Soccer 1, Graphic Design 0

It was touched on in the inaugural Own Goals post, but if you missed it, here it is again: behold the logo for the 2009 UEFA Cup Final!



Wolfsburg vs. Udinese never looked so exotic.

I get the connections to the Ottoman Empire, and of course the Byzantines, and the entire visual image (as modeled by Roberto Carlos below) very much reflects the geography of Istanbul. It's the latest move by UEFA to give its Little Cup its own identity over the last few years, as they've tried to create a logo and style for each final since about 2003.



This one falls short of the mark once again, as noted by UF staff:

Precious Roy: Apparently the entire graphic design industry of Istanbul is still tethered to the Commodore 64.

Spectator: ROFL. I've seen better design at Foxwoods Casino!

Of course, they're not all this flashy.


Manchester's final took a painting approach as opposed to the precise-ness of CAD and Photoshop. The finished product is as messy as the metropolis itself, and I was disappointed that the Gallaghers weren't depicted, preferably hanging from one of the stadium's external beams.


For 2007, the bulk of their design budget was clearly spent on cans of Tennent's Super, because the final design looks rather last-minute? "Oh shit lad, we've got our deadline in 3 hours! Slap the regular logo on the left and we'll fudge together some Celtic-looking typeface with dots and lines everywhere. Brilliant! Now back to this videotape of Archie Gemmill..."


The only other one I could find was from 2002, and it shows. A giant, out-of-proportion ball half-floats in amazingly clear water (if you've been to Holland and particularly to Rotterdam, you know their North Sea run-off isn't nearly so spotless and clean) underneath a bridge made of gold. As generic as it gets, unless the final is being played somewhere that's landlocked.

Anyone have any other shocking logos to share? The ACN and the World Cup have had some pretty dreadful ones. Really though, the 2002 UEFA Cup Final must be considered the current bottom of the barrel.