Levante Unión Deportiva, the Valencia-based football club founded in 1909, carries a crest whose core elements date to 1941, when the club adopted the bat and the blue-and-maroon palette that still define its visual identity today. The current badge is a modernized version of that historic emblem, refreshed in 2010 for the digital age.
Design and History
The origins of the Levante UD crest lie in the merger of two clubs. Levante Fútbol Club, founded in 1909, used a French-style shield topped by a bat, with the club name, a ball, and a split lower half showing the senyera colors on one side and black-and-white stripes on the other. The Gimnástico FC, also founded in 1909, wore blue and red and carried a Polish-style shield with the city arms above blue-and-red stripes. When the two clubs merged in 1939 to form Unión Deportiva Levante-Gimnástico, the badge kept the bat from Levante and added the blue and maroon of Gimnástico. In 1941 the club was renamed Levante Unión Deportiva and fully adopted the blue-and-maroon colors, with the bat remaining a constant presence since then. The design follows a Spanish shield style with a rounded top, the bat above, and a white diagonal band reading “Levante UD” with an old-style ball over the club’s stripes. The bat derives from the emblem of the city of Valencia and signifies vigilance, greatness and protection. [1]
The most significant change came in June 2010, when the club unveiled a modernized crest ahead of its return to Spain’s top division. The goal was to normalize the badge’s use across different formats and supports. Club president Quico Catalán said the new shield “does not break with the previous one” but was adapted, stylized and normalized “to the times we live in, respecting in every aspect the origins of the club.” Héctor Conesa was credited as the author of the redesign. [2] The 2010 update gave the colors more vibrancy and luminosity, with yellow replacing white around the blue-and-red stripes, while keeping the traditional elements such as the bat and vertical stripes. The change was in the forms, not the elements, which remained the same in number and color. [3] [1]
In 2013, the club introduced a separate corporate identity developed by 360° Global Branding, the international division of the design studio Conca y Marzal. This new branding centered on the granota (frog), a reference to the club’s nickname for its fans, and was intended to coexist with the traditional crest rather than replace it. The redesign used a lowercase typography to convey agility and closeness, while the red-and-blue palette remained central. [4] The frog logo has not appeared on match shirts, where the traditional crest continues to be used. [5]
In 2019, for the club’s 110th anniversary, Levante UD presented a commemorative logo in which the frog appears inside the zero of the number 110. The image was used across club materials to mark the anniversary of the entity’s founding on 9 September. [6] [7]
Meaning and Symbolism
The bat is the most distinctive element of the Levante UD crest. It originated with Levante FC and has remained on the badge continuously since the club’s early years. The animal comes from the emblem of the city of Valencia, where it signifies vigilance, greatness and protection. [1] The blue and maroon (azulgrana) colors were inherited from Gimnástico FC and have represented the club since 1941. [3]
Typography and Design
The 2013 corporate identity by 360° Global Branding used lowercase lettering for the Levante UD wordmark, a choice intended to give the brand agility, closeness and durability. The red-and-blue color range, with its long association with the club, remained primary in this identity. [4] The 2010 crest redesign itself was described as a normalization effort to make the badge adaptable across digital formats and physical materials, with more vivid colors and a more stylized form. [1]
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