Olimpia Milano has appointed Luca Banchi as head coach of the first team. Coach Banchi, who will remain head coach of the Italian national team and signed a multi-year agreement, returns to Milano eleven years after his first stint at Olimpia, where the team won the first Italian title of the Armani era.
COACH LUCA BANCHI – “I’m honored to return to coach Olimpia Milano, with a heartfelt thanks to the owners, who felt I was the right person to lead the team at this particular moment, and to President Petrucci, for granting me the opportunity to continue as coach of the Italian national team. And, of course, my thoughts are going yo my predecessor, Peppe Poeta, who, in such a short time, wrote indelible pages in the history of a club of this caliber. Aware of the responsibilities that await me, I embark on this new chapter of my career with the enthusiasm and determination of someone who wants to prove to be worthy of such a prestigious job.”
HIS CAREER – Luca Banchi was born on August 1, 1965, in Grosseto. He began his career at the Grosseto youth teams, then worked as an assistant at the Armed Forces team at Vigna di Valle, and in the 1986-87 season at Affrico Firenze, where he also served as head coach of the youth team. In 1988, he was called to Don Bosco Livorno, where he won the Italian junior championship three times in a row (1995, 1996, and 1997). In 1997, he was promoted to the first team as head coach. He remained there for two years, appearing in two second division finals and was named Coach of the Year once. In 1999, he was called to coach Trieste in the Italian league top division. In 2001, he returned to Livorno for three seasons, all in the top league. In 2004-05, he moved to Trapani in and in 2005-06 to Jesi in the second division. In 2006, he went to Siena as an assistant coach to Simone Pianigiani. In six years, Mens Sana won six Italian league titles and four Italian Cups, as well as reaching the EuroLeague Final Four twice. In 2012, he was promoted to the head coach position and immediately won the Italian league championship and the Italian Cup. In 2013, he arrived at Olimpia Milano for the first time, winning the first league title of the Armani era and led the team to the EuroLeague playoffs. After leaving Milano in 2015, he coached in Turin, Bamberg in Germany, AEK Athens in Greece, where he won the FIBA Intercontinental Cup, Kuban in Russia, Pesaro and Strasbourg in France, the Long Island Nets in the United States. Upon returning to Italy, he led Virtus Bologna to a Super Cup win and in 2025 led Efes Istanbul to the EuroLeague playoffs, one game away from the Final Four. He also coached the Latvian national team from 2021 to 2025, leading them to a best-ever fifth-place finish at the 2023 World Cup when he won the Best Coach award. Since October 2025, he has been the coach of the Italian national team.
NOTES – As the Olimpia coach, he compiled a record of 68 wins and 20 losses in the Italian league, for a 77.2 percent win rate, which ranks second in club history behind Cesare Rubini (83.5%), only. His regular season record is 51-9 (85.0 percent). Overall, he’s coached Olimpia in 140 games with 93 wins for 66.4 percent winning rate.
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