This page traces every crest FC Barcelona has worn, from the city arms of 1899 to the crest simplified in 2018, with each era’s colors as one-click hex values.
The first crest was not designed for the club at all, the team simply used the arms of the city of Barcelona until 1910.
Carles Comamala won the members’ design competition, and his crest is the ancestor of every version since.
Today it runs on blau, vermell and grana/gold: #004D98 #DB0030 #EDBB00. For RGB, CMYK and Pantone, see the current FC Barcelona color codes.
FC Barcelona logo history timeline
FC Barcelona logo 1899-1910
The club had no crest of its own and used a rhombus-shaped badge based on the City of Barcelona's coat of arms, featuring a crown, a bat, the Cross of Sant Jordi, and Catalan/Aragonese bars in the quarters.
FC Barcelona logo 1910-1920
First crest designed specifically for the club via an open members' design competition: a shield split into the Cross of Sant Jordi and Catalan senyera stripes on top, club-colored (blaugrana) vertical stripes and a football below, with 'F.C.B.' lettering on a central band. This basic layout has remained the crest's foundation ever since.
Why it changed: Club-run open design competition in 1910; winner credited as player Carles Comamala by most sources (Wikipedia, official club site, Hyperakt), though LaLiga's official history names Santiago Femenía instead, a genuine unresolved cross-source conflict.
FC Barcelona logo 1920-1939
Minor cosmetic revisions to shield shape and color intensity, including changes to the background color of the central 'F.C.B.' band across the 1920s-30s; not a full redesign.
FC Barcelona logo 1939-1949
Under Franco's dictatorship the club was forced to Castilianize its name to 'Club de Fútbol Barcelona' and the crest's initials were altered accordingly; the Catalan senyera stripes were reduced or altered (sources differ on the exact mechanic).
Why it changed: Political: Francoist prohibition on Catalan language/symbols following the Civil War and occupation of Catalonia.
FC Barcelona logo 1949-1974
The four Catalan senyera bars were restored to the crest in 1949 to mark the club's 50th (Golden) anniversary, though the Catalan-language initials 'F.C.B.' were not yet fully reinstated until 1974.
Why it changed: Club's 50th-anniversary celebration, with government authorization despite the ongoing Franco regime.
FC Barcelona logo 1974-2002
Following the club's 1973 authorization to use the Catalan name again, the original 1910-style crest content and 'F.C.B.' initials were fully reinstated by the end of 1974; a modernized typeface and cleaner lines followed, standing for over 25 years.
Why it changed: Restoration of Catalan identity after the end of Francoist restrictions; later refinements were aesthetic/technical modernization for broadcast reproduction.
FC Barcelona logo 2002-present
Designer Claret Serrahima streamlined the crest: simplified contours, fewer ornamental points, dots removed from the 'FCB' lettering, and adjusted colors for consistent reproduction across print, digital, TV, and merchandise.
Why it changed: Modernization and simplification for reproducibility across media; a 2018/19 club-commissioned proposal to further simplify the crest (dropping the 'FCB' initials) was rejected by club members and never adopted.
FC Barcelona logo colors by era
| Era | Colors |
|---|---|
| 1899-1910 | red #AD2A16yellow #E6D063white #FFFFFF |
| 1910-1920 | Blau #10244AGrana #A11F0E*Red/yellow #E2A926 |
| 1920-1939 | — |
| 1939-1949 | — |
| 1949-1974 | — |
| 1974-2002 | — |
| 2002-present | Blau #004D98Vermell #DB0030grana/gold #EDBB00 |
Things worth knowing
- The 1910 design competition winner is disputed across sources: most (English Wikipedia, the official club site, Hyperakt) credit player Carles Comamala, while LaLiga's official history names Santiago Femenía instead.
- Under Franco's dictatorship the club was forced to Castilianize its name to 'Club de Fútbol Barcelona' and reduce or remove Catalan senyera symbols from the crest, beginning around 1939-1941.
- In 1949, during the club's 50th anniversary and while Franco was still in power, the Catalan senyera stripes were restored to the crest.
- A 2018/19 club-commissioned redesign (by agency Summa) that would have dropped the 'FCB' initials from the crest was rejected by club members in a vote and never adopted.
Values marked * were measured from the logo artwork of that period. Brand color standards did not exist for most of these eras, so no official hex value was ever published for them. Treat them as an accurate reading of the artwork rather than as an official brand value. Unmarked values are the club’s own published colors.
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FC_Barcelona
- https://www.fcbarcelona.com/en/club/identity/the-crest
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:FC_Barcelona_logos
- https://www.laliga.com/noticias/evolucion-historia-escudo-fc-barcelona
- https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%BAtbol_Club_Barcelona
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:FC_Barcelona_1910_logo.png
- https://www.hyperakt.com/items/articles/fc-barcelona/
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FC_Barcelona_original_crest_(1899%E2%80%931910).png
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FCBarcelona1899.png
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FCBarcelona1900.png
- https://www.90min.com/posts/barcelona-badge-history
- https://www.designyourway.net/blog/barcelona-logo/
- https://1000logos.net/barcelona-logo/
