Società Sportiva Lazio, the Rome-based multi-sport club founded on 9 January 1900, has carried the Roman imperial eagle as its central emblem for over a century. The club’s official history page documents the eagle’s first appearance in 1905, describing it as the “bird of prey, emblem of the Roman legions.” The founders chose the eagle as their emblem and the blue-white colors in honor of Greece, home of the first Olympic Games, according to an official partner profile of the club. [1] [2]
Design and History
Lazio’s first recorded coat of arms, used shortly after the club’s founding, was a “Swiss” shield on a blue background divided by a white oblique bar. The Roman imperial eagle debuted in the club’s symbolism in 1905, depicted in a waiting position resting on a shield with seven vertical bands, four blue and three white. The eagle’s beak supported a blue cartouche bearing the name “S. Podistica Lazio.” [1]
By 1914, the eagle appeared with outstretched wings inside a circular Art Nouveau frieze that included both the company initials “S.P.L.” and the name “Roma,” symbolizing the club’s bond with the Eternal City. During the 1920s, the match shirts carried an “SPL” monogram in a circle without the eagle. From 1927, an ordinance of the National Fascist Party required sports clubs to include the regime’s fasces symbol on their coats of arms; Lazio complied until the symbol disappeared with the crisis of Fascism. [1]
The modern era of the badge began in 1948, when the club adopted the Roman imperial eagle with spread wings surmounting a shield with seven vertical bands, four white and three blue. The official history notes that this coat of arms “will undergo some graphic or chromatic modifications over the years, but it will essentially remain unchanged to this day.” [1]
Several notable redesigns followed. In 1979, technical sponsor Pouchain created a futuristic stylized emblem with a dark blue eagle in flight and a new lowercase “ss lazio” logotype, marking the first split between the football club’s logo and that of the broader Polisportiva. In 1982, under President Casoni, the Florence-based company Marksport and its graphic designer Otello Cecchi created a stylized, aggressive eagle with outstretched wings set in a square coat of arms. This design was modified in 1983 into a rhomboid shape and again in 1984, when a football was added above the eagle. [1]
In 1987, the club returned to the traditional Roman imperial eagle with spread wings, resting on a shield with five vertical bands. The restyling was handled by BasicNet of Turin, the division of Robe di Kappa that supplied the game uniforms. Under President Sergio Cragnotti in 1992, the eagle was slightly stylized and given a gold coloring, above a minimalist shield with three vertical bands, two light blue and one white, with the inscription “S.S. Lazio” in italics at the top. [1]
For the club’s centenary on 9 January 2000, a special crest was introduced featuring the number “100” resting on a golden base with the inscription “1900-2000.” This celebratory emblem was used for exactly one year. On 9 January 2001, the Cragnotti-era coat of arms returned to the team’s uniforms and, according to the club’s official history page, remains “the social emblem still in force today.” [1]
For the club’s 125th anniversary in January 2025, Lazio and technical sponsor Mizuno released a special retro jersey inspired by the club crest used at the end of the 1970s. The anniversary kit features a stylized eagle with two large wings, between which the head of the imperial symbol stands out, placed at heart height in blue. This was a commemorative kit rather than a change to the club’s primary badge. [3] [4]
Meaning and Symbolism
The eagle has been Lazio’s constant symbolic element since 1905. The club’s official history identifies the bird of prey as the “emblem of the Roman legions.” The founders selected the eagle as the club’s emblem alongside the blue-white colors chosen in honor of Greece, birthplace of the Olympic Games. [1] [2]
The club’s nickname, “Aquile” (Eagles), derives directly from this symbol. The eagle’s connection to Roman imperial power is documented in the official history, which notes that during the 1920s the eagle was absent from the badge despite being “the symbol of nobility and pride, closely linked to Rome of the Caesars and symbol of representation of the Roman Legions.” [1]
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