Our partnership with United Eagles Basketball Cividale: sport, territory and shared value

On 23 July 2026, our boardroom hosted a press conference celebrating six years of partnership between Gesteco and the basketball team UEB Cividale, looking ahead to the seventh season.

Also in attendance was Toni Capuozzo, president of Mittelfest, a testament to how the project brings together sport, culture and territory within a single, shared vision.

The event was also broadcast on United Eagles Basketball Cividale's social channels and shared on our own, allowing the community to follow the occasion remotely as well.

A moment that speaks to an already well-established bond, often described as a true marriage that keeps renewing itself season after season.

Confirming the enthusiasm surrounding the project, the new season's first numbers: 1,800 season tickets already sold, a sign that "yellow-and-blue fever" shows no sign of slowing down.

For six years, we have accompanied UEB Cividale's journey not only as main sponsor, but as a partner in a sporting and territorial project whose values closely mirror our own: strong roots in Friuli, attention to young people, the strength of community, teamwork, and the ability to turn sport into a genuine opportunity for shared growth.

This partnership reflects a way of understanding sport that goes beyond what happens on the court: a commitment built over time, through continuity, trust and responsibility.

When Davide Micalich founded United Eagles Basketball in Cividale del Friuli in the summer of 2020, he did so with a clear idea in mind: to build a team firmly rooted in its territory, capable of being not just competitive on the court, but a true point of reference for the community.

They say the strongest ideas often emerge from the most difficult circumstances. The Eagles were born in the midst of the pandemic, at a time when young people needed, more than ever, a reason to go out, meet one another, and believe in something together.

The Luci family immediately recognised in that idea a vision close to their own: the question was whether the territory was ready to welcome and grow such an ambitious project, to bring Friuli to the highest levels, starting from Cividale. From the very beginning, the foundations were laid for something important.

The main sponsorship agreement with us was announced in August 2020, born from both parties' shared will to open a meaningful cycle of collaboration, rooted in the territory, sport, young people, and the social dimension of the project.

The Gesteco name appeared on the Eagles' yellow-and-blue jerseys and, shortly after, on Cividale's sports arena, which has since been named PalaGesteco: a challenge for our company that goes beyond basketball, reaching into the very heart of the Cividale community.

Our choice reflects a clear sense of coherence: two organisations born and raised in Friuli, sharing the same attention to quality work, to being a family, and to the context in which they operate.

From the outset, UEB set its own guiding principles: seriousness and professionalism, a strong work ethic both "on and off the court," and a direct, genuine relationship with its community of supporters. Those same principles have driven steady growth since the project began.

On 22 June 2022, at the end of its second season, UEB was promoted to Serie A2, winning the Serie B playoffs.

A historic evening for Cividale, with PalaGesteco filled to capacity. Since then, the Eagles have not slowed down: on 14 September 2025 they won the 2025 Serie A2 LNP Supercup, and in the 2025-2026 season they reached the playoff semi-finals for the first time, the most prestigious milestone in the club's young Serie A2 history.

For us, and for the companies of the Group, this achievement confirms the value of a project built over time, with vision, continuity and mutual trust.

The relationship between Gruppo Luci and UEB has never been confined to the court. In September 2021, UEB players and coaching staff joined us for a training and awareness session on sustainability, an unusual initiative in the world of professional sport, and one that speaks volumes about how both organisations understand their role within the community.

That same spirit lives on through UEB4Work, an event we organise together with other local sponsor companies, hosted at PalaGesteco since 2023.

Born from the desire to bring the core principles of sport, teamwork, collaboration, mutual trust and personal growth, into the world of work, the initiative has grown over the years into a meeting point between companies and candidates, involving an increasing number of local businesses and dozens of open positions across its editions.

Today, the Gesteco name is an integral part of Cividale del Friuli's sporting identity. PalaGesteco is the home of a growing fan base known as the "Marea Gialla" (Yellow Tide), which fills the arena at every match and follows the Eagles to away games across Italy. A true sporting celebration, bringing different generations together under the same colours.

After five seasons, with over 2,000 season ticket holders in 2025 and more than 130 sponsors, including our own Group companies Ecofarm and Labiotest, something important has become part of the territory: an extended family, "in love" with this jersey, able to recognise itself in the same emotions this team knows how to generate.

In the words of the Group's president, Adriano Luci: "Preserving this imprint, from the jerseys to PalaGesteco, is for us an important responsibility: it means bringing together organisations that are different by nature, yet united by the same passion for sport, the same trust in the territory and its potential for growth through young people, and much more.

This is a long-term commitment that goes beyond simple profit. A solid relationship, in victory as in defeat, because there is much to learn from defeat too. It is an ideal we share as a company and as a Group, together with respect for the game and its rules."

The Eagles continue their journey. And we stand by their side.

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