Best football clubs badges

Every sports team in the world has a logo, but in football these badges are particularly significant. The visual identities of the clubs are their logos. These Badges are displayed on the club's shirts, right where the player's heart is located on the chest.

Each logo has a backstory that goes beyond the time it was designed. They are intended to convey a variety of meanings, provide details about the clubs, and even serve as a nickname for some of them.

A club which its logo has not been changed in any way since its creation can rarely be found. European Clubs have modified their badges on several occasions since their first design, the most notable one of which are

, Juventus, and

.

These clubs have altered their logos in the last few years for a variety of reasons, including bringing simplicity to it, branding and economic issues.

Top Hidden Meanings of Best Football Clubs Badges:

In the following article, we review some of the most

famous football clubs badges

, in addition to a brief explanation of the top hidden meanings behind each one.

Barcelona Badge

Barcelona Badge

is definitely among the best football clubs badges ever. The club was founded in 1899, and its logo has been altered 9 times since then with the last change occurring in 2002.

Current

badge dates from 1910, when the most noticeable modification occurred, but after that, in spite of 8 further modifications the logo has not gone far from its roots and has only changed aesthetically.

The logo of the football club Barcelona comprises several heraldic symbols with a long and interesting history. The most notable modifications of the logo took place in 1910. After that, the emblem hasn’t gone far from its roots.

The crest contains a red cross on a white background in the top left, which is St. George's Cross, and is also present in the coat of arms of Barcelona city. St George is considered as a heroic military saint and a crusader, in addition to being known as the patron saint for England as well as Catalonia.

So, there isn’t the flag of England on the FC Barcelona logo, it is Saint George’s Cross on both the English flag and the football club emblem.

The top right contains the Yellow and Orange Flag of Catalan state, the state in which the city of Barcelona is located. In the bottom we can see blue and red lines, which are the colors of the club's first kit, as well as ball in the center, that represents the club's style of play which is based on possession of the ball.

Arsenal Badge

One of the

best football clubs badges

belongs to

. The British club was founded in 1886. Its logo, which is the visual identity of the club is based on the crest of Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich, where it w all began.

To this day, the first badge has changed significantly. Yet, the current logo still is a tribute to the club's root and heritage. The first logo of the club included three cannons with lion heads in addition to laurel leaves.

Although the club left Woolwich, it has always used cannons in its badge, celebrating the military legacy of the region it was founded in.

After several modifications, Arsenal's current logo is a simple yet majestic logo with a gold cannon facing right in the middle of a red background. The "Arsenal" lettering is written above the cannon.

The club is commonly known as "the Gunners", a phrase that was placed next to a drawing of one cannon in Arsenal's black and white logo in the years between 1925 and 1930.

Benfica Badge

The Portuguese club's logo is one of the best football club badges and of the most famous ones. Since its first creation in the year 1908, it has only gone through 2 modifications, which have not been significant at all.

The club was formed when 2 other clubs became one: the Grupo Sport Lisboa with an eagle and a shield in their badge and the Grupo Sport Benfica with a bicycle wheel in their logo. Each club played its role in the foundation of the current

team, including its logo.

The feature contains a shield which is vertically divided into 2 parts, with a wheel with a thick gray outline behind it, and a gold eagle standing on the wheel. The Benfica badge is a tribute to the club’s history and roots.

It is brilliant t and eye-catching, as well as keeping patriotic elements and combining them with sport and power symbols. The eagle, which was taken from the Sport Lisboa emblem, is associated with power, independence, and nobility.

The bicycle wheel, which was taken from the Grupo Sport Benfica, represents their dominant sport in their early years which was cycling. In addition, the colors which are used in the logo have their own meanings: white stands for peace, while Yellow, blue, and green are reminiscent of Portugal flag.

AC Milan Badge

The Italian club was founded by two English expatriates in 1899, which is why the name of the club is spelled “Milan” instead of the Italian original word “Milano”.

Their offical colors have been red and black from the very beginning which is directly related to the fact that they are dubbed “Rossoneri” that translates to “red-black” in English.

Between the years 1900 and 1940, the club’s emblem was the state coat of arms of the city of Milan which consisted of two intersecting red stripes inside of a white shield. While the logo is commonly thought to be associated with the famous St. George’s cross, it is rather a misconception.

As a matter of fact, this regional symbol is the cross of St.Ambrose, who was the Bishop of Milan from 374 to 397 and the city’s patron. The sign is still unchanged and has been a pivotal element in almost every modifications of the club’s badge throughout over a hundred years. After Silvio Berlusconi took over the ownership of Ac Milan, the design of Milan’s visual identity altered, and changed to a logo which was very similar to their current badge.

However, it has been been modified several times ever since until its last alternation in 1998. It is a white standing oval surrounding a circle. The circle is divided into two halves vertically, and in the right half we can see St.

Ambrose’s cross, while the left part is consisted of red and black vertical stripes which are the colors of Milan’s shirt. In addition, the letters “ACM” are written above the circle inside the oval which stand for the name of the club A.C. Milan, and the year in which the club was founded (1899) fits inside the oval below the circle. The club’s badge is regarded as one of the best

best football clubs badges

.

Manchester City Badge

Manchester City is one of the clubs that has changed its badge in recent years. They last modified their logo in 2015. Their previous logo, which was used from 1997 to 2015, was using a different concept in comparison to their logos before 1997 and the one they are using today.

It included a golden eagle, which is an old heraldic symbol of the city of Manchester, representing the growing aviation industry. After years of protest, Man city authorities finally concurred with the fans, and let them take part in the creation of the new logo, which turned out to be very similar to their logo in the previous century.

Their current logo, which is very similar to their badge from 1972 to 1997, has a round shape surrounding a shield. The shield has always been there despite any modifications that have been made. Inside of the shield, there is a red rose at the bottom, and a golden ship in the upper side of the shield.

The ship is a reminiscent of the city of Manchester by representing Manchester Ship Canal. On the right of the shield there is the number 18 and in the right we can see 94, which together, form the year in which the club was founded (1894).

The rose is the Scarlet Rose of Lancaster, which was the heraldic badge adopted by royal House of Lancaster in the 14th century. The Manchester City logo is one of the best football club badges due to its majestic beauty and at the same time, its simplicity.

Juventus Badge

Before we say anything about their logo, let us have an overview on the subject of their shirts color. In 1903, they used to wear pink shirts, but the company that was supposed to make the shirts made a mistake and produced black and white shirts, and they continued wearing black and white shirts and the colors became the main colors of their visual identity for the next 118 years to this day.

Getting back to the topic of crests and top hidden meanings of

famous football teams badges

, Juventus's badge has been switching between containing a horse and a bull, until 2017, when their last modification occurred. Their new logo is something of majestic beauty while being very simple.

In spite of being very basic, and while the iconic oval with vertical stripes and the heraldic bull are gone, the logo is a conceptual one. It only contains two thick black lines, with one of which being the letter "J" and the other one being a symbol that repeats the J's contours on the right.

According to Juvrntus's offical website: " The new logo represents the very essence of Juventus: the distinctive stripes of the playing jersey, the Scudetto – the symbol of victory – and the iconic J for Juventus. The black and white stripes are the defining trait of the new visual identity and can be adapted to fit any setting.

The Scudetto represents the club’s determination to strive for victory, now and forever. And finally, the J – that most distinctive of initials – occupies a special place in the heart of every fan.”

Manchester United Badge

Similar to Manchester City’s badge, United’s earliest logo, which was officially unveiled at the 1963 FA Cup Final, was based on the coat of arms of the city of Manchester- however, they used emblems before.

Shortly after that, the badge was altered and eventually after several modifications, they reached their current logo in 1998, which is regarded as one of the best football clubs badges in the world of football. The logo contains a shield, again, similar to Man City’s badge, which used to be featuring the city of Manchester’s arms.

At the top of the shield, we can see a sailing ship that represents Manchester Ship Canal. Moreover, below the ship a Red Devil is visible, which is referring to the club’s nickname “the Red Devils”, a nickname that as a history behind itself: During the 1960s, as

was recovering from the 1958 Munich air disaster where most of the members of the team which was dubbed “Busby Babes” died in the airplane crash, the legendary manager Sir Matt Busby felt the urge of thinking of a new nickname in the process of moving forward from the tragedy.

He was inspired by the nearby Salford rugby club that had been labeled “Les Diables Rouges” which translates to “the Red Devils” in English. Manchester United adopted “the Red Devils” nickname, and the devil became a part of their badge in 1970.

Back to other parts of the logo, to the right and left there are soccer balls, which are placed between the semicircular frames that read the word “MANCHESTER” on the top and the word “UNITED” at the bottom. That was one example of the

hidden meanings of badges of famous football clubs

which you may not knew before...

Real Madrid Badge

Another item of the list of the best football clubs badges is

's logo. While it is considered by many people that the crown in Real Madrid's badge represents the club's sporting success, that is not the case. It as rather political reasons. On June 29,1920, the Spanish king Alfonso XIII awarded "Madrid"-as the team was called back then- the royal title "Real".

Moreover, the reflection of this naming was a crown, which was identical to the city's coat of arms, being appeared in the logo for the first time. After king Alfonso was over thrown in a revolution, the club's name lost its "Real" snd returned to being "Madrid" in the years between 1931 to 1939. In addition, the logo also lost its crown due to the prohibition of using symbols of monarchical items.

At the same time, a strip of purple hue was added to the badge, representing the region of Castile, in whose territory modern Madrid is located. At the end of he civil war, the dictatorship of General Francisco was established.

He gave Madrid their royal status back, and the crown returned to their Galacticos logo, which has always contained the letters "C", "F", and "M", which are the club's initials. The emblem was redesigned, became colorful, and very similar to the current badge. The latest version of the logo consists of a circle with a dark blue strip -which was primarily purple- the letters "C", "F", and "M" designed in a particular way inside it.

A crown is put on top of the yellow out-linedCircle, as if the circle-shaped logo is wearing it. Every other Spanish club whose names start with "Real" follow the said pattern of the logo design: a circle or other shape with a crown on it, occasionally with some extra elements. For example,

's badge has a flag over the circular logo which is very similar to Real Madrid's, and in Real Betis's badge the crown stands on a upside down triangle.

Atletico Madrid Badge

The history of Atletico began due to three Basque students studying in Madrid — Cortazar, Astoria, and Abdon, who was sitting in the cafe La Maison Dore on Alcala Street Spanish capital at the beginning of 1903. They gathered to create a football club, which was supposed to be a kind of affiliate for the Athletics, created several years earlier.

April 26, 1903, the "Athletic Club de Madrid" was proclaimed the independent club. The first logo of Madrid "Atletico" exactly repeated the logo of the club from Bilbao.

’s emblem has some of the top hidden meanings of the

best football teams badges

. It is a shield which is separated in 2 parts with a crooked line. The bottom part consists of red and white strips which are the colors of the club’s shirt.

However, the fascinating parts happen in the upper part, where we can see a bear stretching and grazing at a strawberry tree which is the coats of arms of the city of Madrid since the 13th century.

Around this picture, seven stars are visible which can be interpreted in 2 ways: they are a reminiscent of Madrid’s seven border provinces, and they represent the Ursa Major constellation, which again represents a bear itself.

Boca Juniors Badge

The Argentinean club’s logo is one of the most popular and the

best football clubs badges

, in spite of its simplicity. Throughout history, Club Atlético Boca Juniors badge has been changed five times.

The logo is in the shape of a shield with yellow borders and the blue color filling inside. The initials “CABJ” is written inside the shield with 52 yellow starts surrounding it.

Since 1970 a new star has been added to the emblem every time they achieved a trophy. For domestic titles the star is added above the “CABJ” initials and for international honors it is added below them in the bottom section.

Currently ,52 stars appear in the badge. Moreover, another interesting fact of

’s logo is the story behind its colors- yellow and blue. These colors refer back to 1906, when the club’s members agreed on adopting the colors of the next ship to sale into Buenos Aires’s La Boca port. The ship they were waiting for arrived from Sweden, thus they adopted the colors of Sweden flag.

The final change that was made to the badge was in October 2012, which was the addition of the 52nd star, as approved by the Board in accordance with legal requirements.

The earliest

logo was introduced in 1970, when the club was founded and remained its primary symbol for two playing seasons. The emblem was built around a stylized depiction of a football, which was given in blue with white seams.

There was also a red vessel, which was used as a symbol of Paris. The same logo was adopted by Paris FC, as they were one club at the time.

The round logo featured the Eiffel Tower in red against a blue background with two Saint-Germain symbols in white between its legs: a fleur de lys and Louis XIV's cradle.

This crest was created by Christian Lentretien, former PSG board member and publicist by profession, in 1972. It was first used until 1982.

The choice of colors has remained basically the same since the club was incepted in 1970. Blue and red have always dominated the logo, with white as a secondary color.

However, the shade of blue hasn’t stayed the same, it varied from the clean, bright color of the original logo to the dark, almost black shade of the following version.

The current PSG logo features a rather neutral and pleasant for the eye shade, which is neither too light nor too dark. In addition to blue, red, and white, there’s also gold color.

To sum up, there are few greater sights in football than a completely eye-catching, unique, and thought-provoking club crest that’s why we gathered the best football clubs badges in this article.

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