On Romanian Football: The Rebrand of 2017
Below I will try to explain the rebranding that happened to Romanian Football at a organisational level back in 2017.
Last updated: July 2024 (I update my posts time to time)
Romania celebrated 100 years since its Great Union, in 2018.
Great Union Day, celebrated on December 1st, is a national holiday in Romania commemorating the unification of Transylvania, Bessarabia, and Bukovina with the Romanian Kingdom in 1918. This event, known as the Great Union, is a significant milestone in Romanian history and marks the formation of the modern Romanian state.
Leading up to the centennial celebration in 2018, various events were organised and prepared by public and governmental institutions from 2016 to 2017. These events prominently featured a special “100 year anniversary” logo. In 2018, a unique logo was also introduced and used across various platforms, including on some of the football shirts of Liga 1 Romania teams.
In November 2017, the Romanian Football Federation embraced the excitement surrounding the Great Union Day by unveiling a new design identity for Romanian football at the national level. This new identity was themed around the Great Union Day, highlighting its significance.
The Federation released an official brand identity manual, detailing various design elements such as colors, fonts, and motifs. These styles were then incorporated into new logos and merchandise, creating a cohesive and celebratory look.
The new identity was developed by Brandient, a Bucharest-based agency, in collaboration with the Romanian Football Federation. This initiative was presented during an official press gathering that included as well the launch of the second generation of Joma kits.
They publicly released an official brand identity manual for the first time in the history of Romania National Team.
The highlight of the November 2017 event was the unveiling of the new badge for the Romanian national team and the launch of the second generation of Joma kits. Prior to the rebrand, the crest had been a simplistic imitation of the New York Cosmos badge design, which had been in use since the fall of communism in 1989. This old crest served both as the logo for the federation and as well printed on the national team kits.
The new badge marked a significant upgrade, reflecting a modern and distinctive identity for Romanian football.
The goal of the rebrand was to ensure that all departments and teams within the Romanian Football Federation had their own distinctive badges, all based on the new brand manual. This unified approach aimed to create a cohesive and modern identity across the entire organization.
The whole rebrand came with 5 new distinctive design symbols.
For the National Team badge these were displayed around a pentagon shape similar known as the “shield”. The Romanian Football Federation (FRF) started to use a more minimal version, and have their own distinctive look.
The release of the new badge sparked mixed reactions among fans on social media. Younger fans appreciated the modern design, while long-time supporters, who fondly remembered the old crest from the 1994 and 1998 World Cup shirts, felt nostalgic and sad to see it replaced. For many, those tournaments hold the most cherished memories of the Romanian National Team.
The rebrand focuses on five distinctive shapes, which together are meant to symbolize the unity and identity of Romanian football. Each shape represents a different region of the country.
In the following sections, we’ll explore what each of these shapes stands for, allowing you to decide if they truly capture the essence of Romanian football.
The story of the 5 regions
Golden Aquila
The dominant and most significant element in the rebrand is the golden aquila (eagle). This motif features prominently in the new logo of the Romanian Football Federation, the national team crest, and the Joma kits. Additionally, the Romanian Cup logo, also designed by Brandient, incorporates the golden aquila as a central design element.
The golden aquila symbolizes the “nest of the Basarabs,” the foundation around which Wallachia, the modern southern region of Romania, was organized. Wallachia was established as a principality in the early 14th century and later united with Moldavia in 1859 to form the United Principalities. This entity adopted the name Romania in 1866 and officially became the Kingdom of Romania in 1881.
Below, you can see the Wallachian coat of arms on the left and the redesigned golden aquila from 2017 on the right:
Aurochs’s head
The recognised emblem belonging to the land of Moldavia, and perpetuated over the centuries as the official sign of the country, is the ancient aurochs’s head with a star between its horns.
Moldavia is a region in North East of modern Romania. The aurochs head and Wallachia’s eagle were included as emblems on the coat of arms: Moldavia and Wallachia formally united in 1859 to create the Romanian United Principalities, the core of modern Romania.
Dolphin
The dolphins represent the seaside region and are part of the coat of arms of Dobruja reminding of the country’s Black Sea Coast which is in the south east part of modern Romania.
Black aquila
Transylvania region was united with the Kingdom of Romania after World War I. Then the coat of arms of Transylvania was placed in a newly version of Romania coat of arms which was released immediately at the end of the war. Transylvania is in the North West part of modern Romania.
Lion
The lion is the main visual element from the Oltenia and Banat coat of arms.
In the Middle Ages, Wallachia had two core provinces. One was Greater Wallachia (Muntenia) — represented by the aquila on the coat of arms — and the other was Lesser Wallachia (Oltenia)-represnted by the lion.
All together
Romania’s coat of arms features a central element: the golden aquila holding an Orthodox cross. The aquila, or eagle, is a symbol of the Romanians’ Latin heritage, which is why it is so prominently featured.
Over the years, the design of the coat of arms has evolved, with the latest version adopted in 2016. This version includes now also the three colors of the Romanian flag — red, yellow, and blue.
The shield within the golden aquila is divided into five fields, each representing the historical provinces of Romania with its own traditional symbol, coming together to form the national coat of arms.
Below, you can see the latest version of the Romanian coat of arms from 2016, alongside the Romanian National Team crest rebranded in 2017:
Romanian heraldry and coats of arms are more complicated than this short overview. Some sources date to 1000 AD and the Romanian vexillology can be convoluted.
Conclusion:
The new rebrand of Romanian football prominently features elements from Romanian heraldry, symbolizing the unification of all regions. The national team’s new logo closely resembles the latest coat of arms, representing the unity and heritage the players stand for when they are together.
The 2017 rebrand in use:
Fun fact: It was a significant milestone in 2017 when the National Team received their own crest. Until then, the kits featured the same crest as the Romanian Football Federation. During communist times, the team used the Emblem of the Socialist Republic of Romania, as the Communist authorities had changed both the flag and the coat of arms after 1948.
I regularly post stories about Romania match worn shirts on Instagram.
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