by: WHEELCHAIRBASKET VICENZA | data 04/11/2025
We are Wheelchair Basket Vicenza, a wheelchair basketball team born in Vicenza — a team of athletes with motor disabilities, each with their own story: accidents, illnesses, traumas… men and women united by one certainty: NEVER GIVE UP!
In 2024, our team was about to shut down. But instead of giving up, we chose to take on a new challenge: to relaunch the project, breathe new life into it, and make it the team of Vicenza and beyond.
With our project “The Team That Didn’t Exist” (La Squadra Che Non C’è), and thanks to more than 120 amazing supporters, we achieved two incredible goals:
(Watch the video below and let yourself feel what we feel)
An incredible show of strength and joy!
Now we face a new challenge, even greater and bolder! Our next goal is to make professional Paralympic sport a reality in Vicenza — to give our athletes not just a court to train on, but the chance to receive the respect and recognition they deserve: fair compensation, solid support, and a stable, dignified structure around them.
That’s how ADOPT A CHAMPION was born — a project that puts people first. Because we want our supporters to become one with our team, to step inside our world and experience what we live every single day.
We want to bring you into our story — to introduce you to our athletes, their journeys, their dreams — and make you part of this incredible adventure. We don’t just want your support…we want you to become part of us.
We are now professionals. And we’re ready to write the next chapter, for this team and for this city.
This year marks a huge leap forward: we are officially entering the world of professional sports.
We are no longer just a brave team: we are a reality ready to join the European elite.
Can you imagine it? Our name traveling across Europe. Our victories being talked about on TV. Our games broadcast in prime time, maybe even on Sky.
International athletes coming to Vicenza, training here, walking through our streets in their wheelchairs, a city that finally breathes inclusion and pride.
Imagine all this, because now, by adopting one of our champions, you can help make it happen. You can be part of it. And one day, you’ll be able to say: “That team is also a little bit mine.”
Sounds amazing, right? Be honest — you’re already picturing it!
SO WHAT’S CHANGING?
The magic has already started.
What seemed impossible just a few months ago is now becoming reality.
International athletes of the highest level — players who have competed in European, World, and Paralympic championships — have already chosen to play in Vicenza.
Top international coaches, who currently lead national teams across Europe and beyond, have also chosen to join usbecause they believe in our project.
Like Coach Cliff, current head coach of the French National Team, former coach of the Italian National Team, and mentor of Italy’s Under-23 National Team.
Like Coach Sedat, who, with the Turkish National Team and Galatasaray, has won European Championships and multiple Champions Cups.
Together — with passion, experience, heart, and an unstoppable will — we will take Wheelchair Basket Vicenza to the EuroLeague, bringing our city into the highest international competition.
And we’ll set ourselves a clear, powerful goal: to build, within three years, a team capable of winning the Italian Championship — and to cry tears of pure, unstoppable joy once again.
First of all, your role is to believe in us, once again. Are you in?
Then, together, we need to create the right environment for our new athletes — a place where they can feel safe, valued, and proud of what they do. That means guaranteeing them:
Because an athlete in a wheelchair is not just an athlete. They are a person who has never stopped believing.
Each player arrived in Vicenza in September and will stay until May. The average compensation for each athlete is €1,000 per month, for a total of €9,000 per season.
We will be hosting 10 athletes.
The players will live in shared apartments, so we also need to cover rent, utilities, and food expenses.
We have estimated that the monthly cost of living per athlete is around €500.
That’s why our first fundraising goal is set at €15,000, which will allow us to cover both the athletes’ salaries and their living expenses for December 2025.
PHASE 1 — € 15.000
If we reach Phase 1, we’ll be able to guarantee one full month of salary and expenses for each athlete.
€ 1.500 per month to cover December 2025.
This will allow us to face the first part of the championship while waiting for additional sponsor contributions that will arrive early next year.
WE NEED YOU! Watch the official video and choose the athlete who inspires you the most!
PHASE 2 — € 30.000
Once we reach the first goal, you’ll be sure to receive your reward.
And if we get to Phase 2, we’ll be able to do even more — covering the salaries, meals, and living expenses for an extra month, in January 2026.
Together, we can make history and truly make a difference.
PHASE 3 — € 45.000
Reaching Phase 3 would mean guaranteeing three months of salary for your favorite champion. Most of our athletes are married, with families and children, and a salary of € 1.000 per month is, if you think about it, more than modest.
So why stop now?
Let’s go all the way and write a page of history together!
CHOOSE YOUR REWARD. When you make your donation, write the name of your favorite athlete in the notes, so you can receive your reward directly from your chosen champion.
Because we want every donor to know the face, the story, and the strength of the person they are helping.
We want you to come to our games, cheer with us at every basket, and proudly say: “That’s my athlete! I gave him the chance to become a champion.”
We want you to feel part of the team in every way, because sharing is an act of generosity, and when you share something good, it multiplies. It becomes a wave of energy, strength, and love.
We want you to feel actively part of our success, to feel like a protagonist standing beside us.
Because alone you can go fast but together we go far and we make history.
Behind every basket, there’s a journey.
And every champion needs someone who believes in them.
That someone can be YOU.
Join us, believe in us,
and write this story with us, as a true protagonist.
Hi there, remember us?
We’re the team that, just a year ago, was about to shut down…
and instead — WE WON AND MADE IT TO SERIE A!
On May 3rd and 4th, 2025, in Vicenza, in the Ferrovieri district, something magical happened.
A year ago, we told you about a dream:
to create a wheelchair basketball team for children, and to keep alive a senior team that was on the verge of closing — too few players, too few resources, and the risk of losing a space where many athletes with disabilities could play, grow, and belong.
One year later, here we are — stronger than ever — proving that disability is not a limit, but a new starting point.
THAT DREAM IS NOW REALITY!
Thanks to your incredible support, we won the championship, we were promoted to Serie A, and — even more importantly — we made another dream come true:
the creation of the first wheelchair mini-basket team for children in Vicenza.
THE SUPERPOWER TEAM IS REAL!
We’ve seen kids get on a basketball wheelchair for the first time and turn their fragility into pure strength.
We’ve won both on and off the court — but now, the challenge is even greater.
WE’RE BRINGING PROFESSIONAL WHEELCHAIR BASKETBALL TO VICENZA!
Yes, the same kind you see on TV.
WE’RE ENTERING THE INTERNATIONAL SPORT SCENE.
That means Vicenza — and its wheelchair basketball team — will soon travel across Europe.
Our team will become a symbol of inclusion, talent, and rebirth — in Italy and beyond.
And all of this… we can only do together.
Ciao, ci conosciamo già! Siamo quelli che l'anno scorso stavano per chiudere la squadra, e invece.... ABBIAMO VINTO E CONQUISTATO LA SERIE A!! il 3 e 4 MAGGIO 2025 A VICENZA, nel quartiere dei Ferrovieri, è successa la magia! Un anno fa ti abbiamo raccontato un sogno: far nascere una squadra di pallacanestro in carrozzina per bambini e poter disputare un campionato di serie B con una squadra che stava per chiudere per tanti motivi: pochi atleti, pochi mezzi, e il rischio pesante di chiusura che avrebbe impedito a tanti atleti con disabilità di smettere di fare sport. A distanza di un anno, siamo qui a raccontarti come abbiamo costruito il futuro del basket in carrozzina, dimostrando che la disabilità non è un limite, ma un punto di partenza. QUEL SOGNO OGGI E' REALTA'! Grazie al vostro sostegno abbiamo vinto il campionato, siamo stati promossi in serie A, ma soprattutto abbiamo realizzato ciò che sembrava impossibile: far nascere la prima squadra di minibasket in carrozzina per bambini a Vicenza. IL SUPERPOWER TEAM OGGI E' REALTA'! Abbiamo visto bambini salire per la prima volta su una carrozzina da basket e trasformare la loro fragilita' in forza. Abbiamo vinto dentro e fuori dal campo, ma ora la sfida si fa ancora più grande. PORTEREMO IL BASKET PROFESSIONISTICO A VICENZA! Si , hai capito bene, quello che vedi per televisione. ENTREREMO NEL PANORAMA INTERNAZIONALE DELLO SPORT. Cioè, Vicenza, e la sua Squadra di Pallacanestro in carrozzina, viaggerà per l'Europa. LA NOSTRA SQUADRA , SARA' SIMBOLO DI INCLUSIONE , TALENTO E RINASCITA. In Italia e in Europa. E tutto questo lo possiamo fare insieme!
