Birmingham City Football Club’s visual identity is built around the globe-and-ball crest, a supporter-designed emblem that has been the club’s primary mark since the early 1970s. The crest features a stylised globe above a football, wrapped in a ribbon bearing the club name and the founding date of 1875.[1]
Design and History
The globe-and-ball crest was officially adopted and patented by the club in 1972, following a competition run by the Sports Argus newspaper to redesign the previous badge, which featured intertwined BCFC initials.[1] The winning entry came from Blues fan Michael Wood, a conversion engineer with the West Midlands Gas Board who lived in Burntwood. His design incorporated a line-drawn globe and ball with a ribbon carrying the club name and date of foundation, in plain blue and white.[1] Although adopted in 1972, the crest did not appear on the club’s shirts until 1976.[2]
In 2015, to mark the club’s 140th anniversary, Birmingham City unveiled a commemorative crest for the 2015-16 season only. The design intertwined the BCFC club initials and included the years 1875 and 2015.[3] The design was similar to the intertwined BCFC initials logo first seen on jerseys in 1971, which was used for a period of five years.[4]
For the club’s 150th anniversary in 2025, the design studio See Saw developed a comprehensive brand identity system for Birmingham City FC.[5] Central to the system was a commemorative gold crest. With a clear directive to preserve the iconic globe-and-ball, See Saw introduced a refined gold treatment to mark the milestone.[5] The 2025-26 home kit featured the club’s ball and globe crest in gold stitching, along with gold Nike and sponsor details.[6]
Meaning and Symbolism
As part of the 150th anniversary identity, See Saw drew from Birmingham’s civic heritage. Inspired by the city’s historic coat of arms, which the club adopted in the early 20th century, the studio analysed and abstracted key heraldic elements and proportions. These informed a contemporary graphic toolkit forming patterns, framing devices and compositional structures across the anniversary campaign.[5]
Typography and Design
Within the 150th anniversary identity, the BCFC monogram was redrawn to improve clarity and presence, simplifying a previously complex form into a more confident, legible mark. Through precise line work and controlled depth, it was designed to perform consistently across all applications.[5] See Saw also created a bespoke anniversary wordmark to support the wider campaign.[5]
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