“Football is almost like religion.” It’s a sentiment Lorenzo Antinori has expressed many times through a number of interviews, and one that shapes the experience at the famed Hong Kong bar he co-founded, Bar Leone. At the World’s Best Bar of 2025, football memorabilia adorns the walls like gods in a spiritual household—sacred photographs, posters, and vintage Roma jerseys in pristine condition are folded and framed. The love, admiration and respect for football is palpable throughout the space.
“I remember a Kappa x K-way piece my mom got me when I was probably 12 years old. Then of course there is the 2000 AS Roma iconic kombat shirt, which is also the same model we based our jersey on,” he recalls. “For anyone who grew up in Italy in the nineties, Kappa is not just a brand but almost like a collective memory of Roma winning the Scudetto wearing Kappa — the year of Totti, Batistuta, Montella. So to put the Leone brand on a Kappa jersey is personal, and it pays tribute to that era.”
Titled “From the Counter to the Pitch”, the capsule spotlights two limited-edition items that marry Kappa’s retro design language with Bar Leone’s Roman-inspired identity. The Bar Leone x Kombat Jersey revisits the golden era of football, taking the epoch-making hyper-elastic, body-hugging shirt that revolutionised football when it debuted at the 2000 European Championship, and reenvisioning it with carmine red stitching, orange accents, and the unmistakable Leone crest on the chest. “The jersey carries that historic significance, and in the Leone context it is also about mindset,” says Antinori. “We want everyone who wears it to carry that champion mentality.”
Meanwhile, the Bar Leone x Kappa EROI quarter-zip is designed for what Antinori calls “the other side of life”. Kappa’s classic slim-fit tracksuit silhouette is reimagined anew with a striking red and orange Roma colour palette and graphic Leone embroidery for a bold and expressive piece made for both sport and leisure.
The collaborative collection strikes a perfect goal into Bar Leone’s philosophical net, cocktail popolari. “Cocktail popolari means cocktails for the people, and this collection was created with exactly the same spirit. We celebrate pop culture, and we believe it is the people who make it. This is also why we shot the campaign on the streets of our own neighbourhood, not in a studio. We want to dedicate it to our little neighbourhood.”
And as for the one football player Antinori would love to see sport the Bar Leone x Kappa collection? “Francesco Totti — there is no other answer. He is Roma, he wore Kappa in the Scudetto season, and he never left home to chase anything bigger!”
Bar Leone x Kappa “From the Counter to the Pitch” drops on October 2 at 12pm HKT, available exclusively at barleonehk.com/shop. Which piece are you copping?
