Ranking the 5 most iconic club badges in World Football:

A club's badge is its simplest symbol of identity. It can represent its geography, its history, its ambition, and its tradition. A club's badge is looked at by its fans with admiration, its rivals with disgust, and in the special case of Chelsea, everyone looks at it with disgust.

We decided to pick our choices for the 5 most iconic club badges in world football, here are our choices...

1 - Club Social y Deportivo Colo-Colo

If you’ve ever played Fifa Ultimate Team, then you’ve undoubtedly seen this badge. Ranking as number one in our list of iconic badges, Colo Colo’s badge features everything you want to see from a club crest. A striking outline shape, simple text, an effective colour scheme, and a beloved icon in the form of the club’s namesake, the indigenous Mapuche chieftain, Colo Colo.

The most successful club in Chilean football, having won the Primera Division 33 times, the Copa Chile 13 times and the Copa Libertadores once, it is only right that the club has a badge with prestige equal to itself.

Despite the flashbacks to the countless defeats on FIFA over the years to my best friend, who would always use Colo-Colo’s badge, it is a clear choice for the number one spot in this list.

2 -AS Bari

AS Bari has had to re-establish itself several times following multiple bankruptcies. With the beginning of each phoenix club, a new logo has emerged, but ever-present has been the club’s iconic cockerel.

Undoubtedly an unusual choice for an animal to resemble a football club, among tigers, lions, and birds of prey, the cockerel resembles a fighting spirit, and fans of the club from Apulia have taken to that personally.

Despite the club’s tough times, Bari is one of Italy’s most adored clubs, drawing in a crowd of over fifty thousand for their Serie B Play-off semifinal in 2014.

The club’s rich history makes it one of Italy’s most successful clubs, ranking 17th in the all-time Serie A table. Following some yo-yo years in recent times, AS Bari are currently in 3rd place in the Serie B table, after gaining promotion to the Italian second flight last season.

Although it could easily be mistaken for the Italian equivalent of Kellogs, the AS Bari badge takes the 3rd spot on our list of most iconic badges.

3 - Club Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles de Caliente

Founded in just 2007, Club Tijuana has quickly made an impression in Mexico with both their football and iconic badge.

Another popular choice among players of Fifa Ultimate Team and for obvious reasons, ‘La Jauría’, or ‘The Pack’, adopted a portrait of club founder Jorge Hank’s xoloitzcuintle, Hermoso into their badge.

It took just 4 years for Club Tijuana to reach the Liga MX, the top flight of Mexican football, and in the following year, they won the Apertura.

Recently however, the Xolos have gone through a rough few years in terms of form, finishing 15th in the 2022/23 season, three spots from the play-off positions.

At least the twenty thousand-plus supporters who cheer on Club Tijuana in the Estadio Caliente can wag their tails at their cool badge, and celebrate the fact that we consider it the 3rd most iconic badge in club football.

4 - Meidericher Spielverein 02 e. V. Duisburg

The badge of Meidericher Spielverein 02 e. V. Duisburg, or simply MSV Duisburg, stems from the club’s iconic blue and white striped kits. Known in Germany as ‘Die Zebras’, or ‘The Zebras’ in English (the nickname isn’t a threat towards zebras), the club adopted the striped animal into their heritage, incorporating it into their badge. They did take it one step further, and at one point in the 90s, they struck a shirt sponsorship deal with the Duisburg Zoo.

Duisburg was one of the original clubs in the Bundesliga and even finished as runners-up in the second season of Germany’s top flight.

Since then, they’ve failed to live up to their early-set expectations, and have become a yo-yo club, with drops to the 3. Liga accompanied by rises back up to the Bundesliga. At the time of writing, The Zebras currently sit at 15th in the 3. Liga

The unusual choice of animal, combined with the link to so many other aspects of the club’s identity makes the Duisburg badge our choice for 4th most iconic badge. Although, Duisburg’s Zebra-centric identity begs the question, ‘Why are zebras in Germany blue?’

5 - FC Santa Claus

Diving into the 5th tier of Finnish football for this our 5th choice, no list of iconic badges can forget FC Santa Claus. This badge doesn’t mess about, with a not-so-subtle reference to Rovaniemi’s - the club’s hometown - most notable resident, Santa Claus.

The badge isn’t the only reference to Father Christmas in the club’s identity, with the club claiming that it was founded by a group of elves who would kick around a ball while not wrapping presents. Santa Claus himself is an honorary coach of the club, and attends the first game of each season - too busy for a season ticket, I guess.

FC Santa Claus is heavily involved in charitable work, drawing notable media attention and often playing exhibition matches overseas, including a match in China when Michael Owen and Alessandro Del Piero put on the iconic red and white shirt to play for the Finnish non-league outfit. Even the club’s stadium, ‘Saarenklyän Stadion’ translates to ‘Santa’s Workshop’. No lie.

(Okay, Saarenklyän Stadion doesn’t really mean that. The rest of it is 100% true though.)

The club almost reached the Ykkönen, the Finnish 2nd tier, in 2010, but lost in the play-offs. Unfortunately, they have dissolved and restarted multiple times, and currently find themselves in the 5th tier of Finnish football, following promotion in 2022.

I guess the fans had been good that year, and Santa granted them their wishes.