Tier List: SSL Branding Rankings

[gucci]

I wanted to start off by making it clear that I'm not taking shots at anyone and I have nothing against any of these teams, but with the expansion coming up and their Managers teasing us with little bits and pieces about their brands, these are my honest rankings of the best (and worst) branding from teams currently in the league.


S-Tier
Teams: CD Tenochtitlan, Schwarzwälder FV, AS Paris

Don't want to go too deep into details about each of these teams, so I'll keep it brief. Tenochtitlan makes the list primarily because of the badge. I can't think of any brand that better captures the city it is located in, including culture, history, and aesthetics better than this one.

Schwarzwalder is simultaneously simple and ornate at the same time, it's as close to an iconic badge as the league has and I could see an actual Bundesliga team having this logo.

AS Paris, while similar to Paris's real team (and National Team) in color, managed to create a unique branding and badge that is actually better than the PSG logo. It's simple while visually pleasing and not at all boring. All three of these teams get a 10/10 from me.


A-Tier
Teams: Seoul MFC, Reykjavik United, Rapid Magyar SC

Seoul and Tokyo's logos are very similar in my eyes. Both making use of cultural masks to create interesting badges, I just like Seoul's much better. The badge is simpler, and lacks the busyness that dragged Tokyo's ranking down a tier. Very cool color scheme, badge, and branding.

This may be a controversial one, but I love Reykavik United's badge. The simplicity of the badge reflects a no frills Scandinavian minimalism while still implementing cultural significance. They may have been S-Tier if the club name wasn't as basic and unrelated to their location.

Rapid Magyar is just a wonderful branding. Great badge, color scheme, club name, and location, however, they just weren't as good on any level as the S-Tier teams, so they found themselves in A-Tier instead.


B-Tier
Teams: União São Paulo, Tokyo S.C., Krung Thep FC, Inter London

This is the last tier of brandings that I really like. Starting with USP, I love the color scheme, the badge and its use of the iconic bridge in the city, and the club name. The only issue I have with this is that it is too similar to the Sao Paulo FC logo in real life. The color scheme is identical and the shapes in the logo immediately take your mind to the real club's badge. Feels less inspired as a result.

As I said earlier, I like Tokyo's implementation of the culture to create a cool badge, but at the same time, it's really hard to argue that it's not doing too much. Seems designed primarily to appeal to weebs and it cheapens it for everyone else. 

Krung Thep FC is an interesting one. I love the inspiration for the name and it actually taught me that Bangkok is a foreign name for the city. I love the shape of the badge and color scheme, I just can't really figure out why it's got a golden snitch from Harry Potter on the badge. I'm sure there is a reason, however, which is probably why it holds it spot in B-Tier.

Inter London is kind of a shame to put in B-Tier. I love the badge, the colors, the uniforms, and all that, but where it falls flat for me is the name. It sounds like an MLS club that slapped a traditional football name in front of their city and thought it sounded cool. It really doesn't. Shades of Real Salt Lake.


C-Tier
Teams: Shanghai Dragons FC, F.C. Kaapstad, Hollywood FC

This is where the brandings start to fall a bit flat for me and enter the "boring" range. First up, Shanghai Dragons. While I know this is accurate to how a team would be named in China, it feels a bit of a rehash to say "Let's make a Chinese team and slap a golden dragon on it!". Cool uniforms and badge, but it feels like it's been done to death already.

F.C. Kaapstad gets some points for an interesting location and again teaching me about the name in local dialect, but there's not much more that is interesting about the brand. Same colors as South African national teams, pretty boring badge. I don't hate it, it's just a little boring, which is why it's in C-Tier.

Hollywood FC is firmly in the boring category for me. The badge falls a little flat, the location is just a tourist neighborhood in one of the biggest cities in the US, and the colors aren't anything special either. I think it could do with an update to the badge and it might have more appeal from a brand standpoint.


D-Tier
Teams: CA Buenos Aires, Athênai F.C., North Shore United, A.C. Romana

Startinig with Buenos Aires, I probably like this one the most of the D-Tier brands. This tier is for clubs that could be decent with a refresher, but aren't even boring, just underwhelming in comparison to the higher tiers. There's too much color in Buenos Aires's badge and not enough contrast. Adding contrast could make the badge pop and really improve the brand as a whole.

Athens is a city with so much potential to do really cool branding with, so the badge that is too simple without being interesting makes this even more underwhelming for me. This badge could be spruced up a bit and be similar in quality to Rapid Magyar, but right now it just falls flat.

North Shore United gets some points for the ambitious, modern badge. However, in a league full of badges, their badge is really just a logo. The colors are also a bit boring, possibly all blacks inspired though, so I get it. Putting their logo on a proper badge could improve the brand immensely.

A.C. Romana has so much potential in my eyes. Wonderful color scheme, cool gladiator helmet on the logo with the potential to mirror Seoul and Tokyo's cultural masks, but they went for too traditional of a logo. It feels like a logo from the early 20th century when the sport was hitting it's stride that the club never bothered to improve upon over time. Modernize this badge and it could be the best branding in the league instead of a disappointment.

F-Tier
Teams: CF Catalunya, Cairo City, Montréal United

So these are the clubs I would start from scratch on. I don't get what they're going for and I don't like the result. Catalunya has a crown on the badge, but it has never been a kingdom or the seat of a king to my knowledge. So it fundamentally misunderstands why that would exist on a Spanish Badge in my eyes. The color scheme is alright if a bit boring, but I don't even know what the little guy on the badge represents. Is it a red devil? A warrior? I honestly can't tell. Scrap it and try again imo.

Cairo City has a really bad color scheme, and that is my main issue with the whole branding. They went too desert/sand themed in a way that falls flat. It doesn't really capture the culture, city, or even country beyond "the pyramids are in Egypt". The club name and pyramid badge are fine though. If they had a better color scheme it would transform the brand from "Desert team" to something actually cool. That's what they should aim for too. Something I think CD Tenochtitlan pulled off flawlessly with the color added to their sandy base color.

Finally, we reach Montreal United. Not many complementary things to say here. I don't like the badge, color scheme, club name, any of it really. Such a cool city in a really unique part of the world and they choose to just lean on a very simple Fleur de Lis. Honestly it just looks like it was made by the early AI image generators or like a site where you could create free logos and it needs the attention of a proper graphic artist of which the community has many. Looks low effort and falls flat.

[trella]

Hey so Catalunya was under a kingdom for hundreds of years via the Kingdom of Aragon and eventually Spain…

[gaucho12]

The tier list is solid, but I would put Inter London down to F and probably move up Shanghai and Northshore up a letter. In regards to Cataluyna, crown refers most likely to the monarchy in Spain. While Cataluyna itself was a pricipality, its King Ferdinand II later became the foundations for the monarchy when he married Isabel I. RCD Espanyol is another catalan club with a crown on it.

[DivogoJota]

I just stopped after the Tenochtitlan praise and decided to trust every other opinion stated in this post

[omniscius]

The little guy on the badge for Catalunya is the Catalan patron Saint George or Sant Jordi. Johan Cruyff even named his son Jordi.

[RashfordU]

I just stopped after the Tenochtitlan praise and decided to trust every other opinion stated in this post

CDT praise? craziness

[Nol15736]

Gonna have to redo this now that the two expansions are released (well i'm about to drop ours)

[gucci]

@omniscius @trella I’d like to retract my rating on Catalunya. I was just able to see the badge on mobile and actually zoom in on it. It’s way better than my initial judgement when I couldn’t tell what it actually was. Still would rank it around Buenos Aires as a badge that would benefit from some outlines to add contrast. Because unless it’s zoomed it everything becomes an unclear red blob.

[Zoone16]

AC Romana badge is just bad. there's no tier below F but that's where I'd place it. Old & outdated, I understand why they use purple & gold but it needs a rethink from the ground up.

[omniscius]

AC Romana badge is just bad. there's no tier below F but that's where I'd place it. Old & outdated, I understand why they use purple & gold but it needs a rethink from the ground up.

Ironically think they have one of the better badges. I see people here don't really like the traditional badge approach which considering all the terrible rebranding in Serie A, you think people would be a bit more open to it.