BADGES
Paris Saint-Germain
PSG
Paris Saint-Germain is, despite being one of the most valuable clubs in the world, a relatively young club, founded in 1970 through the merger of Paris FC and Stade Saint-Germain. Precisely because of that short history, it's all the more notable how many times the club has changed its visual identity; PSG's crest has gone through nearly nine redesigns in just five and a half decades of existence.
THE STORY
The first crest, used between 1970 and 1972, was inherited from Paris FC and featured a blue football with a red sailing ship, a symbol drawn from the Paris city coat of arms. Already in 1972, the club introduced what would become its signature identity: a red Eiffel Tower on a dark blue background, with a white royal "cradle" (berceau) and a fleur-de-lis beneath it, both symbols of the town of Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the crest continued to evolve. In 1982, a silhouette of the Parc des Princes stadium was added at the bottom, which was then removed in 1990 when the crest reverted to its original form. There's also an interesting episode from the 1986/87 season, when the club, in support of Paris's bid to host the 1992 Olympics, used a special crest with a red-and-blue tower that somewhat resembled football boots.
The biggest overhaul came in 1992 under new owner Canal+. The club's then-art director, Étienne Robial, completely abandoned the tower-and-cradle iconography, introducing a minimalist design of three rectangles (two blue, one red) forming the letters "PSG," with "Paris Saint-Germain" written below. This crest met strong resistance from fans, and by 1995 the club had already returned to the traditional tower symbol, adding the founding year "1970" at the bottom.
The crest received a minor shade-of-blue adjustment in 2002, and the most significant modern change came in 2013, at the request of the club's new Qatari owners. The word "Paris" was significantly enlarged at the top, "Saint-Germain" was made smaller, the cradle was removed, and the fleur-de-lis was enlarged and gilded — all aimed at creating a more globally recognizable brand. That crest, with only minor typographic tweaks since, remains the foundation of the club's identity today.