FC Nantes, the French football club nicknamed “Les Canaris” (The Canaries), adopted its current logo in May 2019. The mark was created by the sports branding agency Leroy Tremblot, which the club selected following an agency consultation to overhaul its visual identity and support its brand strategy [1].
Design and History
The 2019 logo was unveiled on 22 May 2019 alongside the club’s new home kit for the 2019-2020 season [2]. It was the tenth crest change in the club’s history, following previous updates in 1960, 1970, 1976, 1979, 1980, 1988, 1997, 2002 and 2008 [3].
The redesign removed several long-standing elements from the previous crest, including the schooner (goélette) inspired by the city’s coat of arms, the eight stars representing French championship titles, and the club’s founding date [2][4]. The club’s marketing director, Baptiste Huriez, explained that the previous logo was “very busy” and that the simplification was intended to make the mark more legible on mobile screens, noting that 50 to 60 percent of brand contact now occurs through mobile devices [3].
The club framed the change with the slogan “Écrire le futur sur les bases du passé” (“Writing the future on the foundations of the past”) [5]. The official announcement stated that the logo had evolved regularly since the club’s founding and that the update responded to a need to develop the club’s influence and brand footprint [6].
Meaning and Symbolism
The current logo centers on a large letter “N”, rendered in a dynamic and sporty treatment to affirm the club’s territorial anchor and association with the city of Nantes [1]. The “N” sits within an open, simplified form borrowed from the city’s coat of arms [7].
An ermine, the symbol of the city’s historical belonging to the Duchy of Brittany, is centered in the lower point of the emblem, described by the agency as a “signature” [1]. The name “FC Nantes”, the club’s historical appellation, appears in capital letters above the mark [1].
The overall drawing was designed to suggest the vertical rhythm of the green and yellow stripes of the club’s shirt, to which supporters are attached [1]. The yellow and green color scheme was retained in the new mark [4].
Typography and Design
The agency Leroy Tremblot described the new logo’s construction as a typographic exercise built around the letter “N”, with the overall design gaining in purity and modernity through the sobriety of its lines [1]. The “FC Nantes” wordmark above the emblem retains a capital-letter typography, consistent with the club’s historical naming [1].
The redesign drew comparisons in the French press to the minimalist crest adopted by Juventus in 2017, a reference the club did not dispute [4][3]. The new identity was met with immediate criticism from supporters on social media, who objected to the removal of the schooner, the championship stars and the founding date [2]. The club acknowledged in its own announcement that it regretted not having integrated supporters into the creation process [4].
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