About the Brand

Story of the American Soccer Nation Badge

Mark Franek designed the American Soccer Nation badge to coincide with the launch of his book of the same name on April 28, 2026. He shared early concepts with his students, who pushed back on the image of an old soccer ball at the bottom of the crest. They said the logo reminded them of jerseys their parents and coaches made them wear back in grade school. So Mark listened—and revised, then revised again—until his students agreed, “yes, this is the one.” The final logo captures the rise of the American soccer nation and reflects confidence, optimism, and inspiration. We Yanks are on a roll.

Proceeds from sales of American Soccer Nation books and merchandise support youth soccer development in the United States.

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Brief History of Soccer Badges

Soccer badges are a lot older than the sport itself. Their roots lie in heraldry—the system of coats of arms used in medieval Europe to represent families, cities, and institutions. When soccer clubs began forming in the 19th century, especially in England, they adopted visual badges to signal pride and affiliation.

The badges often resembled coats of arms, and drew on symbols tied to a city or a region’s history. The resulting crests contained mottos, founding dates, animals, folklore, industry-related symbols, distinct colors, and sometimes political or religious ideas. The badges evolved over many years—some for over a century. Each one tells a story about the club and the people who support it.

By the mid-20th century, badges became central to branding and fan identity. While some clubs modernized into simpler logos, many still retain classic shield designs to preserve heritage. There are several books on the subject, including these three:

Brief History of American Soccer Badges

The history of American soccer badges (especially of the national team) stretches back more than a century. Yet no book on the subject exists, let alone a comprehensive one. Remarkably, one of the earliest photographs of the nascent United States Men’s Nation Team (USMNT), in 1916, shows the players wearing a large badge in the form of a crest—containing stars and bars—squarely in the center of each player’s chest. That same team toured Sweden and Norway that summer, and defeated the Swedes, 3–2, in Stockholm.

Just under fifteen years later, the USMNT wore a similar crest, as they finished third in the inaugural FIFA World Cup in 1930, in Uruguay. The Yanks beat Belgium and Paraguay, before succumbing to Argentina in the semifinal.

Two decades later, in the 1950 World Cup, their successors wore a smaller crest—with the stars replaced by “U S A”—which the English players must have taken note of after the Yanks beat them, 1–0, in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, in one of the greatest FIFA upsets of all time.

Unfortunately, not many Americans back home took notice of the Yanks’ soccer victories and successes in the 1930 and 1950 World Cups. But the early marketers of the NFL spotted the soccer badges. They incorporated the badging, and have been using the soccer imagery without credit for decades.

Sports badges in America did not originate in the soccer community. They first appeared among baseball teams, where they were more commonly known as “pins” or “buttons.” Yet those early baseball designs—whether for teams or leagues—rarely took the form of a crest. By contrast, American soccer embraced crest-based badging, complete with stars and stripes, more than a century ago. That visual tradition has since spread around the world. The Yanks’ early soccer badges predate most of the crests used by the world’s most identifiable clubs.

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