La La La Logo

Earlier this week I was doing some pre-game research for the Chelsea v. Valencia Champions League game that I was planning on watching. I took to Chelsea for some unknown reason back in the late '80s when I'd video tape an English Premier League highlight show that came on at 6AM; I'd watch it before going to school. Chelsea seemed like the most interesting team to me. As I've mentioned before, I'm back into watching and supporting European football. The Premier League features some of the best players in the world and a lot of the higher profile games are broadcast here in Sweden. Reaching back to my youth I picked Chelsea as my team of choice across the pond.

So I linked up to the Valencia website (a Spanish team playing in La Liga) and, based on their logo, thought that Chelsea was going up against a pretty badass team. I mean, a spooky bat hovering above the crest...well-played on the intimidation front by whoever designed the logo.


That match ended as a 1-1 tie. Luckily for me and Chelsea their hovering bat didn't get any playing time; he surely would've scored numerous times. But this one logo got me thinking about football teams' logos that have stuck in my head over the years. Not sure why, some just have. While most of the European logos are in a classic vein with the team's name in a royal-looking crest that looks like it should be forged out of iron and bolted to the side of a castle, there's others that took different, more design-oriented avenues. Here's a few that I've come across.


Nottingham Forest - English League One. Maybe it's just the fact that Nottingham Forest seems like a magical land. I dig the simplicity factor of this logo. It's classic.


U.C. Sampdoria from Genoa, Italy - Serie A. This logo pays tribute to the old smoking men that most likely fill up the stands on lazy Sunday afternoons to take in a match. True.


This is either the album cover of a lost Kraftwerk record or the logo for the Old Boys Basel football team from Basel, Switzerland.


Lokomotiv Cove FC, Syndy, Australia - Eastern Suburbs Football Association. Any logo with an anchor rules. Makes for a good tattoo as well. Long live the Eastern Suburbs Football Assocation! wtf?


Vale of Leithen F.C., Innerleithen, Scotland - East of Scotland league. I think the Cubs should add the "keep faith" banner to theirs.

Now, my real history with football (ok, soccer) is grounded in the American indoor soccer leagues from the mid 80's through the early 90's. I have extremely fond memories of being at the Rosemont Horizon (now All State Arena, I think) in Chicago watching the Chicago Sting and then the Chicago Power. I was so impressed by those guys playing what seemed to be the best brand of soccer imaginable. What I didn't realize was that those players were playing professional indoor soccer in America only because they couldn't catch on with any teams in Europe.


Kansas City Comets - Major Indoor Soccer League. Highly 80's vibe going on with this. Looks best in neon.


Wichita Wings - Major Indoor Soccer League (among others). Here's where Weezer got their big "W" from. Most likely designed by the same dude that came up with the Kansas City Comets logo.


Chicago Cats - American Soccer League. I didn't know about this team until I got into this overly-involved research and I bet you didn't know about it either. This team existed from 1975-1976 before folding like a ton of other American professional soccer teams. In my mind some twee pop designers were big American Soccer League fans.

That about does it. If you've read this far you deserve some sort of medal, or personalized logo.

Or, how about a song?

Pulsars - Logo - mp3