The Great Debate: What is the best badge change in football history? | OneFootball

You may have noticed we at OneFootball have had a bit of a rebrand.

So only one question made sense for the Great Debate this week.

What is the greatest badge change in football history?

Lewis Ambrose

I never understood the old Manchester City badge. The golden eagle, the three stars (which had NO MEANING WHATSOEVER), the use of initials instead of the club name.

Luckily it was only the club badge from 1997-2016, and the one they’ve used since is a much cleaner, modern version of a decent badge the used in the past. Thank goodness they changed back.

Dan Burke

I think you’ll find it was a griffin actually, not an eagle, and there’s loads of them flying around Manchester.

As well as City’s, I really think Arsenal smashed it with their makeover in 2002.

The old crest was a bit too Harry Potter for my liking but their current one is cool, clean and efficient, a bit like Arsène Wenger’s team were back in the day.

Phil Costa

The best badge change in football? This effort from Leeds United – hands down.

This new crest was designed to mark the club’s 100 year anniversary, but lasted just five days after an online petition calling for the badge to be changed received 77,000 signatures.

Now that’s a love story we can get behind.

Alex Mott

Originally created to honour the famous Chelsea Pensioners that live next door at the Royal Hospital Chelsea but was changed in 1952 when manager Ted Drake called it “embarrassing”.

He may have had something of a point and from 1953 onwards the club crest has featured a lion which is traditionally part of the Royal Metropolitan Borough of London.

The most modern version was brought in in 2005 and parallels nicely with the Roman Abramovich era.

Joel Sanderson-Murray

Atlético Madrid really stepped up their badge game from 1947 onwards.

The 1970 effort is more reminiscent of the Vicente Calderón days and the 2014 league title win, while the change in 2017 heralds the move to the Wanda Metropolitano with Atleti still trying to find a new identity in their new area.

The new badge may not have brought lots of success just yet but it looks fantastic, and that’s the most important thing.

Pádraig Whelan

The Milan logo is one of the most iconic in the world. You see it and you think of swashbuckling sides at San Siro and lifting European trophies.

It first appeared in the mid-1970s and after briefly disappearing again in the early ’80s, returned in 1987, ushering in the start of the club’s greatest golden era.

That’s no coincidence. Now we can’t imagine it looking any other way.