Belonging issue three, Florence Discovering the relationship between teams and cities through Kappa jerseys

Football in Italy is much more than a sport, it is an essential element of a city's life. It marks the rhythm with which days pass, loves are separated from sorrows and celebrations and disappointments overlap, all of which are faced while wearing the jersey of one's favourite team. Over the years, jerseys have gone from being uniforms used to distinguish players to being a visceral symbol of belonging to a community, no longer confined to the usual 90 minutes of play but present in every aspect of daily life. A feeling that Kappa wanted to celebrate in the jerseys made for the 2021/22 season. 

 

Like Venezia and Genoa, the first clubs featured in the previous chapters of Belonging, Fiorentina is also experiencing a period of profound rebirth thanks to Rocco Commisso, who has bought the club since 2019. In addition to the new stadium, which in all likelihood will be ready by 2026, and the avant-garde sports centre, the Italian-American president intends to bring one of Italy's best-known clubs back to the left side of the table, to the conquest of important placings and trophies. A revolution that has already begun since Vincenzo Italiano arrived on the purple bench, bringing new ideas for the game and new life to a team that seemed to have lost it some time ago. 

An injection of vitality that both fans and insiders have immediately noticed. It's not only the points that attest to this situation, it's a feeling that permeates the city and that is also evident from Omar's words, although he now confesses that his obsession and passion is no longer able to affect his days as it once did: "Let's say that now I can tame emotions better and remember that it's just a game, so a very important thing." Although as he grows up he loses that crazy, pure emotion towards his team's games, the attachment to him is still very strong and you can see it in his expression as soon as he puts on the purple jersey first and then the white one for the photos in this article. Because as he explained before, everywhere in Florence you breathe Fiorentina and you cannot live without breathing.

 

 

Photographer: Eleonora D’Angelo
Stylist: Francesco Tizzano
Photographer Assistant: Danilo Cautero
Editorial Coordinator: Elisa Ambrosetti
Art Director: Alessandro Bigi
Talent: Omar Rashid
Production: nss factory