Ten international talents, with different ages and experiences behind them. What unites them is the desire to make a difference, in Italy and Europe. After the inauguration of the 2025/2026 season on the playing parquet, the Volpi Rosse Menarini wheelchair basketball team officially presented its fans with a new lineup. This morning the Municipality of Florence welcomed the players competing for the Serie A Fipic and Eurocup 3 championships at the historic Palagio di Parte Guelfa.
At Palavalenti and away, coach Antonino Savio Favano and assistant coach Antonio Calamai are leading a group of basketball players on very different paths this year. From Spain to Finland, from Sweden to France to Italy to Brazil, Menarini Red Foxes can count on a truly international team. Captains Luciano Felipe Da Silva, Francesco Marotta, Bilal Oujedid and Carlos Anderson Silva Ferreira, the veterans, welcome Frédéric Bauche, Xabier Iragorri Alconada, Andrea Papi, Sini Paukkeri, Ludvig Sjöström and Matteo Veloce to their ranks.
“We are proud to have an important sporting reality in this city – emphasized sports council member Letizia Perini – The Eurocup Challenge is added to the season in the already extraordinary Serie A championship. The Menarini Red Foxes are a reference for Florence, thanks to their ability to involve and promote the values of sport and inclusion. I would like to thank the Menarini Group for supporting this reality for many years, the club, its managers, the technical staff for the valuable work in the territory it has spreading interest in wheelchair basketball, showing that all cities and citizens can experience sport as a an opportunity for personal and collective growth. I invite Florentines to fill the stands of the Palavalenti to support with passion and warmth the team that will carry Florence’s name high in Italy and Europe”. Board member Perini then underlined the importance of supporting the social and sporting activities of the Menarini Pharmaceutical Group, “a large manufacturing reality that honors Florence for her work”.
“Wheelchair basketball is in the history of sports for people with disabilities – said Massimo Porciani, vice president of the Italian Paralympic Committee and president of Cip Toscana – And it is a great honor for me to see that in my region there is a team that appreciates this movement and has been honoring it for many years by playing with ever greater passion at the top of the Italian championship. Glory to the Menarini Red Foxes!”
A team is now grappling with the Italian championship match that will be the test venue for Eurocup 3, scheduled for March 12 to 15, 2026 in Amsterdam.
“For this year we have chosen to focus on players with significant growth potential, in order to build a strong foundation for the future – explains Ivano Nuti, president of Volpi Rosse Menarini – Our aim in Serie A is to improve on the results obtained last season. But in European competitions, we look to the Eurocup in March with great determination, with the dream of winning the quarter-final tournament in the Netherlands”. Nuti then highlighted the importance of support from Menarini Pharmaceutical Group, “which makes a fundamental and irreplaceable contribution to our business”.
Founded in 2005, the Volpi Rosse Menarini team has over the years become a symbol of personal growth through sport: the passion, talent and determination of its athletes have turned every game into a real message of inclusion. Together with them, since 2011, the Menarini Group has continued to support this route as the main sponsor, by spreading the values of solidarity and sports ethics.
“As if they were a forum for communication, Volpi Rosse Menarini and our Group exchange the values we believe in with each other every day – commented Lucia and Alberto Giovanni Aleotti, shareholders and members of the Board of Menarini – The tenacity necessary to continuously develop and look to the future with confidence and commitment has always distinguished this team. Forza Volpi Rosse Menarini”.
Ennio Troiano, global human resources director of the Menarini Group, said at the team’s presentation: “It is a great emotion to be here today, because this is an adventure that started 14 years ago: a long journey, during which we had an ambition – then realized to make the sport known and make it accessible to as many people with disabilities as possible in the region. This project has been a great promotional tool and today we can smile, because the results have been achieved”.
“The most complicated aspect for us – continues Troiano – is of course the logistical aspect, but the team has grown so much, both in terms of sport and numbers, that it has arrived to play in Serie A. A very important and demanding championship, but the response of the people in Florence has been extraordinary. It follows the team with great affection. This is perhaps the most beautiful and significant element: when they stop us on the street or call us in the company just to say ‘thank you’, for us it is a valuable sign of recognition and support”.
But the history of the Menarini Red Foxes does not end here: in addition to their competitive activities, the team also promotes inclusion and awareness initiatives in Florentine schools, such as the “Oltre l’Ostacolo” and “Movimento in Allegria” projects supported by Menarini. A commitment that the pharmaceutical group extends beyond the borders of Italy by supporting the Spanish wheelchair basketball team, Menarini Joventut from Badalona (Barcelona). Because the real goal is to build, day by day, a more conscious and inclusive community.
Volpi Rosse Menarini was founded in 2005 as a social promotion association and became ASD in 2011, the year support for the Menarini Group began. From a sporting point of view, he has achieved very important results in wheelchair basketball. After placing third in the Italian U-22 championship and winning the Italian Uisp title in the 2017/18 season, the team continued to improve, finishing second in the Italian U-22 championship and winning the Kavala international tournament in Greece the following season. Following a break forced by the pandemic, in the 2020/21 season he triumphed in the Italian U-22 championship and the Serie B championship, earning promotion to the senior series. In the following seasons they established their presence in Serie A, finishing the 2021/22 season in eighth place, while in 2022/23 they finished sixth in the league and won the Eurocup 3 Tournament in France. In the 2023/24 season it reached fifth in Serie A and second in Eurocup 3 in Spain; Last season (2024/25) they finished fifth in Serie A, confirming that they are always competitive.
