Real Club Deportivo de A Coruña, commonly known as Deportivo de La Coruña or simply Dépor, is a Spanish football club based in A Coruña, Galicia. Founded in 1906 as Club Deportivo de la Sala Calvet, the club’s visual identity has evolved from a multidisciplinar sports club emblem into the knight’s belt and banner crest worn by the team today. In June 2026, the club presented a refreshed version of its crest, coinciding with its 120th anniversary and a change of the club’s official name to the Galician toponym A Coruña.
Design and History
The club’s origins trace to 1906, when it was founded as Club Deportivo de la Sala Calvet, named after a prominent gymnasium in A Coruña that hosted several sports disciplines. The first crest consisted of the intertwined initials of the Sala Calvet, later surrounded by the iconic knight’s belt that remains part of the emblem today. In 1909, King Alfonso XIII granted the club the title of Real, and the crest incorporated a crown, a leather football, a tennis racket and a hockey stick to reflect the club’s multidisciplinar character. Those sporting elements were soon removed, though the ball and belt remained. In 1912, the club dropped the Sala Calvet name and became Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña, adding the banner with a purple cross, the crown inside it and the light blue stripe of the Galician flag. That basic composition has endured to the present day, with only minor adjustments over the following decades. During the Second Republic in 1931, the royal crowns and the word Real were removed, returning after the monarchy was restored. At various points through the 1970s, the belt appeared yellow and the cross more blue than purple. The crest was modernized in 2000, giving the belt, mast and crown a more realistic appearance and reducing the gold borders. A further refinement followed in 2016. [1] [2]
In June 2026, after a members’ consultation, the club presented an updated crest during the night of San Juan in the Arcades of Riazor beach, at 01:20 as a nod to the 120th anniversary. The most visible change is the replacement of the inscription La Coruña with A Coruña, aligning the crest with the official Galician toponym of the city. The redesign also recovered the traditional original floral ornaments of the upper crown, increased the chromatic contrast, added a floating ring with gems to improve legibility at small sizes, widened the belt buckle, reduced the belt holes from two to one, and updated the typography throughout the crest. The club described the intervention as evolutionary, preserving the essential elements and historical values while improving functionality and resolving technical reproduction issues. [3] [4] [5]
Meaning and Symbolism
The crest is built around a knight’s belt surrounding the purple banner of the Sala Calvet and the flag of Galicia, with royal crowns both inside the banner and above the shield. The crown was added in 1909 when Alfonso XIII granted the club the title of Real. The purple banner is a direct inheritance from the Sala Calvet era, and the light blue stripe represents the Galician flag. The belt itself is a legacy of the original Sala Calvet emblem. The club’s official colors are described as gold, purple, blue and red. [1] [6]
Typography and Design
The 2026 crest update introduced a custom typography developed specifically for the club. Two exclusive typeface families, RCD Faro and RCD Proa, were designed for the club’s brand system and now appear within the crest itself. RCD Faro is inspired by the alphabet created at the Laboratorio de Formas de Sargadelos during the 20th century, while RCD Proa was conceived as a more solid counterpart, taking reference from the vertical stripes of the team’s shirt. The typography work was led by typographer Rubén Prol, with the German studio Bureau Borsche handling the technical redesign. The project was directed internally by the club’s Image and Brand Department, led by brand manager Borja Calvo. The new identity also introduced a refreshed color palette with more vivid gold and blue tones, alongside updates to the Galician blue, the purple of the banner and the red of the crown. [7] [8]
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