The clash with the FIP is at breaking point: in a very harsh statement, the Sicilian club accuses the federation of persistence and threatens not to take the field against Bologna. “Words that damage the image of the movement”, is the response of the FIP. But now the credibility of the tournament is at risk: what is happening
It had been in the air for some time, now the clash between Trapani Shark and the institutions of basketball Italian seems to have reached the point of no return. With a very harsh statement released on Sunday evening at the end of a daring home defeat against Varese, the Sicilian club announced its intention not to take to the field next weekend when it should face Virtus Bologna. A threat to which the Federation and Lega Basket responded less than 24 hours later, with an emergency federal council convened as a matter of urgency: “With these words Trapani is seriously damaging the image of the entire movement – we read in a note – we will take any initiative, even of a legal nature, to protect it”.
A clash that risks not only damaging the image of Italian basketball, but which could above all distort the ranking of a regular season which currently sees Trapani in full playoff running with only three defeats since the start of the championship.
The situation
To understand what is happening in Trapani you have to rewind the tape a year. In 2024 the club returns to Serie A after over thirty years of absence, at the end of a run in Serie A2 built with important investments and ambitious technical choices. The first season in the top flight exceeds all expectations: Trapani plays aggressive basketball, beats top teams, remains permanently in the top positions of the league and becomes one of the revelations of the championship, reaching the championship semi-final against Brescia and qualifying for the Basketball Champions League.
But while the project grows on the parquet, the first cracks emerge off the pitch. With the season still underway, the Federation imposes a penalty of 4 points on the Sicilian club for the 2025/26 season, for non-compliance in paying income taxes (Irpef) and social security contributions to INPS for its members. President Valerio Antonini, a Roman entrepreneur who has owned the club since 2023, claims to have been defrauded, but his appeals are rejected. A situation that does not seem to affect Antonini’s project which invests heavily in the summer market: important confirmations, high-sounding purchases and the idea of consolidating Trapani as a stable reality in Serie A.
The season restarts with enthusiasm and ambitions. The club wins, plays well and despite the penalty remains firmly in the top areas of the table. But in autumn the castle begins to creak. In November comes the break: Jasmin Repeša, one of the most prestigious coaches in Europe, suddenly leaves the bench, speaking of professional conditions no longer sustainable; Captain Amar Alibegović stops training, resigns and leaves Sicily. “I wasn’t kicked out of the squad, I decided to leave,” he declared in response to the president who had announced that he had fired him. – I have always been professional but agreements at these levels must be respected.”
Thus the Trapani case exploded and on 24 November the FIP, recognizing other irregularities, imposed a transfer ban on the club, prohibiting the registration of new players and staff members and thus leaving the team without a coach and with only 11 registered players, after the farewells of Repesa and Alibegović. One less than the minimum number of mandatory members for each match.
The clash
From that moment on, the conflict was total. The club requests the opening of a discussion and conciliation table but the Federation refuses and actually relaunches by opening an investigation into other irregularities relating to registration for the current championship. So on Sunday, after yet another 50,000 euro fine for not having called up 12 players, the clash came to a head. «The Trapani Shark – declared the sporting director Valeriano D’Orta at the end of the match – takes note of the recent decisions of the LegaBasket and the FIP which represent an act of clear injustice and relentless persecution towards the club. Our competitiveness and the fairness of the entire championship are being irreparably compromised. This is an attack on our image and survival.” A very harsh attack on the institutions followed by an even stronger threat: «We seriously and urgently evaluate the option of not taking part in the next match against Virtus Bologna».
A real and concrete threat, which could influence the credibility and fairness of the championship, to which the federation wanted to give an even harsher response by convening an extraordinary council. And the note issued by the FIP at the end of the meeting leaves no room for interpretation: «In reiterating the firmness with which the Federation has managed the matter so far, the council unanimously agreed that the behavior adopted by the Society is seriously damaging the image of the entire movement, and has given the Federal President a broad mandate to identify and implement any initiative, even of a legal nature, useful for its protection».
A position on which a few minutes later the Lega Basket also aligned itself, recalling “the principles of sporting and associative loyalty and correctness”.
The scenarios
Now the decisive match is not on the parquet. If Trapani Shark were not to show up in Bologna, there would be a default defeat and a new barrage of sanctions that could accelerate the club’s collapse. But even without a formal lump sum, the situation remains explosive. The roster continues to lose pieces, between players ready to free themselves and a coaching staff reduced to the bare bones, while rumors of a possible withdrawal from the championship begin to circulate insistently.
In this scenario, the risk of distorting the tournament is twofold: a possible exclusion of Trapani would alter the ranking and the results already achieved; but the continuation of a weakened team, forced to play in a permanent emergency, also calls into question the fairness of the competition.
The championship thus risks being conditioned not by sporting values, but by an unresolved management crisis. This is the issue that worries the League and the Federation: the very credibility of Serie A, called to demonstrate whether it is capable of enforcing the rules without sacrificing the stability of the system.
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