The Genoa logo is one of those football badges that actually tells you something. It’s not just a shape slapped on a shirt. Founded on September 7, 1893 by British expats in the Italian port city, Genoa Cricket and Football Club carries the distinction of being Italy’s oldest existing football club. And the crest reflects that weight.
The current emblem features a golden griffin set against a split red and dark blue shield, topped by the St. George’s Cross. These aren’t random design choices. They pull directly from the heraldry of the city of Genoa itself, connecting the club to centuries of Ligurian identity. Nine Italian titles. A Coppa Italia. More than 130 years of football. The badge has to carry all of that.
What makes it interesting from a design perspective is how the logo has shifted over the decades without losing its roots for long. The griffin returns. The cross returns. But the execution keeps changing, and that tension between heritage and modernization is where things get tricky for any club trying to stay relevant.
What Is the Genoa CFC Logo?
The Genoa logo is a heraldic shield with a gold griffin on a red and dark blue field, below a red St. George’s Cross on white. The current version was unveiled in June 2022 as a reworking of the old griffin. No designer or agency has been publicly credited for it.
Genoa logo at a glance
| Symbol | Gold rampant griffin and red St. George’s Cross on a red and navy shield |
| Designer/agency | Not publicly credited |
| Current version since | June 15, 2022 |
| Colors (hex) | Approx. red #AE1919, navy #05232F, and gold #FFD500, sampled from the current logo, plus white #FFFFFF |
| Typeface | None; the current crest has no lettering |
| Previous major version | Griffin shield with black outlines, 1998 to 2022 |
How Has the Genoa CFC Logo Evolved Over Time?
The Genoa badge has gone through several significant redesigns since the 1890s. Early versions borrowed from the city’s coat of arms. Over time, the club settled on a single griffin on a shield.
The fascist era forced a name change. The late 1970s brought a wild stylized detour. And the 2022 update reworked the griffin itself. Published timelines don’t all agree on the years before 1980, so treat those as approximate.
Early City-Arms Emblems (1893-1928)
Years Active: Roughly 1893 to 1928
According to World Soccer Pins, the earliest emblems adapted the coat of arms of the city of Genoa, which features griffins and the red St. George’s Cross. No designer is known, and no single official club badge from these years is well documented.
The club started out as Genoa Cricket and Athletic Club and played in plain white shirts. The red and blue arrived in 1901, after a spell in white and blue stripes from 1899.
The Genova 1893 Badge (1928-1945)
Years Active: 1928 to 1945
Under the fascist government, the club was renamed Genova 1893 Circolo del Calcio in 1928, as part of a push against foreign names. World Soccer Pins says civic symbols were added and references to the club’s international origins reduced, though the griffin remained.
This era’s badge reflects a forced identity change. In 1945 the club went back to its English name.
The Classic Griffin Shield (1945-1979)
Years Active: Roughly 1945 to 1979
After the war, the club restored its historic name and traditional symbols. The crest became a shield with the St. George’s Cross above a red and blue field, with a single golden griffin in the center.
The layout is the old Genoa logo most people picture, and it set the format every later version would reference. Gli Eroi del Calcio says it stayed in use through the 1970s, until the 1978-79 season.
The “Gallinaccio” Griffin Head (1979-1983)
Years Active: About 1979-80 to 1982-83
A radical departure. Just the head and wings of a griffin, with a red head and blue plumage, on a plain background. No shield. No cross. It’s the closest the club has come to minimalist design.
Fans called it “Il Gallinaccio” (roughly, “the big chicken”), which tells you how it went down. It lasted four seasons. The nostalgia has since set in: Kappa revived it on a 2024-25 shirt.
Some crest charts date it 1980 to 1985, but Gli Eroi del Calcio places it from 1979-80 and has the griffin shield back on the shirts in 1983-84.
Return of the Shield (1983-1991)
Years Active: About 1983 to 1991
Back to the shield format. The full-body griffin returned, and the red cross on white came back across the top, inside a gold frame.
The griffin was drawn in a more heavily detailed style, with dark outlines, and the shield took the gold border that still survives in today’s version. For many fans, this was a return to normal after the Gallinaccio.
The Flags Badge (1991-1998)
Years Active: 1991 to 1998
The most unusual of the modern crests. A blue field held a griffin with raised wings, with red and blue flags at the sides. “GENOA” ran across the top and “1893” sat in a white section at the bottom.
Among the crests in published charts, this is the one that clearly shows both the name and the founding year. No designer has been credited.
The Refined Crest (1998-2022)
Years Active: 1998 to 2022
The shield came back in cleaner form. A golden griffin stood at the center of a red and navy field, with a modernized drawing, a white cross panel on top, and improved proportions.
This version carried Genoa through promotions, relegations, Serie A returns, and ownership changes. It’s the badge most current fans grew up with, and its griffin kept its tail pointing down.
The Current Genoa Logo (2022-Present)
Years Active: 2022 to present
The club teased the new crest on June 14, 2022, with the slogan “Dall’inizio, per sempre” (From the beginning, forever), and revealed it at midnight. The club was then newly controlled by 777 Partners and had just dropped to Serie B. Dan Șucu has since become owner and president, and Genoa plays in Serie A again.
The official description, as reported by Calcio e Finanza, stresses a griffin with slim, sinuous forms, spread wings, an upturned tail, a combative gaze, and sharp claws. The shield keeps its structure, with softer curves and a more elegant outline.
Nothing was added conceptually. The griffin, cross, and colors all stayed. It was a revision and not a revolution, but that upturned tail has real meaning, as explained below.
What Do the Design Elements of the Genoa CFC Logo Mean?
Almost every piece of the Genoa badge traces back to the city’s heraldry. The griffin comes from Genoa’s civic arms and has been a symbol of the city since 1139, according to Calcio e Finanza.
The St. George’s Cross has flown over the city since at least the early 1200s. The red and blue split comes from the team’s playing colors, adopted in 1901.
What Are the Genoa Logo Colors?
The red, blue, and gold are the heart of the badge. We found no official color specification from the club, so the hex values here are approximate, sampled from the current logo. The same goes for any RGB, CMYK, or Pantone values you see online.
Red (approx. #AE1919). The left half of the shield and the cross. Red has been a club color since 1901, and it’s the red of the city’s cross.
Dark Blue (approx. #05232F). The right half of the shield. Blue arrived in 1899 in white and blue stripes, then paired with red from 1901, which earned the team the nickname “rossoblù.”
Gold (approx. #FFD500). The griffin and the shield’s border. In color theory, gold paired with deep blues and reds creates strong contrast and a sense of authority, which fits heraldry.
White (#FFFFFF). The background for the cross section. It’s a functional choice, giving the red cross maximum visibility, and it also echoes the original playing shirt, which was plain white when the club was founded.
If you came here for “colori Genoa”, the short answer is rosso e blu, with gold and white on the crest.
What Font Does the Genoa Logo Use?
The current crest has no lettering at all, so there’s no serif font or sans-serif to identify. The griffin and cross do all the work.
Over the years, typography has come and gone. The 1991 to 1998 badge carried “GENOA” and “1893” in bold capitals. No named font has been published for any version.
The typeface on the shirts is a separate matter. Kit names and numbers use a dedicated football font that changes with the kit supplier.
What Are the Hidden Meanings in the Genoa CFC Logo?
The griffin isn’t just a random mythical creature. It’s half eagle, half lion, and that dual nature has made it a fixture in European heraldry for centuries.
The tail is the detail to look for. After the Congress of Vienna in 1816, the griffins on Genoa’s coat of arms had their tails lowered, a sign of submission to the House of Savoy. The city restored upward tails on July 20, 2000, after 185 years. The club’s 2022 griffin followed suit, 22 years later.
The St. George’s Cross has a layered meaning too. It’s the city’s own flag, used by the commune since at least 1218. It wasn’t brought by the English founders, who just happened to share it. In fact, the story runs the other way. The Duke of Kent once said English ships asked to fly Genoa’s cross from 1190 for protection in the Mediterranean, paying a fee for the privilege, though that account is disputed.
The shield shape itself references civic heraldry. The psychology of shapes suggests shields communicate protection and belonging, which suits a badge this attached to its city.
How Does the Genoa CFC Logo Compare to Competitor Logos?
Serie A is full of crests that lean on city heraldry. Genoa’s badge stands out for keeping a mythical creature as its central figure. Some Italian clubs have moved toward simpler, more corporate designs in recent years.
Juventus famously dropped its traditional oval crest for a stylized “J” in 2017. AC Milan and Napoli take other routes, with an oval and a letter N as their anchors.
Genoa’s closest visual comparisons in Italian football come from clubs that also use animals and heraldic formats. AS Roma has the she-wolf. Fiorentina uses the lily of Florence. Torino has the bull.
What sets Genoa apart is the density of its crest. The griffin, the cross, the split colors, the gold framing. It packs a lot of visual information into a badge, even with no words on it.
Local rival Sampdoria takes a completely different approach with their sailor figure and colorful horizontal bands, creating a stark contrast in the Derby della Lanterna.
What Cultural Impact Has the Genoa CFC Logo Had?
The Genoa crest carries meaning beyond football. As the badge of Italy’s oldest existing football club, it works almost as a civic artifact. The griffin and the St. George’s Cross connect directly to Genoa’s identity as a former maritime republic.
The club’s nicknames back that up. “Il Grifone” (The Griffin) is the most common, and the griffin often stands in for the club. “Il Vecchio Balordo” (The Old Fool) and “I Rossoblù” are the others.
The club’s English roots add another layer. Genoa’s 2025-26 away shirt from Kappa featured the St. George’s Cross across the entire front, with the campaign slogan “It’s coming home” as a nod to the British founders. That’s a neat example of how the badge’s symbolism travels.
Even the much-mocked Gallinaccio has a following now. Kappa’s 2024-25 away shirt brought back a classic griffin crest from that era, and supporters have adopted the design as a retro favorite.
How Does the Genoa CFC Logo Fit Into the Overall Brand Identity?
The badge is the anchor of Genoa’s visual system. The kit designs and the club’s digital presence connect back to the crest’s core elements: the griffin, the cross, the red and blue split, the gold accents.
The club hasn’t published its brand guidelines as far as we could find, so we can’t say what they specify. But the patterns are easy to see. The red and dark blue halves on the home shirt repeat the shield itself.
The griffin also works as a standalone symbol. You’ll see it isolated, without the shield, in shirt details. Kappa embossed it into the fabric of the 2025-26 away shirt, for example. That’s usually a sign of a strong identity, whether or not a formal brand style guide sits behind it. When a single element can represent the whole, the mark is doing its job.
The club nickname reinforces this. The creature isn’t just on the badge. For most fans, it is the club.
How Should the Genoa CFC Logo Be Used?
This is generic advice for working with any football crest, not rules published by Genoa.
Crests are normally protected trademarks, so commercial use, including merchandise and advertising, needs permission from the rights holder. Editorial use, such as illustrating a news article, is usually treated differently, though the rules vary by country.
Don’t alter the colors, stretch the proportions, or remove elements like the cross or griffin. Use vector graphics for print where you can, and a clean PNG or JPEG for the web. Treat files from logo download sites as unofficial, and don’t imply that the club endorses your project.
FAQ on the Genoa Logo
What does the Genoa CFC logo look like?
The Genoa CFC crest is a shield split vertically into red and dark blue. A golden griffin stands at the center, with the red St. George’s Cross on white across the top. The current version has no lettering or founding year.
What does the griffin on the Genoa badge represent?
The griffin comes from the coat of arms of the city of Genoa, where it has been a symbol since 1139. Half eagle and half lion, it’s also the source of the club’s nickname, Il Grifone.
Why is the St. George’s Cross on an Italian football club emblem?
Because it’s Genoa’s own flag. The city used the red cross on white from at least 1218, long before the club’s British founders arrived in 1893. It’s a coincidence that suits the club’s English roots nicely.
What are the colors of the Genoa logo?
Red, dark blue, gold, and white. Sampled from the current logo, they’re approximately #AE1919, #05232F, and #FFD500, plus white. The red and blue became the club’s playing colors in 1901, earning the nickname rossoblù.
When was the current Genoa CFC logo introduced?
The club revealed it in June 2022, just after relegation to Serie B. The launch slogan was “Dall’inizio, per sempre.” The redesign kept every traditional element and reworked the griffin and the shield’s outline.
Who designed the Genoa logo?
No designer or agency has been publicly credited for the 2022 crest. Press coverage attributes it to the club in an official statement. The creators of the earlier versions aren’t known either.
What changed in the 2022 Genoa logo redesign?
The griffin’s tail now points upward, its wings are more fully spread, and its chest pushes out. The tail matches the city’s arms, where raised tails were restored in 2000. The shield got softer curves and a more elegant outline.
What was the old Genoa logo?
The classic old crest was a griffin on a red and blue shield with the cross on top. The most famous oddity is the Gallinaccio, a stylized griffin head with no shield, used from about 1979-80 for four seasons.
How many times has the Genoa football club emblem been redesigned?
Crest charts show seven versions since the club’s early years, and earlier badges based on the city’s arms also existed. Major changes came in 1928 with the fascist-era name, 1979-80 with the griffin head, 1991, 1998, and 2022.
What font does the Genoa logo use?
None, because the current crest has no lettering. The 1991 to 1998 badge did carry “GENOA” and “1893” in bold capitals, but no named font has been published. Shirt numbers use separate kit fonts.
When was Genoa CFC founded?
On September 7, 1893, as Genoa Cricket and Athletic Club. It’s Italy’s oldest existing football club, plays at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris, and competes in Serie A.
Can I download and use the Genoa CFC logo?
Copies are easy to find, but those on logo sites are unofficial. Crests are normally protected trademarks, so commercial use needs permission from the club. Editorial use is usually treated differently, depending on the country.
Conclusion
The Genoa logo does what few football badges manage. It carries more than 130 years of history without feeling stuck in the past.
The golden griffin crest, the red and navy split, the St. George’s Cross. Each element ties back to the city’s identity as a former maritime republic and the club’s roots as Italy’s oldest football team.
The 2022 redesign proved the club could clean up the details without gutting the character. Raising a griffin’s tail is a small change, but it says a lot. That’s harder than it sounds.
Whether you’re looking at the badge on a jersey at Stadio Luigi Ferraris or on a digital screen, the Genoa CFC emblem holds up. It’s a football club visual identity built on real heritage, not borrowed aesthetics.
Sources
- Calcio e Finanza, Il Genoa svela il nuovo logo: il Grifone alza la coda in segno di rilancio – https://www.calcioefinanza.it/2022/06/15/genoa-nuovo-logo/
- World Soccer Pins, Historical crests: Genoa CFC – https://worldsoccerpins.com/historical-crests-genoa-cfc
- Gli Eroi del Calcio, Una maglia, una storia: il Genoa 1983-84 – https://www.glieroidelcalcio.com/?p=40820
- Sky Sport, Evoluzione dello stemma: come sono cambiati i loghi delle squadre – https://sport.sky.it/calcio/serie-a-loghi-squadre-evoluzione
- TuttoMercatoWeb, Bianca con la croce di San Giorgio: il Genoa presenta la maglia da trasferta 2025-2026 – https://www.tuttomercatoweb.com/serie-a/bianca-con-la-croce-di-san-giorgio-il-genoa-presenta-la-maglia-da-trasferta-2025-2026-2129945
- SoccerBible, Kappa and Genoa honour Anglo-Italian heritage with bold 25/26 away shirt – https://www.soccerbible.com/performance/football-apparel/2025/07/kappa-genoa-honour-anglo-italian-heritage-with-bold-2526-away-shirt/
- The Local, Italian mayor says England owes 250 years of royalties for St George’s Cross flag – https://www.thelocal.it/20180706/mayor-of-genoa-st-george-cross-england-flag
- Wikipedia, Genoa CFC – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genoa_CFC
Renowned for his expertise in logo design and visual branding, Bogdan has developed a multitude of logos for various clients.
His skills extend to creating posters, vector illustrations, business cards, and brochures. Additionally, Bogdan's UI kits were featured on marketplaces like Visual Hierarchy and UI8.
He also wrote in the past years on sites like Design Your Way, WebDesignerDepot, WPDean, Designmodo, Speckyboy, Slider Revolution, and more.
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Bogdan Sandu is a seasoned designer who has been designing websites since 2008. Renowned for his expertise in logo design and visual branding, Bogdan has developed a multitude of logos for various clients. His skills extend to creating posters, vector illustrations, business cards, and brochures. Additionally, Bogdan's UI kits were featured on marketplaces like Visual Hierarchy and UI8. He also wrote in the past years on sites like Design Your Way, WebDesignerDepot, WPDean, Designmodo, Speckyboy, Slider Revolution, and more.
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