World Football Club Crests

Seville, Spain’s fourth largest city, is a place rich in mythology, filled with places of historic and religious significance. Up to the 13th century, the Muslim Moors ruled this part of Spain, but they were defeated by Ferdinand III of Castille when the town was converted to Christianity. In the 16th century, the world’s largest Gothic cathedral was built in Seville, with a bell tower that started out as a minaret. The cathedral provides the last resting place for the remains of Christopher Columbus.

During the 2000s, Sevilla FC conquered Europe. The Andalusian club may have had limited success at home, but it holds the record for the number of Europa League titles. This was achieved in 2015, when they beat the Ukrainian club Dnipro 3-2 in the final, securing their fourth title in the competition. This was just nine years after they first wrote their name into the European footballing annals, beating Middlesbrough 4-0 in the final. This was a golden age during which players like Dani Alves, Luís Fabiano and Jesús Navas represented the club.

The foundations for these successes were laid when José María del Nido was elected president in 2002. Under his guidance, the finances of the club were straightened out and Sevilla established themselves as a top team in Spain. Since 2013, del Nido has been serving a prison sentence for corruption. In his absence, the sports supremo Ramón Rodríguez Verdejo, better known as Monchi, just carried on this tradition of success, securing another Europa League triumph, this time against Liverpool in the spring of 2016.

CLUB: Sevilla FC

NICKNAMES: Sevillistas, Los Rojiblancos (the Red and Whites), Los Nervionenses (the People of Nervión, a district of Seville) and El Grande de Andalucía (the Pride of Andalusia)

FOUNDED: 1890

STADIUM: Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán, Seville (42,500 capacity)

HISTORIC PLAYERS: Biri Biri, Manolo Jiménez, Antonio Puerta, Sergio Ramos and José Antonio Reyes

1905–1921 and 2013–2014. Seville may have been founded as early as 1890 as Spain’s first football club, but it took another 15 years before the club was registered and an official emblem introduced. The first crest represented the club’s initials in the team’s colours – red and white. Between 1905 and 1921, this emblem appeared in different versions. In 2013, the same year that José María del Nido went to jail, this emblem was again to be seen on the Sevilla shirts.

1909–1921. This emblem was used in parallel with the first one but only in administrative contexts, never in any match. Even so, it is a more developed emblem, since the name is spelled out.

1921–present. When the time came for Sevilla to update their emblem in 1921, a Barcelona-inspired version was rejectedin favour of this one. The initials were still there, while the historic inheritance of the town was reflected in the inclusion of three saints. Saint Isidore (here, on the left) was a bishop in the town in the seventh century and was canonised in 1598. On the throne in the centre is Ferdinand III of Castille, who was canonised in 1671. On the right is St Leander of Seville, who was Isidore’s brother and precursor. At the centre of the crest is an old-fashioned football, under which are 11 red and white stripes. The colour’s are said to originate from the standard of Ferdinand III. Since 1921, changes have been made and today’s crest was unveiled in 1982.

2006–present. In 2006 the club’s second team, Sevilla Atlético, was given its own club crest, which portrays one of the town’s most famous sites, the Giralda – the cathedral whose bell tower started out as a minaret.