On Romanian Football: National Team font 2023–2025
This story details the creation of the font numbers for the Romania National Team shirts used in the 2023–2025 season. Collaborating with Gabriel Părăuan, we co-designed the font within a span of three weeks in February 2023.
These numbers, considered a lucky charm by some, coincided with the team’s successful qualification for Euro 2024.
Consequently, the personalized shirt sales saw a threefold increase, compared to last year in the same period, leading up to the final tournament in Germany.
Team results before the font:
Team results while the font was in use:
Of course this new font can’t be considered a lucky charm, instead these results are based on the hard work of the team and the staff which made the team progress so much in such a short span of time.
How fonts are being picked
The process of picking a font has traditionally operated as follows: Joma provides the shirt designs based on a brief from the Romanian Football Federation.
The responsibility for selecting the fonts used on the shirts falls to an individual within the corporate sector of the Romanian Football Federation, typically someone from the marketing department.
This person, often supported or assisted by a colleague from another department, makes the final decision. Consequently, the outcome is a blend of diverse opinions from different departments.
In the 2017 rebranding of the Federation, as explained in one of my posts, it was decided by their branding agency at that time that Soho Pro would be the font for all visual materials and online content going forward.
Soho Pro font was utilized on the second generation of Joma shirts during the 2017–2020 season. The next generation of shirts, spanning 2021–2023, featured a different font style, reflecting the corporate decision to introduce something new. While the shirts from the first generation, 2015–2017 had their own style as well.
Despite this different font styles, Soho Pro remains the designated font for all other Romanian Football Federation materials as of today.
The new shirts, fourth generation of Romania Joma shirts, were planned to be delivered in March 2023, the Federation realized, in January, they had neglected the project of picking a new font for the new shirts.
Understaffed and occupied with other projects, they began asking around for recommendations on obtaining one. Everything related to launching this new shirts was on “fast forward”, including selecting a new font.
Planning
In the midst of this mini-crisis, the idea of designing a font for the Romania National Team was brought to my attention. Gabriel, friend and co-designer of the font, called me and inquired if I had the time to generate some ideas that he could forward to the individuals responsible for selecting the new font. As he was busy with other responsibilities at that time and he was unsure if he could kickstart the project by himself.
It was in the middle of January, I received the call, just three weeks before my departure for a one-month travel itinerary. Realizing that I wouldn’t be able to work on it while traveling, I immediately that day began researching some ideas that I could forward to Gabriel as soon as possible. In the hope he would finish the project even if I deliver only 50%.
Having never created a font before, the project at that time seemed almost impossible to complete within three weeks. However, the opportunity to contribute even a small part to modern football history with a design outweighed all my fears.
I have been working as graphic and digital designer since 2014. I have had many big and small projects delivered. But this, this was special.
Concept Development
During our initial 30-minute call in January, we exchanged ideas and visions for what it could be. We agreed that the font should embody something distinctly Romanian. Gabriel initially suggested incorporating the shield shapes from the new Romanian badge, but I struggled to visualize how it would look.
Instead, I proposed drawing inspiration from Brâncuși Endless Column, a landmark well-known to all Romanians, which resonated with the idea of “distinctly Romanian”. I believed the Endless Column design would be easily recognizable to both older and younger audiences. I was confident it will resonate with everyone.
We concluded our conversation with a plan: I would create some mockups and ideas based on the Endless Column focusing on a hexagonal or rhombus shapes, while Gabriel would explore his shield-inspired font.
My initial ideas were inspired by the tiles in front of my hometown theater in Craiova, which I have been visiting regulary since childhood. While others saw these tiles as mere pavement, I always saw them as zeros (0). I was confident we had at least the 0 figured out if we would have gone with this concept; the challenges was creating the 1 through 9 in the same style.
Why Brancusi Endless Column
Endless Column is a symbol of national pride for Romanians, created by our celebrated artist Constantin Brâncuși. It honors the soldiers who died in World War I and represents the infinite sacrifice and enduring spirit of the Romanian people. Additionally, its innovative design makes it a pioneering piece in modern sculpture and a cultural icon that attracts visitors worldwide. Additionally, the Brâncuși family were neighbors of my great-grandparents. Growing up in Gorj county, I heard many legends and stories about Brâncuși during my childhood.
At my core, I am a football collector and always will be. Since I started collecting, I have gathered over 300 shirts from Romania or Romanian players. By now, I believe I understand what makes a shirt collectible for enthusiasts.
It’s a 50–50 split: one half depends on the team’s results during that era and the player’s name on the back, while the other half is influenced by the design and small details on the shirt.
As of January 2023, the Romania national team was not achieving significant success, so my plan was to create something that would make this 2023–2025 shirt collectible.
My aspirations was to design a font that would make this shirt unique and unlike anything previously seen on a Romanian shirt. At least I wanted somehow to check that other half in case the results will not show up.
Supported by my co-designer in this belief, we agreed that Brâncuși Endless Column would meet these requirements. The font would become an element that could possibly make the shirt collectible, even for non-football fans.
For those who do not usually buy a Romanian football shirt and still use older versions, this would be a great opportunity to update their wardrobe.
Creating this bridge between a well-recognized Romanian cultural element and football made me believe it would inspire all Romanians to buy once again a Romania National team shirt. Without being influenced about the bad results on the pitch.
As a designer, I saw the potential in Brâncuși’s Endless Column to inspire reusable shapes that could form numbers. Gabriel agreed, finding this approach more promising than his initial idea of using the shield concept.
As an avid traveler, I saw the potential in this idea from a different angle. Romanians often discuss Brâncuși sculptures while travelling or studying abroad, leading to recommendations for others to visit Romania. Featuring such a font on football shirts would make them a great gift for the Romanian diaspora to give to their international friends.
First mockups
I created these initial mockups by modifying existing fonts and adjusting their style. While we were confident about the design of the 0, we still needed to explore options for the other numbers.
I sent this to my co-designer, which led to a one-hour discussion on the phone. Afterward, I created more mockups and sketches. We were considering adding the column edges on the sides as well as seen here:
With the project on fast forward, we skipped many steps in the creative process. We had only a few free hours a day to work on it, then we had to consider a future corporate approval and a print testing on actual shirts.
Additionally, I was about to leave for a month, and Gabriel had other projects. A pixel-perfect design and thorough documentation were out of the question. We exchanged ideas and mockups, aiming to quickly produce something we could forward to the Romanian Football Federation, with the intention of perfecting it later on if approved.
I wasn’t entirely happy with the execution and concept development so far. I disliked our idea of having the column edges inside the number, or perhaps I just executed the visual mockup poorly. However, I did discover a hexagonal shape system based on the 0 that we could work with, as seen in this mockup:
I noticed a hexagon-rhombus shape inside the numbers that, when stacked, could abstractly recreate the Endless Column. This was based on the number zero (0) shape we discovered in the concept development phase.
This exchange of mockups between me and my co-designer, endless iterations, took about 10 days, and we were already in February. With the deadline approaching to send some as soon as possible, we decided to focus on developing more the idea from the mockup above. Gabriel asked me to send a PDF file of the numbers I created so far so he could experiment and do a print test on an actual shirt. I added all my numbers from the mockups above in Adobe Illustrator artboard. Exported the file as PDF and forward it to Gabriel.
Immediately after, I began packing for my upcoming one-month trip.
Version 1
Based on that PDF file, Gabriel developed Version 1 of the font. After many hours in Corel Draw he made changes to meet UEFA’s requirements for thickness and sizing. He simplified the style much more and look more like the 0, resulting in Version 1 of the Brancusi number font. The overall font looked better.
Gabriel sent me this new font, pictured above on line 2, in a PDF file and asked for improvements. I made changes where I saw fit. Here are screenshots from our online collaboration, often happening in real time as we spoke on the phone and exchanged images while me being in-between airports. This was challenging due to the lack of a collaborative vector tool, the distance between us, and our chaotic schedules.
- I tried to look if we could apply an distinctive element extra. Example on number 1 — we abandoned that idea
- Then at some numbers, such as 2, 4 and 5, I simplified some details around the edges
- I proposed a new 3 number style
- I bumped up a bit the thickness of some numbers to keep consistent proportions
As we neared a finalized version, we both felt demotivated. The end result seemed “basic and rudimentary”, not matching what we pictured. This led to a three-day pause in progress and communication. It is at that moment I stumbled upon Netherlands font used on the Women’s National Team shirts and gave me back a boost to start working again on the font and also brought Gabriel back into it. We thought we could match the “freak” of those dutch shirts.
After creating Version 1, we didn’t plan to send it to the Romanian Football Federation or continue the project. We were ready to give up.
But I realized that the font’s weird and rudimentary appearance could actually be a strength. Its bold and unique design might stand out more than any standard font. This thought came to me right after seeing those dutch numbers. And I tried to sell this thought to my co-designer.
Version 2
With renewed motivation, after seeing that there are other more weird fonts out there, we began collaborating again. Combining our feedback, we created Version 2, which we agreed to send to the Romanian Football Federation for their decision. We just wanted to feel at pace with ourselves by sending it.
We decided not to invest time in creating a matching font for the names, as it would take too long and there was no guarantee our number font would be chosen. We proposed reusing Soho Pro for player names and match details to stay on brand.
I already had started looking into it but I also wanted to disconnect for my upcoming trip:
On February 19th 2023, I started my one-month holiday, completely disconnecting from my computer. It was incredible to see how far we had come in just three weeks without any prior experience in such a project.
Here is one of the mockups we sent as our final proposal for the numbers, with the information of using Soho Pro for player names.
Final version
We received confirmation 10 days after delivering our Version 2 that the Romanian Football Federation wanted to use our number font. They sent shirt examples with the font to UEFA for approval as well. Everything moved fast. The first samples that used the numbers:
We started with initial sketches on January 20, 2023. Submitted our font proposal (Version 2) to the Romanian Football Federation on February 19, received confirmation from the Romanian Football Federation on February 28, and got UEFA approval on March 16. First game in the new shirts was scheduled on March 25, against Andorra.
Final final version
As with any design project, late changes are inevitable. In this case, the Federation’s marketing department decided to change the numbers 4 and 7, as they weren’t satisfied with our initial designs. As seen on this video ahead of the debut game, versus Andorra on 25th March 2023:
Preparing the font for the game against Belarus, March 2023:
Videos showcasing the font in the locker room before the matches:
Reception
The font received mixed reactions from fans. Some found the shapes strange, while others praised the Brâncuși-inspired design. Online criticism often targets the Joma brand, which is unpopular among Romanian fans who nostalgically compare current kits to the beloved 1994 and 1996 kits. Since Joma took over, no Romanian kit launch has been well-received, and the new font added extra to the negativity.
Despite initial mixed feedback, the shirt’s sales tripled by the time I wrote this post, thanks to the team’s performance and qualification for Euro 2024. Fans flocked to German stadiums wearing the new Joma shirts with the Brâncuși font. The 2023–2025 Joma shirts became the best-selling since the brand took over in 2016.
Seeing live the Brâncuși numbers on shirts at the fan walk in Cologne and in the stadiums of Munich and Frankfurt was a personal achievement for me as well. It showed how on-pitch success can influence design perceptions, as fans associate their feelings towards the team with what they are wearing.
On the other hand I believe the promotion for these new numbers was poorly executed by the marketing team. Only one video has been produced to announce the new font and only one social media post mentioning this new Brâncuși number style. These two posts were posted at the launch of the kit. And no other marketing followed around the new numbers in the upcoming months. It wasn’t until the team achieved success on the pitch that people started buying the new shirts with the new font on the back. Interest from fans in purchasing these shirts increased significantly just before the Euro started in June, but shirts were not in demand during 2023 qualification campaign.
A friendly game scheduled in Brâncuși’s hometown and Endless Column location, Târgu-Jiu, or a match against France in Paris, where Brâncuși spent more than half of his life, could have significantly boosted shirt sales ahead of the final tournament in Germany. These are just a few ideas I believe could have made a positive difference.
Manifesto
As a designer and collector, my goal was to give fans a reason to make this shirt stand out from any other Romania shirt they’ve owned. We achieved this by incorporating a unique, bold element into the numbers, unlike anything seen before. Even if you’re not a fan of the Joma brand, this distinctive font makes the shirt a valuable addition to your collection.
In the past, Romanian shirts used fonts from the Adidas design library during the Adidas era, and during the Joma era, they used commercially available fonts like Soho Pro. I wanted to create something that would spark conversations between Romanians and people from other countries. I envisioned someone noticing the unusual font and asking about it, giving Romanians a chance to share many reasons why others should visit Romania, starting with a Brâncuși hometown visit.
I believe we achieved this, even if our execution could have been better.
Fake font
We, me and my co-designer, gave up our creative rights to the Romanian Federation to use the font. We worked for free because we wanted so. And we did not wanted recognition for the work. Also we did not expected any monetary incentive in return from the Romanian Football Federation.
But shortly after giving the source file over to the Federation, the font appeared on illegal websites for purchase. I was shocked at how quickly another designer recreated it, leading me to believe it was leaked from an email chain or someone expertly traced from images after the game with Andorra. The font is now available for illegal purchase on certain websites. Always double-check before buying a shirt to ensure it’s authentic. Only the official Romanian Football Federation online shop sells genuine shirts with the real Brâncuși font, as seen on the players' shirts.
The font now is available to buy illegally on this website. Romania 2023–2025 shirt can be personalized with Brâncuși font at the moment only at the official shop Romania Store.
Coverage
The font gained some recognition with time, leading to events that celebrated more than just football, as it incorporated the cultural essence.
On National Culture Day, the Romanian Football Federation and Artmark launched a special exhibition titled “National Culture Team.” This exhibition featured the Joma shirts that would be use at “Euro 2024”, adorned with the names of notable Romanian cultural figures.
These shirts were part of a special charity auction. Proceeds were donated to a humanitarian cause dedicated to combating school dropout. The shirts inscribed with the names of great cultural personalities from Romania’s history.
I do not think this would have been possible either, bridging football with a cultural event, without having this new custom font. Full link to the story.
Matchworn.com partnered with Romania before Euro, receiving match shirts to advertise on their platform for fan auctions. One notable shirt was Stanciu’s from the game against Ukraine, which sold for 2,000 euros.
The numbers started gaining more appreciation during the Euro 2024 tournament as the team’s excellent journey drew attention to them. Consequently, there were many positive comments on social media.
Final words
The Romania Men's Senior National Team enjoyed a series of successful events while wearing these numbers, culminating in their performance by reaching Round of 16 in the European Championship, against Netherlands. The achievements of 2023 and 2024, during which the font was in use, generated a significant amount of content and media coverage.
In the years to come, when we, the fans, and our friends look back at these moments, this generation of players will be remembered through pictures and videos. I will proudly point to the numbers on the shirts and recount to my friends the story I shared in this post. These moments are now part of modern football history, and I am honored to have contributed to them with design.
I post stories about Romania match worn shirts on Instagram.
If you want to get in touch with me you can find me there: https://www.instagram.com/onromanianfootball
On Romanian Football articles:
National Team kit 2021–2023
National Team kit 2018–2020
National Team kit 2015–2017
Joma Kits Timeline: Joma Kits timeline
The rebrand of 2017
