Ok, the title is perhaps a little too ambitious. If you expect the disclosure of some dark Templar secrets hidden in emblems of modern football clubs, you wont find it here. In this article I just want to point out some details of some famous teams' logos. Details, that you might not know, but that could be interesting.
- AC Milan. The red cross on a white field (St. George Cross) is a tribute to the club's founders - English lace-maker Herbert Kilpin and businessman Alfred Edwards among others.
- Barcelona. The emblem designed in 1910 is practically unchanged since then. Fields in the upper part of the coat of arms represent the cross of Saint George (patron of the city) and flag of Catalonia. Dark blue-red color represents the memory of the club's founder, Swiss Hans Gamper-Max, of his previous club - Basel.
- Arsenal London has repeatedly changed the appearance of the coat of arms, but the cannon always stayed their central symbol. It is associated with the long military history of the neighborhood (Woolwich, south-east London) where the club was established and from which has been moved away in 1913.
- Manchester United emblem always contained sailboat, which is a symbol of the rise of trade in the past, but the famous Devil was added only during the sixties, when Matt Busby wanted to change the club's image (he thought that Busby Babes nickname is no longer suitable for scaring rivals).
- Ajax Amsterdam. Their logo represents the figure of the legendary Greek hero, Ajax, after whom the club was named. In Homer's Iliad, Ajax is described as of "great stature, the tallest and strongest of all the Achaeans".
- Diamond-shaped fields of Bayern Munich logo are taken from the arms of Bavaria, whose capital Munich is.
- FC Tottenham Hotspur are believed to be named after the English lord from 14th century- Sir Henry Percy, also called Harry Hotspur because of his hard
temper. The said lord was known for its spurs and fighting roosters.
And finally, do you know what do those stars, that some clubs wear above the badge, mean? Well, for different clubs this has different meanings
since this is mainly non-standard mark. Star was first introduced by Juventus Turin, who added this tag in 1958. to mark the 10th title in Italian Championship. By the way, in Italy it was already established tradition to give the right to the champion to put a small shield (the scudetto in Italian) with the Italian flag on their jerseys during the following season. This custom was also introduced unilaterally, when Genoa decided to celebrate their title won in 1924. Since 2000. several football federations made official that teams have the right to add a star on the jersey for every (mostly) 10 titles won in their history. This is the case with associations of Germany, Sweden, Holland, Turkey (asterisk denotes 5 titles). There is a lot of informal "interpretations" in other countries in which clubs to carry stars to mark trophys won in Champions League and even- number of performances in European competitions. Often clubs set star because they their rivals did.