Football League Rebranded as English Football League - New 2016-17 Logo Revealed
The Football League will become the English Football League from the 2016-17 season as part of a completely makeover that also includes a new logo. The English Football League will be shortened to EFL.
The new logo is just the fourth logo in the 127-years history of the world's original football competition. The English Football League has 72 clubs divided into three divisions (Championship, League One, League Two). It was the top-level league in England until 1992, when the top 22 clubs split away to form the Premier League.
English Football League
This is the new English Football League logo.
The new English Football League logo introduces a totally new design that represents the 72 clubs of the three divisions. The logo boasts a "dynamic circular arrangement of 72 balls in three swathes of 24, representing each of the League’s member clubs and the respective divisions they play in."
Compared to the previous logo, the new English Football League branding features a much cleaner design. However, whereas the previous logo was easy to identify as football logo at first glance, the new English Football League logo could well be the logo of any company.
The Football League’s Chief Executive, Shaun Harvey said: "The new EFL name rightly emphasises the central role our clubs play at the heart of English professional football. In an increasingly challenging global sports market, it is absolutely essential that sports properties can project a modern identity that not only resonates with their regular audience but is also easily recognisable to a broader audience of potential fans, viewers and commercial partners."
"We believe the EFL name and brand will give our competitions an identity that is new and distinct, while at the same time retaining our unique heritage. As such, it will be something that all fans can identify with - whether they be young or old, at home or abroad."
Harvey also confirmed that the League would be retaining the three existing divisional titles, "The Championship, League One and League Two divisional titles have proven popular with fans since their introduction in 2004 and have since been used by leagues in other countries and in other sports. It is therefore our intention to incorporate them into the new EFL brand," he said.
We think that the new logo lacks a clear reference to football. What do you think of the new English Football League branding? Let us know in the comments below.
