain / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: Virtus Bologna Credit Virtus Bologna

The curtain has risen on the new Virtus Segafredo Bologna, which was presented to their fans at the Palaghiaccio of Folgaria in front of a large audience

Marco Belinelli

Position:SGAge:35Height:196 cmWeight:87 kgBirth place:Bologna, ItalyProfileNewsStatistics

During the presentation, it was announced that Marco Belinelli has been appointed captain of the team.

President Luca Baraldi stressed the fact that owner Massimo Zanetti "urged us every day to do better, and in a short time we have accomplished a lot. We arrived rightfully at the title." The team president also thanked Sasha Djordjevic but added that with Sergio Scariolo's arrival, the Italian champions can do even better.

The plan for Virtus Bologna is to return to their arena around mid-November and Baraldi said that the club will fight for fans to return.

"I am convinced that 35% capacity is little. 50% is the minimum to start with, otherwise, you have to think about it. Virtus will be at the forefront of this battle. The captain? The team has decided: Marco Belinelli will be the captain.”Virtus coach Sergio Scariolo emphasized the importance of the team factor: "I thank all the fans, an important signal for us as a team, we felt affection and warmth. We have just started, we have to merge trends, habits, ways of playing and living with the team. We had a couple of physical setbacks that we didn't want but I'm happy with the attitude of the players and staff, the atmosphere is good. We are focused on ourselves, we have not seen our opponents play. Winning depends on many factors. Some of them you can control but others are out of your control, and in this COVID era even more. We want to get to the top in all competitions. Let's try to build a house that may not be beautiful right away, but will be able to last.”

Credit Virtus Bologna

New Virtus captain Marco Belinelli pointed out that “we are working very well. It will take some time, but we are a very good team, competitive with a lot of cards to play. Winning is always our goal. I was very happy to have arrived in this organization, my goal was to win as much as possible. I didn't expect us to dominate the playoffs, but it was beautiful. It gave us so much confidence, even ahead of this year.”

Credit Virtus BolognaKyle Weems added: "Virtus fans in my opinion are the best in Europe and Italy. It's partly because of them that I play with great emotion. Game 3 with Milan was beautiful, I felt the support of everyone, the family, and the fans who were close to me last year, when I lost my father. So far we have trained well, and we are becoming a team.”

Thank you for being with us! Subscribe to BN+ and browse ad-free.