If you follow football there are always a few things that you notice about other teams visually. Its usually their kit and sometimes their stadium but you also usually notice their badge and try to decipher what the badge might mean or might represent. There are countless examples of very good badges out there and ones that have the club’s history and prestige at heart. However sometimes club crests can seem a little bit odd and leave a bit to the imagination.
For now lets leave the good examples of club badges and focus on the not so good and the downright bizarre.
Here are a few of the world’s worst/weirdest football club logos…
Columbus Crew (USA)
It would be very hard not to do a post on terrible badges and not mention this horrific effort from the MLS side Columbus Crew. A weird Village People inspired construction worker logo was meant to represent the “hard working values of the people of Columbus” but it just does not work in the slightest. As a rule, actual people should not form part of a club crest.
It is important to note though that with the MLS undergoing a new rebrand the people at the ‘Crew’ have also decided to rebrand themselves so they now have a brand new club crest, which is a world away from the original one and is actually pretty nice.
Carolina Dynamo (USA)
Staying in the United States but moving to the lower leagues and the state of North Carolina. Imagine using Microsoft Word and Clipart to design a badge and you might produce something like this. The club were founded by a former Nottingham Forest shareholder so they decided to basically steal the Forest badge and add “soccer ball” from clipart. This really is something special…
There is every chance people might look at this logo and think “that must be a club from the 1980s that no longer exists”, but this is actually the current club crest used by the Carolina Dynamos.
FC Avenir Beggen (Luxembourg)
To Luxembourg now and the second tier of their footballing league system. The 2nd division in Luxembourg has the single greatest name for a league ever…’The Division of Honour’ (that is genuinely true, look it up). FC Avenir Beggen are a big deal in Luxembourg having won the domestic title 6 times and the national cup on 7 occasions. However it is the badge that is the most interesting part of this club. The term “elf riding a football” doesn’t get used very often, but on this occasion it sums things up perfectly.
Eleven Men in Flight FC (Swaziland)
To be honest the easiest thing to do would be to fill this page up with the amazing names and badges of the teams in Africa, but that would be too easy. However I can’t not include a couple, starting with the unbelievably named ‘Eleven Men in Flight FC’. What a name! The badge basically takes that name literally.
There are eleven windows on that plane. They maybe should have put eleven tiny faces in the windows just to add a bit more realism. The club motto is good though; “In Flight Forever”.
Missile FC (Gabon)
Yet another wonderful name for a football club. Who wouldn’t be intimidated facing a team called ‘Missile FC’? There isn’t a huge amount of information available on Missile FC (staying under the radar probably….) other than they play their football in the capital of Gabon, Libreville. Anyway, behold their badge in all of its destructive glory…
KAA Gent (Belgium)
Based in the beautiful town of Ghent is a team known more for its badge than its footballing pedigree. KAA Gent have won a few honours in Belgium with the 2009-10 season the most successful in the club’s history (they won a league and cup double). The city of Ghent is steeped in history so would assume that this would influence the club and maybe its logo. However it was actually a visit by a travelling American ‘Wild West’ circus and the original ‘Buffalo Bill’ in the early 20th century that led to the club being known as ‘The Buffalos’. This then led to a new badge for the club that has stuck ever since…
Not very Belgian is it?
FC Jazz (Finland)
It is no coincidence that many of these logos belong to teams with ridiculous names is it? Back in 1992 a team called ‘Porin Pallo-Toverit’ wanted to change its name. What better way to do that than by naming your side after the local jazz festival? In turn ‘FC Jazz’ were born. They currently play in the Finnish second division and have a badge that does look like it is advertising a jazz concert rather than a football team.
Bangkok Glass FC (Thailand)
What better way to entice young fans into the game than by using fluffy bunny rabbits on your badge? That way the club seems family friendly and approachable. It might mean that your opponents don’t take you seriously though, so maybe you could make the rabbit look tough in some way? Try not to make it look evil and demented though, that might freak people out…
Calais RUFC (France)
It is safe to say that playing in the fifth tier of French football might not get your club noticed, which is okay if you have a badge like this one. Earlier on the phrase “elf riding a football” was used, this time another unique phrase is getting an outing. Presenting “a ginger haired football with feet”. You don’t hear that every day…
Sheikh Russel KC (Bangladesh)
The Bangladeshi Premier League has been on the go for past seven years. Most of us have not heard much about the Bangladesh Premier League and sides like Sheikh Russel KC. The former champions relinquished their title to Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club last season and finished 6th in the table. Lets cut to the chase though. What comes next is undoubtedly the weirdest club badge of any football team in the world. It does actually look like it should maybe be on a poster (and this is morbid) of a funeral for the person on the crest. Words would never do this badge justice, so here it is…
If anyone has any idea of what is going on here then please do try and shed some light on the situation.