Having completed a stunning six years in grand lobby of the Italian and European basketball, Valerio Bianchini accepted the proposal of the Italian basketball federation (FIP) and led the national team for the next two years. In the 1986 FIBA World Championship in Spain, Italy ranked sixth while in the Eurobasket of Athens in June 1987 it was undefeated until the quarterfinals where it was defeated by the Greece of Nikos Galis and Panagiotis Giannakis.