Club badges change and alter over time, especially when the associated club wants to modernise the badge for whatever reason. In the case of Liverpool Football Club, that has seen the crest develop from one that bore a distinct resemblance to the badge that Manchester United players have on their kits into one that is unique to the Merseyside club.
The development of the crest has also seen the older form, which followed the city’s coat of arms, disappear into the annals of history, whilst the Liverbird has begun to take a more prominent place in the badge nowadays.
The Original Badge
Liverpool FC as a club was formed in 1892 and it only took until the September of that year for a club crest to be mentioned in some form. That came in a publication called Field Sport, where the report into a match said, “A new man – beg pardon, a flag – floated on the old staff, bearing the letters, L.F.A. surmounted with the liver. Right proudly did it wave over the field of battle and seemed to beam on its patrons with a hopeful smile.” The city’s coat of arms was the inspiration for the first badge, which showed a cormorant with some seaweed in its mouth, one with wings up and one with them down.
There is also Neptune, the Roman god of freshwater and the sea, on one side, holding a flag in his left hand and a trident in his right. The flag itself also bore a cormorant with seaweed, whilst on the other side stood Triton, Greek god of the sea, holding a flag with a ship sailing on the sea. The coat of arms was granted in 1797, showing the link to the sea from the city. On the Liverpool Football Club version, the banner across the bottom of the shield bore those three words. It remained the club crest for nearly 60 years, eventually being replaced by one that bears a resemblance to one from a team in Manchester.
The Second & Third Badges
Look at a Manchester United shirt nowadays and the thing that you will be greeted by is the club’s badge, which is eerily similar to the one that Liverpool began using in 1940. That sees two banners at the top and bottom of the badge, with a cormorant on a crest in the middle. Between the two banners were footballs on either side, whilst the top banner bore the word ‘LIVERPOOL’ and the bottom one said ‘FOOTBALL CLUB’. There were also extra details both above and below the main crest, whilst in the middle were two thick red lines separated by one thick white one.
Given the prevalence of the Liverbird nowadays, it might seem odd to think of the fact that the cormorant, the bird that the Liverbird emerged from, being so ever-present on the Liverpool crest. Even so, it took until 1950 for the bird on the Liverpool badge to make the alteration and become a Liverbird in its own right. That was when the club wore a kit bearing a badge for the first time, being don for the FA Cup final match between the Reds and Arsenal. It was a plain crest with a white border, entirely red on the inside apart from the white Liverbird, standing on a red and white scarf.
The Move Towards the Modern
In 1955, the former badge was replaced by an oval one, which was the first time that the Reds had seen that appear on their kits. The oval itself had a red border with white on the inside, whilst the Liverbird was more defined. Underneath it appeared the letters ‘L.F.C.’ It remained on the club’s kits until 1968, when the oval was removed and the kits simply had the red Liverbird and the lettering. The badge was produced with yellow stitching for a time in the middle of the 1970s and into the 1980s, before being replaced by a shield that is much more like we know today.
It was 1987 when the shield that featured a red border on a white background was introduced. The Liverbird in red remained in the middle of the shield, whilst LIVER and POOL were in white on a red background in a V shape on either side of the shield. Underneath that was ‘FOOTBALL CLUB’, also in white on a red background. It had actually appeared in different forms before it was put onto a kit, remaining as the key ingredient of a Liverpool shirt and often being seen alongside some of the club’s most classic sponsors, such as Crown Paints and Candy.
Moving Towards Today’s Kit
In 1992, the club celebrated its 100th birthday. As a result, a new badge was brought in that put a banner on the bottom that said 1892 – 1992. Above the banner was the shield, which was almost split in half by a red block reading ‘100 YEARS’. Below the block was the red outline of a smaller shield, featuring a red Liverbird within. Above the block, which had a green border, were the words ‘LIVERPOOL FOOTBALL CLUB’, whilst above that was a red block with ‘YOU’LL NEVER WALK ALONE’ written in white. The Shankly Gates were above the words in green, with a red shield and Liverbird in the middle.
It was a year later when the club introduced a crest commemorating the Hillsborough Disaster for the first time. That saw a yellow banner with a white and black border and the word ‘EST.’ next to ‘1892’. The shield with the red border came next, seeing a Liverbird in red within a smaller shield, above which were the words ‘LIVERPOOL FOOTBALL CLUB’. The block above it had changed to yellow, but the words ‘YOU’LL NEVER WALK ALONE’ in red remained, as did the Shankly Gates. It was the addition of the eternal flames either side that was new for that crest.
Two Badges Still Used Today
There are effectively two badges that the club continues to use in the modern era. The first was initially brought in in 2002 and is essentially a more modernised version of the crest from nearly a decade before. This time, the banner on the bottom and the Shankly Gates at the top, as well as the block beneath the Gates and the base of the eternal flames, are all in green. ‘EST. 1892’ remained on the bottom, whilst ‘YOU’LL NEVER WALK ALONE’ were still on the top. The shield in the middle put a red Liverbird at the bottom and the words ‘FOOTBALL CLUB’ in red on a white background, with ‘LIVERPOOL’ being in white on a red background.
The other badge, introduced in 2012, is a nod to the oval badge of the 1950s. The Liverbird takes centre stage, seemingly standing on top of the letters ‘L.F.C.’. It isn’t the main crest, but it has been used on kits on and off since its introduction. The kits brought in by Adidas for the 2025-2026 season feature three different badges. The home kit boasts the simple Liverbird and L.F.C. in white on a red background, which is also the case on the away kit. The difference is that the away kit has a red shield. Meanwhile, the third kit sees a return to the badge from the 1980s in white on a green background.