Keepin' it Simple, FIFA

So I was watching 2014 World Cup highlights with my roommate this weekend. One thing I noticed was how FIFA's light/dark rule took some classic match ups away from us fans. If you aren't familiar, each team must have a uniform classified by light, and dark, and no light/light, or dark/dark match ups could happen. For example, Colombia had a "light" yellow kit, and a "dark" navy one.

The biggest issue I had was Spain vs the Netherlands. Spain had a red and white kit, and the Netherlands had an orange and navy one. Red/navy, and orange/white wouldn't clash, yet they did under the FIFA rules. These rules lead to companies making monochrome looks, like Germany's white shorts when they classically wear black.

So my friend Gus and I worked this out. Here is my FIFA Clash Kit Color Wheel. Basically, you wear your primary kit, UNLESS the following.

The two jersey colors touch, whether it is left/right/up/down or diagonal. No two teams can wear colors on the same ring, unless it's the middle ring with primary/secondary colors. Lastly, for teams with stripes, both colors would have to check out.

Believe me, the system is far from perfect, but I just needed to get the idea into a visual.

So that wheel lead me to think about classic looks. I was looking up old World Cup kits and was like "man, forget all these gradients and stripes, that's a really good look" over and over again. Clearly, kit manufacturers are gonna have their own thing like Adidas stripes and stuff, but I mean, it'd be great if there was a locked in traditional scheme all the classic teams were locked in to. No mixing, but a look that each team would wear 8/10 games. So here's 18 concepts I did in 2 hours and here they are!

Footy as Football - Liverpool

So the last team I have is Liverpool. I wasn't sure how I wanted to do the Liverbird. I thought about doing a Seahawks style logo, but ended up cutting it's head off. 

The team is name the Reds, but I chose a white helmet. On white, the red logo would look just like it does on the crest. I put the Hillsborough flames on the back of the helmet just for symbolic reasons too. The rest of the uniforms are red, like you'd see a Liverpool kit. My idea was a "red and white USC", so I used that template with white instead of red.

This is my last one, so thank you to everyone who followed!

Footy as Football - West Bromwich Albion

This one was one of the hardest I had. There's only so many ways to make a bird logo. I wanted to do a spread wing logo, and figured it'd be funny for a small song bird to look super mean. 

The color scheme with brown and tan would be unique, and would let me differentiate it from other teams. I really wanted put a lot of details into this one, so I threw numbers on the back of the helmet, a bird logo patch, and some Texas A&M stripes. The gold pants are the only one of it's kind in this series, and it only took till 19 to do it!

Footy as Football - Manchester United

For United, my goal was to make a mean looking devil. The devil on the crest is a nondescript blob, so I had to go from scratch. I played around, tweeted my result, then realized everything I did wrong while I was at class, and made this. My favorite part is the MU as the wrinkles on the forehead.

The uniforms are pretty bland, but I wanted them that way. I put a pitchfork on the helmet, horns on the jersey, and made everything on red black. Like the real team, the pants are white with black accents.

Footy as Football - Everton

I really wanted to put the tower on this, but it just wasnt working. 

I figured that I could make a boring E logo and carry on like they were the Colts. The helmets have wreaths as pride stickers on the back, something I haven't used yet. The uniforms are a mix of classic and modern. Plain white pants, and abnormal white stripes on the sleeves with the Broncos number font

Footy as Football - Stoke

Stoke is all about tradition and the fact they were formed in 1863, so I went super old school. I made a wishbone S, inspired by the bears. It was symmetric and felt like I could get away with it.

The uniforms are classic though. I thought a winged helmet would represent the traditional Stoke stripes in a way I hadn't yet. The uniforms are SUPER boring, but I felt like it was necessary on such a storied look. This one may not stand out like the others, but I thought that if any team could rock it, it would be Stoke.

Footy as Football - Crystal Palace

This one was inspired to be different from all the other birds I had done. I wanted to do something bold, but keep it simple, just so the logo stands out. I did this one immediately after I did Manchester City, so I couldn't take some cues. I went with a logo inspired by the Atlanta Hawks, But added more detail and made it an actual eagle. What's funny is the current Palace crest is super detailed and modern

Palace honestly have some of my favorite kits, so the color balance had to be there. I couldn't do a half kit, but I did my best to put as much blue and red as I could. The helmets and pants are red with the jerseys blue. Each is accented by yellow just to make sure you don't forget about it.