GALLERY Kappa®: the champions’ jersey Recounting the history of soccer and of the shirts worn by its players, helps us understand if not all, a good part of our country’s pop culture. The anticipation, pipe dreams, passion and faith experienced in the beautiful game, wrapped in special, colorful fabrics, are the same animating all our lives. Soccer is a metaphor of life, of the victories and defeats, marking our existence. Our team’s shirt is a flag, a symbol to live by and respect, and the uniforms worn by athletes are legends woven with deeds and memories, vision and determination, endeavour and team spirit. In this exhibition Kappa®, with its timeless shirts, tell a story starting at the end of the 70s, still enchanting generations of enthusiasts today. During the Seventies Kappa, thanks to the intuition of managing director Maurizio Vitale, inspired by sales and marketing director Marco Boglione, launched the sports sponsorship market. In 1978 Vitale met with Juventus president Giampiero Boniperti and told him: “I want to sponsor you”. Legend has it Boniperti was confused by this unusual proposition and asked: “But do you want to give us money or do you want money from us?”. “Give” replied Vitale. Shortly after that Maglificio Calzificio Torinese provided the team’s kit, working with it to improve its performance, in exchange for printing the Omini logo on the jerseys. The Robe di Kappa® brand – later simplified into Kappa® – ended up on the shirts worn by legends such as Zoff, Bettega and Scirea, at the same time entering the homes of millions of Italians, and not only… History repeated itself in 1999. Kappa® had recently made a comeback thanks to Marco Boglione, who saved the brand from bankruptcy with BasicNet. To announce Kappa®’s return to the entire world Boglione made a life-long dream come true by sponsoring the Italian national soccer team. And here is where the Kombat™ 2000 comes in: a surf shirt made with fitness fabric, featuring the right characteristics to revolutionize the idea of a soccer jersey as well as the game itself. Thanks to its high level of elasticity and its stop stopping system, the Kombat™ has two undeniable advantages: if the player is held back it emphasizes the foul for the referee and allows the athlete to finish the action and score. The first 40 centimeters are completely inert, and if the player gets grabbed by the shirt he will not be slowed down or stopped by the opponent. Today Kappa®’s style department continues to December 1978, Kappa®’s first sponsorship deal, Juventus research new technologies to pursue innovation in jersey president Giampiero Boniperti and entrepreneur Maurizio Vitale design and guarantee top performance standards for the present the team’s new jersey branded “Robe di Kappa®” players wearing them. 1999 ITALIAN NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAM BAGGIO No. 10 BasicNet Collection 1989-1990 AC MILAN VAN BASTEN No. 9 BasicNet Collection 1996-1997 In 1994 Marco Boglione struck a FC BARCELONA sponsorship deal with Futbol Club RONALDO No. 9 Barcelona president Josep Lluís Núñez Clemente stating: “in our relationship with Barça there’s a BasicNet Collection business element but above all a strong element of feeling”. 1997-1998 JUVENTUS F.C. Away jersey BasicNet Collection 1999-2000 JUVENTUS F.C. ZIDANE No. 21 BasicNet Collection 2010-2011 VALENCIA CF STANKEVICIUS No. 17 Kombat™ 2010 BasicNet Collection 1997-1998 Jersey produced for the 100th ATHLETIC CLUB anniversary of the Athletic Club team. With this jersey the teamenjoyed an amazing come back in the Liga, ending the season in second place behind BasicNet Collection FCBarcelona, thus conquering a place in the Champions League. 1996-1997 REAL BETIS BALOMPIÉ BasicNet Collection MICHEL PLATINI Juventus F.C. THIERRY HENRY AS monaco RONALDO FC Barcelona DJIBRIL CISSÉ A.J. Auxerre ALESSANDRO NESTA Italian Football Team HRISTO STOIČKOV FC Barcelona RUTH GULLITH AC Milan ZINÉDINE ZIDANE Juventus F.C. MARCO VAN BASTEN AC Milan ZINÉDINE ZIDANE Juventus F.C. Italian Football Team ZINÉDINE ZIDANE Juventus F.C. Kappa®: the champions’ jersey MADRID from September 10 to 27, 2019 BARCELONA from September 28 to October 4, 2019 SEVILLA from October 4 to November 11, 2019 MADRID BARCELONA SEVILLA MADRID BARCELONA SEVILLA - Credits - Developed from a concept by Lorenzo Boglione BasicNet Curator Cecilia Botta, BasicGallery Exhibitor Design Barbara Molino and Alex Jorio, BasicCreativity Project Manager Filippo Maffiotti, BasicMarketing Archive BasicGallery Photo Collection 98 Studio & Getty Images Realizzato da Copyright © 2021 Basicnet S.p.A. All Rights Reserved.