7 Football Clubs Who Stole Their Badges

There are some football club crests, badges, logos and emblems that just look freakishly alike. For a fairly high profile example, just take a look at these two crests. The one on the left is an alternative badge that was used by Liverpool for their merchandise, matchday programs and letterheads from the late 1940s up until the early 1980s. Meanwhile the one on the right, as you are probably well aware, is the current Manchester United badge, which has remained largely unchanged other than the addition of the yellow colouring and of the red devil from the crest that the club adopted in the 1960s, which look like this. The similarities to the Liverpool logo didn't go unnoticed and insinuations of theft can still be found on the Liverpool website. There are some other, even stranger examples. Take a look at this, admittedly fairly low resolution image, displaying the club badge of Westeller and Willoughby, an English non-league team who play at level 11 in the Football League Pyramid, were founded in 1920 and are situated very close to where I live. Now take a look at this crest which was, until about two months ago, the official logo of Gambera Saka, a professional team who compete in the top flight of Japanese football and who are situated very far from where I live. When a team has a logo which looks identical to the badges of a super club like Juventus or Bayern Munich, you have to be a little bit suspicious. But in the case of Gambera Saka having an extremely similar crest to non-league Westeller and Willoughby, surely, surely, that just has to be a really strange coincidence. I should say, just in case, the word steal or robbed or whatever I put in the title of this video is considered actionable by any of the teams in this seven, which I doubt, I'm not actually saying that they have broken any copyright infringement or stolen any intellectual property. I might as well just get that out of the way. Although, having said that, in some cases, let's be honest, they clearly have done that. All right, a quick note just to say that I won't be including any teams who are obvious tribute acts like Juventus Bucharest from Romania, who have actually had to change their badge now after Juventus took legal action, or Barcelona Sporting Club from Ecuador, who still have their very visibly FC Barcelona inspired badge, just because I figured that they were too obvious and predictable, and therefore not quite as interesting. So with a thank you to subscriber D Gaming, who has suggested this one a fair few times, here are seven football clubs that stole their logos. Nacional Potosí and River Plate. The city of Potosí in Bolivia must surely be the copycat football club capital of the entire world. Not only do Nacional Potosí have a club badge which bears an unmistakable likeness to the River Plate badge, and yes, I think you could be forgiven for thinking that likeness was too distinct to have been a coincidence, the city of Potosí is also home to Club Real Potosí, founded in 1988, whose badge looks rather a lot like Real Madrid's, who they also appear to share a prefix with. It is unknown how Real Potosí gained the Real title in their name since such a prefix is supposed to require the approval of the Spanish monarchy. I'm just kidding, it isn't really unknown. Bolivia gained their independence in 1825 after defeating the monarchy of Spain in the 16-year Bolivian War of Independence, so now they can stick the word Real on whatever they like. It might not be the most compelling reason to gain independence and to become a republic, but it is another one to add to the list. Nacional Potosí meanwhile do technically share a prefix with River Plate, since they are both Club Atlético River Plate and Club Atlético Nacional Potosí though, that is hardly a prefix which is unique to either of them within the South American game. Potosí is the 8th largest city in Bolivia and one of the highest cities above sea level in the entire world. Nacional and Real are Potosí's only two Bolivian Primera Division teams, but broadly speaking, whether it be Always Ready or The Strongest, the Bolivian Primera Division is one of the best leagues in the world when it comes to names and badges. Halmstad's BK and Starbeck Football I think this one is maybe questionable because there are certain differences in terms of shapes and dimensions but they are still pretty damn similar. What's more, Halmstad and Starbeck hail from neighboring countries, namely Sweden and Norway. In addition to their geographical similarities, Halmstad and Starbeck were only founded two years apart, Halmstad in 1914 and Starbeck in 1912. Halmstad have certainly had their current crest, or something very similar, for a very long time, since this photograph appears to date all the way back to their foundation. I was unable to find out how far back Starbeck's current logo dates back, though I suspect a friendly Norwegian subscriber might be able to enlighten us all down below in the comments on that front. Halmstad and Starbeck both play in blue and black home strips, but whilst Halmstad currently have a yellowy gold away shirt, Starbeck's away strip is currently white. Fascinating, I know. Both have been crowned champions of their respective countries top flights, Halmstad four times, twice under the management of Roy Hodgson and most recently in the year 2000, and Starbeck only once, in 2008. As far as I can tell, the two teams have never met in an official fixture, but they do have some players in common. Samuel Wuowa and Marcus Antonsson play for both teams, meanwhile Halmstad legend Jan Jansson, who spent 14 years playing for the club and two years managing them, has twice managed Starbeck as well. He must just bloody love that badge. Inter Milan and Chambly. Both Inter Milan and FC Chambly-Oise have changed their badges fairly recently, having long had extremely similar crests, but this is still one of the most interesting inclusions in this seminar, I thought so at least. Inter Milan are a team that require very little introduction, as one of the most successful teams in the history of the Italian and European games. FC Chambly meanwhile, you may be less familiar, but they are a club with a truly fascinating tale to tell. The club was founded in 1989 by brothers Bruno and Fulvio Luzzi, who had spent a number of years playing amateur football in France. They decided to create their own club and set about contacting various local councils to see if any would welcome a new football team. The tiny commune of Chambly in northern France, which is home to just 10,000 people, said yes and FC Chambly-Oise was born. The Luzzi family, as their name suggests, are of Italian descent and you might be able to guess which Italian club Fulvio supported from Chambly's crest and colours. Despite being founded as an Inter Milan inspired hobby, Chambly have since impact on a meteoric rise, unlike almost any other within the French game. Prior to last season, they had a record of having won 12 promotions whilst suffering not a single relegation, climbing all the way up to Ligue 2 where they finished above the likes of Cannes and Auxerre. What's more, all of this has been achieved, since 2001 at least, with Bruno Luzzi, pictured there, also serving as the club's manager. Last season, they did unfortunately taste their first relegation, postponing plans to build a new 3,000-seater stadium and they are currently enduring a difficult season back in the Championnat Nationale. Chambly and Inter Milan had virtually identical crests for years until Chambly started doing rather well. At that point, the club decided they should try to create their own identity, distinct from the Italian giants. Meanwhile, their success had put them on Inter's radar who started to bring about legal proceedings. Now, both teams have since changed their logo, though the Interspiration, if you see what I did there, can certainly still be felt in their updated badge. What an appalling joke. Everton and El Hilal SC El Abayad. As I said in the introduction, I am not actually stating that any of these teams have directly copied another team's crest because I'm not sure if that would be an actionable claim. But, I mean, come on. I'm definitely not saying that El Hilal SC El Abayad of the Sudan Premier League quite literally copied and pasted the Everton badge onto a paint document and then very crudely wrote their own name at the bottom and replaced the iconic Everton lock-up with some Arabic text and imagery. I am absolutely definitely not saying that. But, it does look an awful lot like that is exactly what they've done. Oddly enough, El Hilal El Abayad star man is arguably 36-year-old Muhannad El Tahir Osman who shares a surname with Everton legend Leon Osman who is a little bit older than Muhannad, age 40 now, but who retired back in 2016, age 35. If there was an award for finding extremely tenuous connections between football clubs, I reckon I would be in contention. The famous motto on the Everton crest, written in Latin, reads Nissatis Nissi Optimum, which translates to nothing but the best is good enough. A motto which the Toffees must have forgotten about when they signed Alex Owowy. El Hilal El Abayad have a Latin motto all of their own which reads Honestum Gov Certae Non Fertum Verton insignia, which translates to Honest Gov, we definitely didn't just steal the Everton badge. And no, not really, to the one person watching this who will take that seriously, google it and then complain in the comments about me spreading misinformation. Yes, I do know that you're watching. Nottingham Forest and Carolina Dynamo. I like this one because it is a very blatant imitation or theft whilst still adding a bit of a twist. Carolina Dynamo didn't literally just take the Nottingham Forest badge and stick their own name on it like some teams would, and yes, I am looking at you, El Hilal El Abayad, but rather, they took the tree from the forest logo, exactly as it is, but plonked a big blue triangle behind it, wrote the word Carolina with the C not capitalised for some reason on it, and in a very American style, they rounded it off with the O in Dynamo being replaced by a football. Or you know, a soccer ball. It is a 7 out of 10 for effort from me, at least in relation to the others that we have seen. There is a very simple reason why Carolina Dynamo's logo resembled the Nottingham Forest crest for so many years, and that is because Carolina Dynamo were founded by a man named Neil Macpherson, who is not to be confused, with the recently deceased William Macpherson, who authored the Macpherson Report, which found the Metropolitan Police to be institutionally racist. Neil Macpherson is a Nottingham Forest supporter and former shareholder whose father served as the chairman of the club, and he founded his own team in Carolina, initially named Greensboro Dynamo SC in 1992. Greensboro Dynamo became Carolina Dynamo in 1996, competing consistently in the USL2 Atlantic Divisions, and playing out of the 3,000-seater Macpherson Stadium, which, you can guess who that was named after. Dynamo changed their name again in 2018, becoming North Carolina Fusion Under-23, and losing their Forest-inspired badge. North Carolina Fusion Under-23 currently top the USL2 South Atlantic Division table, which is one of the unofficial fourth tiers of the men's game in the US, and they hope to have a North Carolina Fusion women's team playing out of the Macpherson Stadium from 2022 onwards as I know the title of this video says football clubs, but I hope you will forgive me for adding a bit of space to proceedings by introducing an international comparison. It is certainly not the worst thing that I've ever done. That isn't a coded way of saying that I've killed people or anything, just to be clear. I mean that featuring two national team badges when the title says clubs isn't that bad, you know, in the grand scheme of things. I haven't been too harsh on any of the badges in this segment, I don't think, other than our old friends El Hilal El Abayad from Sudan, but I have to say that I think the Ireland and Israel logos are two of the most templated, nondescript, and boring badges in all of world football. Ireland released their badge first in 2004, followed by Israel in 2008, presumably by the same graphic designer who spent a grand total of about four minutes on both, but in this case it's not an argument over who copied who, but rather why would you want to copy that logo in the first place? Apparently the Ireland crest is supposed to represent a shamrock, but it's a pretty odd looking shamrock from where I'm sitting, though admittedly I am rapidly going blind from staring at a laptop screen and making YouTube videos 18 hours a day. The Israel crest, I'm guessing, is supposed to display a football? Either way, they are both rubbish, I hate them, and they should both run competitions where people send in their own suggestions, fans vote on them, and they can replace those monstrosities with something that has a bit of symbolism, character, and meaning. It is worth noting that, unlike most inclusions in this seven, if not all of the others, these two have actually met on five occasions, sharing an identical record of one win each and three draws. FC Barcelona and Marseille Consulate. No team has more crest imitations than FC Barcelona, and I can sort of understand why, since, unlike the Barcelona team at the moment, Barca's crest is quite good. Marseille Consulate are the ones that I've headlined my top spot with, but I could just as easily have gone with Sassuolo in Serie A, Fatriadi de Nadal from Morocco, or the Old Forest Green Rovers badge in addition to SC Barcelona, who I mentioned in the introduction. Of course, the most blatant rip-off of the Barcelona badge is the one used by Barca B, though I think that is perhaps rather more forgivable and understandable. Consulate Marseille, on the other hand, what was their excuse? The second best-known team from the French city of Marseille, I think it would be fair to say, whilst their neighbours are arguably the biggest and certainly one of the most successful teams in the land, Consulate Marseille were first founded in 1964 as Group Sportive Consulate. They won promotion to the Championnat National in 2014, which is the third tier of French football, before twice narrowly missing out on promotion to Ligue 2. In the summer of 2018, financial difficulties saw Consulate suffer an enforced relegation despite finishing fifth the previous season. They ended up undergoing a rebrand, renaming themselves Athletico Marseille and changing their badge from their Barca-inspired design to what looks to me quite a lot like an MLS crest. Athletico now compete in the fifth tier of French football, a far cry from knocking on the door of the second tier and finishing above the likes of Bologna and Kive just a few years ago. It would seem that even teams who merely seek to imitate Barcelona struggle when Barca do, and that is what has happened in Marseille. So that is it for today's video, but thank you all sincerely from the bottom of my heart for watching. I thoroughly hope you enjoyed today's video. If that was the case, why not hit the like button? You know, doesn't cost anything. Feel free to leave a comment if you feel so inclined, and also make sure you're subscribed and have notifications turned on, again completely free of charge, for HITC7s. You can also find me on Twitter or Instagram by the username at HITC7s, or on OnlyFans, but that will cost you.