Gianluca Busio has been named captain of Venezia ahead of the 2026-27 season, the club confirming the appointment during the Falcade retreat on July 20.
Busio arrived in Venice from Sporting Kansas City in the summer of 2021 at just 19 years old and has spent the past five years with the club. Speaking to Sky Sport at the Falcade retreat – a location he described as feeling like a second home – American midfielder said the honor was something he never saw coming when he first arrived at the club.
He acknowledged that when he arrived as a teenager, the only thing on his mind was earning and keeping a spot in Serie A. Becoming captain, he said, never entered the picture – and that makes it mean more now.
Five Years, One Club, One Armband
What makes this appointment land differently than a routine squad announcement is the arc behind it. Busio has stayed through promotions, relegations, and squad changes – the kind of turnover that typically accelerates departures rather than leadership track records. Venezia named Busio the new captain.
Busio assessed the current squad as capable of securing survival, pointing to a mix of returning players from what he called a strong previous season and new arrivals who add something extra. The target, as he framed it, is staying up – something like survival.
He also weighed in on the World Cup held in the United States, calling the atmosphere at the games he attended extraordinary and arguing that while soccer still isn’t the country’s primary sport, the tournament moved the needle in a meaningful way. It’s a sentiment worth noting – and Busio is now walking into a new season wearing the armband of his club side. For a tracker of how Americans are carving out bigger roles in European football, the is a useful parallel – different circumstances, but
. and it is the kind of credential that . Whether it raises Busio’s stock with the national team setup is for the coaches to decide, but it does no harm.
