European teams don’t come too much bigger than the Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax, certainly not when it comes to history.
So the responsibility is great when tasked with updating part of the Dutch giants’ identity, as the 311th stage of the Crest Redesign Competition Weekly (CRCW) asked members to do - albeit in a purely fantastic sense.
The entries were generally very respectful. The famous Greek mythological hero from whom Ajax take their name and include as their emblem got some sort of glow-up - most abandoned the eleven-part approach signifying the players on the pitch - and then it was all about what to add and what to take away.
Bogmar went with something modern and Ochoa510 went with something moderner, while Narci seemed to incorporate the instantly recognisable three-stripe branding of longstanding supplier adidas, but another trio was also to be considered.
The red-black-and-white flag of Amsterdam and the shield from the Amsterdam coat of arms feature three Xs that are synonymous with the city, and that have appeared on Ajax shirts in the past. So it perhaps wasn’t a surprise that 88 gave the said flag prominence and, in a creation that won the stage via the voting, Aegon made room for the shield.
A second successive win for Aegon, and Ajax could do much worse than adopting the winning design.
