Club Deportivo Leganés, the Spanish football club based in the southern Madrid municipality of Leganés, uses a crest built around a central triangle, laurel branches, a crown and the initials CDL. The club was founded on June 23, 1928, and its visual identity has evolved through numerous documented variations while retaining a consistent core structure.[1]
Design and History
The current Leganés crest dates from 2014, the year the club secured promotion to the Segunda División. That redesign updated the typography, gave greater prominence to the laurel, recovered a more classic crown design and introduced the initials CDL.[2] The change was a correction of an earlier version: in the late 1990s, under president Jesús Polo, the letters CDL inside the triangle had been replaced with SAD, reflecting the club’s conversion to a Sociedad Anónima Deportiva. In summer 2014, the club restored CDL, a modification it had been considering for some time and decided to implement with the promotion to the second tier.[3]
Although the change was made before the 2014-15 season, the club played that campaign with the old SAD crest because kit manufacturer Joma had already produced the season’s shirts. The CDL version did not appear on match jerseys until the 2015-16 season.[3] The club has had eleven documented crests over its history, though most are minor variations of the same model.[3]
Earlier iterations show the identity’s evolution. The original 1928 emblem featured a circle with three vertical stripes, the odd stripes white and the even stripes green and red respectively, topped with a crown and club initials, all framed by laurel leaves. In 1946, red was dropped and white and green became the principal colors, with the shield reduced to an equilateral triangle with a downward point, a simplified crown and laurel. The blue-and-white stripes now associated with the club were established as official in 1954, when the club first reached the Tercera División and modified the stripes on the crest accordingly.[2] The club’s official history confirms that in 1954 the first kit was permanently changed to the white and blue colors that represent the city.[1]
In September 2025, the club unveiled a new brand identity developed with the consultancy Summa Branding. The project introduced a new website and a new typeface inspired by the characteristic angles of the crest, but the crest itself remained unchanged and was described as continuing to be the club’s most important symbol.[4]
Meaning and Symbolism
The crest’s blue-and-white elements reflect the club’s traditional colors and its “blanquiazul” identity.[1] The club’s official history refers to the “laurel crest,” indicating that the laurel is a recognized identifying element of the emblem.[1] The nickname “pepineros” (cucumber growers), attributed to those born or residing in the city, originated from the municipality’s cucumber crops, which were even supplied to the royal household.[1]
Typography and Design
The 2025 brand identity introduced a new typeface whose finishes are inspired by the characteristic angles of the crest. The crest itself was not altered in this process.[4] The 2014 crest update also included refreshed typography as part of its changes.[2]
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