Nymburk – Francesco Tabellini became the new coach of Nymburk basketball players. The 39-year-old Italian, who led USK Prague last season, signed a three-year contract with the 18-time Czech champion. He replaced Ladislav Sokolovský on the bench, who will return to the role of sports director. The current assistant coach Pavel Budínský is leaving the team. The club announced this on its website.
Advertisement'; }
“After a long consideration of which way to go, we decided to return to a foreign coach. Francesco Tabellini had the great advantage that he already knows the Czech league and has done a lot of work at USK. Moreover, he is a coach who is not afraid to get involved younger players and that is in line with our plans,” said Nymburk general manager Ondřej Šimeček.
There were more candidates for the position of head coach, the management finally decided on Tabellini. “The contract is for three years, but it is conditional on sporting success. It corresponds to our strategy to build a strong team core and work with it long-term,” added Šimeček.
Tabellini will join the Central Bohemian team in July. It is about the remaining of the implementation team apart from the outgoing Budínský. According to Šimeček, the new assistant head coach should be from the Czech Republic.
Tabellini worked in the past in the academy of Virtus Bologna or as an assistant coach in Treviso, where he tried out the Champions League. Before the start of last season, he joined USK, which he helped to the league quarterfinals. In it, the people of Prague lost 2:4 against Nymburk.
The Central Bohemians subsequently failed in the semi-finals against Opava, which they lost 3:4 and did not follow up on the previous 18 championship titles in a row. They missed the finals for the first time since 2002. The management of Nymburk believe that Tabellini will return them to the top.
“I am honored to have been chosen as the coach of such a prestigious club as Nymburk. I want to thank the management trust. The sense of responsibility I feel is exciting,” Tabellini said. “I have watched Nymburk's matches on the European stage for many years and I always admired the style of basketball they played. Now it is crucial for us to regain a clear and solid identity on the court, because the results are a natural result of the quality of the basketball we play. I am fully committed to give everything I have to lead the team to accomplish our mission.” added the Italian coach.
Nymburk is now waiting for the formation of the team. “We already negotiated with some players, but we didn't want to sign anyone without being clear about the coach. That's why we conducted intensive negotiations about the position of coach and now we can fully focus on building the squad for next season,” Šimeček added.
