• Leeds United are one of the most popular teams in English football

  • The Whites are back in the Premier League for the first time since dropping out of the top tier in 2004

  • There was a new Leeds United crest designed in 2018 but supporter backlash forced the club to do a U-turn


One of the oldest clubs in English football, Leeds United have a long and illustrious history – both domestically and in European competition.

The Leeds United badge is recognised all around the world, with the club’s success in the 1970s helping to put the Elland Road side on the map.

Leeds United Badge – Guide:

It has been a difficult 15 years for the club but the Leeds United club crest is back where it belongs: in the Premier League. Football betting punters will be familiar with the Leeds United badge but the history of the Leeds crest is fascinating.

Here, we look at the origins of the Leeds United club badge and the changes made to the crest over the years – including that failed attempt in 2018.

Leeds United Badge History:

One of the most successful clubs in England, Leeds have an illustrious history and most fans are familiar with the Leeds United crest.

Over the years, the Elland Road hierarchy have moved to change the Leeds United badge on 11 occasions – more than the majority of their Premier League rivals.

The first Leeds United badge can be traced back to 1934, with the club paying homage to the Coat of Arms of Leeds.

A number of changes have been made to the badge over the years, with a perching owl badge added in 1964 in a bid to tone down the city’s Coat of Arms reference.

Minor alterations were made to the Leeds United badge in the 1970s, with a shift in writing and colours on the Leeds crest on more than one occasion.

Leeds opted for a rose and ball badge in 1974 and that was a huge hit with supporters, with the club opting to keep that style until 1998.

While they retained the white rose and blue, gold and white colouring, a European-style shield design was introduced.

The biggest Leeds United badge change came in 2018, though the club opted to rethink the crest after criticism from a large portion of the fan base.

Since then, a more subtle change was made to the Leeds badge and the club crest is now largely admired by football fans across the country.

First Leeds United Badge:

As previously mentioned, the first Leeds United badge appeared in 1934. The club opted to follow neighbours Leeds City by adopting the Coat of Arms into the design.

The Leeds coat of arms, although more subtle over the years, was used in some form on the Leeds crest until 1961.

Many soccer prediction tipsters won’t recall the initial Leeds United badge but it was one of the standout football crests of its time.

Compared to some of the more modern football badges, the first Leeds United crest was complex and detailed but the sentiment behind it was popular in the region.

Leeds United Badge Change:

January 24th 2018 is a day that will live forever in the memory for fans of the Leeds United badge.

In a bizarre move, the club announced that it was revealing a new Leeds United crest, with a more ‘modern’ logo swapping the club’s initials for its full name and a new graphic.

The image depicted the “Leeds Salute” that is widely associated with the club but the new logo was universally slated by Leeds supporters around the world.

The club were relatively quick to backtrack after the new Leeds United badge was unveiled, admitting it was a mistake to adopt such a controversial design.

While this was the 11th time that the club opted to officially change the Leeds United club crest, the sheer size of the move was too much for Leeds fans to handle.

Now popular in Premier League predictions each week, the club designed today’s Leeds United badge to make it much more in line with the traditional Leeds crest.

Current Leeds United Badge:

The current Leeds badge is almost identical to its predecessor, though the colour and shape of the white rose are slightly different.

While the 2018 Leeds badge design was universally slated, the slight change adopted just one year later was much more in line with what Leeds United badge lovers wanted.

Today, the Leeds United badge can be seen week in, week out in the Premier League, putting the Leeds club crest on show to millions of football fans around the world.


*Credit for the main photo belongs to Alex Pantling / Pool via AP*

 

FIRST PUBLISHED: 10th March 2021

Alex is a sports betting tipster, specialising in Premier League football, the Champions League and horse racing.

He loves placing a weekly accumulator on the football at the weekend and dreams of landing the big winner that will take him back to Las Vegas.

As well as writing sports betting tips for 888sport since 2015, Alex has produced content for several international media companies, such as Goal.com and The SPORTBible.