Luis Scola and his new stage in Italy: he owns a basketball club. Photo: Varese News.
Since louis scola He hung up his basketball shoes and predicted where his future was headed. In September he became sports director of Pallacanestro Varese, an Italian club that competes in the highest category of local basketball. But now it’s for more. He bought 51% of the shares of the Lombardy entity and became a majority shareholder.
The Italian organization confirmed this on Monday in an official statement: “Varese informed that on the occasion of the Board meeting held this afternoon at the Enerxenia Arena, general director Luis Scola informed the directors and owners of the club the desire to exercise the option to buy 51% of the company’s shares, as required by the contract signed last summer ”.
Meanwhile, the new owner said: “I am very pleased with this possibility. I am confident that this solution, made to give more substance to the work started at the time, can bring a lot of satisfaction in the future.”
Luis Scola Luis Scola in his presentation as CEO of Varese in Italy. Photo: Varese Press.
However, according to the official text, there are still formalities to complete the purchase. “The operation will become official only after all necessary bureaucratic procedures have been completed. The terms of the agreement are and will remain private and confidential. The terms of the agreement will remain private and confidential. “
In this way, the 42-year-old former power forward said goodbye to his career as an athlete afterwards 2020 Tokyo Olympics, after losing in the quarterfinals against Australia, continues to be associated with professional basketball but now from a different perspective. He replaced the office parquet floor.
Varese was the last club where Luis Scola played professionally. When he took over as sports director, eight months ago, he said he wanted to “take Varese where it belongs“. But the road will not be fast.
Luis Scola arrived in Varese on July 1, 2020, his last club as a player. Photo: Instagram @legabasketa.
On that occasion, he highlighted that his project is long-term and the results are not immediate: “The project is for five years and results will start coming from the third or fourth”. Now, the idea of the former NBA player is to grow the Italian institution but as a shareholder, where the responsibilities are certainly greater.
Varese’s last season was by far the best. He finished 12th out of 16 teams in Serie A – the highest basketball category in Italy – with 12 wins and 18 losses in 30 games played. In addition, he has two wins from entering playoff positions, certainly one of the great goals for next season.
Luis Scola said goodbye to professional basketball after the Tokyo Olympics. Photo: EFE.
Luis Scola’s career
Luis Scola quit the Ferro Carril Oeste club. His great physical size -2.06 meters-, his technique and his moves without the ball quickly landed him in the national league. After a spell in Spain, where he defended the jerseys of TAU Cerámica and Gijón Baloncesto, and the historic gold medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics, he had the opportunity to play in the NBA.
In 2007 he wore the Houston Rockets jersey and didn’t take it off until 2012. Then he went through to the Phoenix Suns and the Indiana Pacers. In 2015 he went to Canada to play for the Toronto Raptors and the following year he went to the Brooklyn Nets, his last team in the best basketball league in the world.
In 2017 he went to China to play for Shanxi Zhongyu and Shanghai Sharks. In 2019 he traveled to Italy, where he played for Olimpia Milano and Pallacanestro Varese, the club he recently acquired.
Inside the great palmares of Luifa There’s the aforementioned gold medal at the 2004 Athens Games, the bronze at Beijing 2008, fourth place in London 2012. Second place at the 2002 Indianapolis Basketball World Cup and another second place at the 2019 World Cup in China.
Source: Clarin
