The Stade de Reims logo is one of the more interesting visual identities in French football. Not just because of what it looks like now, but because of what it went through to get here. The club was born on June 18, 1931, and its crest history includes a famous champagne bottle badge, a stretch of several years with no official logo at all, a round emblem from 1999 and the current crowned crest. That crest was created by the agency Leroy Tremblot and unveiled on June 18, 2020, the club’s 89th anniversary.
This is a club that won six French league titles between 1949 and 1962 and reached two European Cup finals in the 1950s. That history matters when you look at how the badge has changed. It’s not just about colors and shapes. There’s a French alcohol advertising law baked right into the logo timeline, which is something you don’t see with most football clubs.
What Is the Stade de Reims Logo?
The Stade de Reims logo is a red and white crest with a crown above the club’s “SR” initials and the club name below. It was designed by the French sports branding agency Leroy Tremblot and unveiled on June 18, 2020. Its curves come from the main portal of Reims Cathedral, and the crown recalls the city’s coronation history.
| Symbol | A crown with a football pentagon at its center, above the “SR” initials, on a base drawn from the main portal of Reims Cathedral |
| Designer/agency | Leroy Tremblot (branding subsidiary of the LAFOURMI agency), led by general manager Dominique Jubert |
| Current version since | June 18, 2020 |
| Colors (hex) | Red approx. #EE2223 (sampled from the current logo), white #FFFFFF |
| Typeface | Not publicly named; lettering drawn for the crest, no widely known free alternative |
| Previous major version | 1999–2020 round emblem by designer Christophe Blottin, with the “S” and “R” initials |
The crest falls somewhere between a traditional football badge and the more stripped-back approach you see in modern rebrandings like Juventus. It keeps the club initials in a bold sans-serif typeface style and builds the rest of the identity around them. The club launched it together with a new signature, “Maison de football,” and uses it across match kits, Stade Auguste-Delaune, digital platforms and merchandise.
How Has the Stade de Reims Logo Evolved Over Time?
The Stade de Reims badge has gone through four main phases. The original crest with a champagne bottle carried the club until its collapse in 1991–1992. An adapted version followed for the reborn “Stade de Reims Champagne,” then France’s Loi Évin left the club without an official logo for several years. A round red-and-white emblem arrived in 1999, and the modern crowned crest replaced it in 2020.
The whole story is kind of wild, honestly. Most clubs just tweak their badge every decade or so. Reims had to deal with liquidation, getting legally blocked from using its own imagery, and starting again from the sixth tier of French football.
Before the Crest: Pommery Gold and Green, Then Tango and Black
The club grew out of the Société sportive du parc Pommery, founded in 1910 by the Pommery champagne house. Its footballers wore gold shirts and green shorts, colors that recalled a champagne bottle.
When the Stade de Reims was created on June 18, 1931, it switched to tango (a burnt orange) and black, which were seen as more neutral. Red and white only arrived in September 1938, when the Stade merged with its local rival, the Sporting Club rémois. The Stade gave its name and players. The Sporting gave its red and white colors.
No reliable image or description of a separate tango-and-black badge has been published, so this early period is best understood through its colors rather than a crest.
The Champagne Bottle Logo (Original Crest, Until 1991)
Years active: the original crest, used until the club’s liquidation in 1991.
This is the badge most people think of when they picture classic Stade de Reims, and the one people mean when they search for the old Reims logo. A football with a champagne bottle on top, a red ribbon and the club name. The club’s name appeared in capitals in a clean sans-serif font.
The exact year this design first appeared isn’t well documented. What is clear is that it became the club’s visual identity through the golden years.
Context: This era covers Raymond Kopa, Just Fontaine and coach Albert Batteux, the six league titles and two European Cup finals against Real Madrid in 1956 and 1959. The champagne bottle felt right for a club based in the Champagne region, and it carried serious emotional weight for fans.
The Stade de Reims Champagne Badge (1992)
Years active: from 1992, briefly.
In October 1991, a court in Reims placed the club in liquidation. It restarted on October 25, 1991 as Stade de Reims Champagne FC, but that version filed for bankruptcy again on May 11, 1992. In July 1992 a new club, Stade de Reims Champagne, started over in the Division d’honneur Nord-Est, the sixth tier.
The original crest was adapted for it, with the words “Champagne” and “92” added. But this version barely had time to breathe.
France’s Loi Évin, passed in 1991, restricts alcohol advertising, and it barred the club from using a wine bottle as its emblem.
No Official Logo (1992–1999)
Years active: roughly 1992 to 1998–1999.
This is the part that surprises people. Because of the Loi Évin, the club played without an official logo until the end of the 1990s.
The club had dropped into the lower divisions of French football. Resources were limited. Creating a new logo apparently wasn’t the top priority when you’re fighting to survive as a club.
The Round Red and White Badge (1999–2020)
Years active: 1999 to 2020.
In July 1999, after reaching the Championnat National, the club took back the name Stade de Reims, and a completely new crest was drawn by designer Christophe Blottin. It was a round red-and-white emblem with “Stade de Reims” in a red typeface and the initials “S” and “R” in the center. The shapes between the two letters are said to refer to the Ange au Sourire (the Smiling Angel of Reims Cathedral), one of the city’s symbols.
Cultural significance: This badge accompanied the club through its climb back to professional football in 2002, the return to Ligue 1 in 2012 and the 2017–18 Ligue 2 title. It’s the badge that brought Reims back to prominence after decades in the lower leagues. A lot of current fans grew up with this version.
Color scheme: Red and white only. Clean, no clutter.
The Modern Crest (2020–Present)
Years active: 2020 to present.
Leroy Tremblot designed this one after about a year and a half of work by a project group. President Jean-Pierre Caillot said the aim was to modernize a logo that was about twenty years old and whose markers had aged. The club first considered updating the champagne bottle, but legal review ruled that out, so the team started from a blank page.
The result keeps the “SR” initials with a crown above them. The crown references Reims as the “Cité des sacres” (City of Coronations), where French kings were crowned. The base of the emblem is the main portal of Reims Cathedral. A pentagon taken from a football sits at the center of the crown.
Key changes from previous: Gone is the round frame and the full club name around it. The approach is minimalist, closer to what Juventus and Inter Milan did with their rebrandings. The club name below the crest is set with careful attention to font weight and spacing, putting “Reims” in the spotlight.
What Do the Design Elements of the Stade de Reims Logo Mean?
Every piece of the current Stade de Reims crest connects to either the city’s identity or the club’s football heritage. The crown, the cathedral curves, the initials and the pentagon all carry specific meaning rather than being purely decorative choices. Caillot described it as “an iconic crest in substance and avant-garde in form.”
The crown is the anchor. It ties the football club to the city’s history as the place where French kings were crowned for centuries. That’s not just branding fluff. It’s a real piece of Reims’ identity that locals take seriously.
What Are the Stade de Reims Logo Colors?
Red and white have been the club’s primary color combination since September 1938, when Stade de Reims merged with the local rival Sporting Club rémois, who played in red and white. Before that merger, Reims wore tango and black.
The nickname “Les Rouges et Blancs” (The Red and Whites) comes from those colors. Players are also called the Stadistes.
Red: approx. #EE2223, sampled from the current logo. The club has not published official hex, Pantone, RGB or CMYK values, so treat any exact code you see online as an estimate.
White: #FFFFFF. White serves as a balancing element. It provides contrast, gives the crest breathing room and keeps the overall design from feeling heavy.
When the crest was unveiled, the club stressed that the color stayed unchanged. Limiting the palette keeps reproduction clean across different media. A red-dominant logo stands out on merchandise, broadcast graphics and digital screens.
What Font Is Used in the Stade de Reims Logo?
The club and the agency have not named a commercial font for the “SR” initials or the “Stade de Reims” lettering. It appears to be lettering drawn for the crest rather than a sans-serif typeface from a public font library.
The letterforms are bold, with sharp, angular stroke endings. That detail gives the type design a somewhat aggressive quality that matches the crest’s geometry.
In the name below the crest, the eye goes to “Reims” first. It creates a subtle typographic hierarchy without adding more elements.
What Are the Hidden Meanings in the Stade de Reims Logo?
The base of the crest is modeled on the main portal of Reims Cathedral, and the cathedral inspired its curves. Most people see a generic shield. But hold it up against a photo of the cathedral’s facade and you’ll spot the connection.
The crown’s central jewel is a pentagon. Dominique Jubert of Leroy Tremblot said it was kept from the ball as an emblem of the sport. So the crown itself becomes a bridge between royal history and football.
The crown and the “SR” initials echo the club’s original crest from the 1930s, according to Caillot. Even the open space around the letterforms helps the initials read clearly at small sizes.
How Does the Stade de Reims Logo Compare to Competitor Logos?
Stade de Reims sits in an interesting spot within French football branding. The 2020 redesign pushed the club toward the clean, crest-based approach that’s become popular across European football. Many French clubs still use traditional round or shield badges with more detailed imagery.
Compare it to Paris Saint-Germain’s logo, which keeps its Eiffel Tower and fleur-de-lis inside a circle. Or Olympique Lyonnais, which keeps a traditional crest with a lion. Reims stripped almost everything away.
The closest comparison in French football is probably FC Nantes, and that’s no coincidence. Leroy Tremblot redesigned Nantes’ badge in 2019, a year before tackling Reims. Both share the same “less is more” philosophy.
Outside of France, the Reims crest lives in the same design neighborhood as Juventus’ 2017 rebrand and Inter Milan’s 2021 simplification. Monogram focus, minimal color use. It’s a trend that either excites or frustrates fans depending on who you ask.
Against other French clubs, the Reims badge reads as modern. RC Lens keeps a more traditional badge. Strasbourg uses a round blue badge with a stork and the cathedral. Metz features its Graoully dragon. Reims went the other direction, while clubs like Olympique de Marseille and Toulouse keep busier designs.
How Can the Stade de Reims Logo Be Shown at Different Sizes?
The 2020 crest has a main version and an alternative version, and both appear in the club’s communications. The full composition (crest plus club name) is tall and narrow, while the crest alone works better in square spaces such as social media avatars.
On a sleeve patch or an app icon, the crowned “SR” mark carries the identity on its own. Saved as vector graphics, it stays crisp at any size, from stadium signage down to a few pixels on a phone screen. If you need print quality, a vector file beats a low-resolution screenshot every time.
Clubs that rebrand this way usually document these rules in internal brand guidelines. Reims has not published its own, so the points above are general good practice, not the club’s rules.
What Cultural Impact Has the Stade de Reims Logo Had?
The champagne bottle badge remains one of the most recognized symbols in French football history, even though it hasn’t been used officially in more than 30 years. It tied a football club directly to its region’s most famous product in a way that felt completely natural at the time.
The Loi Évin’s effect on the logo is a case study in how legislation can reshape sports branding. Reims is probably the clearest example of a European football club losing its core visual identity because of an advertising law. Even in 2020, the club looked at bringing the bottle back and decided it could not.
The 2020 rebrand hasn’t drawn the same level of controversy as, say, the Juventus redesign. The “Maison de football” platform gave the new identity a story that went beyond the badge and connected the crest to the club’s wider place in the city.
The crest has since been carried through good and bad seasons, including the 2025 Coupe de France final against PSG and relegation to Ligue 2 after the play-off against Metz the same year.
How Does the Stade de Reims Logo Fit Into the Overall Brand Identity?
The 2020 logo wasn’t a standalone project. The club presented it as part of a broader brand territory, with lettering, a typographic system, a consistent brand style framework and the “Maison de football” positioning.
The red-and-white system scales from the crest on a player’s chest to signage at Stade Auguste-Delaune. That kind of consistency is what separates a logo update from an actual rebrand.
Merchandise uses the crest prominently. The flexible system means the club doesn’t have to cram the full composition onto a sleeve patch where it would be unreadable.
The brand also leans into the Champagne region’s reputation for craftsmanship. “Maison de football” echoes the “Maisons de Champagne,” the established champagne houses. It’s a clever workaround. The club can’t put a champagne bottle on the badge, but it can borrow the language of the industry.
The launch itself was creative too. Before the reveal, a drop of blood temporarily served as the club’s logo for a blood-donation campaign.
How Should the Stade de Reims Logo Be Used?
This is general advice for working with any football club crest, not rules published by Stade de Reims:
- Use a clean, current version of the crest rather than an old badge or a low-quality copy from an image search.
- Don’t redraw, recolor, stretch or add effects to it.
- Don’t present the 1999 round badge or the champagne bottle badge as the current logo.
- For editorial use, such as match reports or articles about the club, showing the crest is generally accepted.
- Commercial use, such as merchandise or advertising, needs permission from the club, since its name and crest are protected trademarks.
FAQ on the Stade de Reims Logo
What does the Stade de Reims logo look like?
The current logo is a red and white crest with a crown above the “SR” initials and the club name below. The crown has a football pentagon at its center, and the crest’s curves come from the main portal of Reims Cathedral.
When was the current Stade de Reims badge introduced?
The club unveiled its modern crest on June 18, 2020, the club’s 89th anniversary. A project group spent about a year and a half developing it with the agency Leroy Tremblot.
Who designed the current Stade de Reims crest?
The French sports branding agency Leroy Tremblot, a subsidiary of LAFOURMI, designed it. Its general manager Dominique Jubert presented the design. The same agency created the FC Nantes rebrand a year earlier.
What was the old Stade de Reims logo?
The best-known old logo is the champagne bottle badge: a football with a champagne bottle, a red ribbon and the club name. From 1999 to 2020 the club used a round red-and-white emblem with the “S” and “R” initials, designed by Christophe Blottin.
Why was there a champagne bottle on the Stade de Reims logo?
Reims is the capital of the Champagne region, and the club grew out of a sports society founded by the Pommery champagne house in 1910. The bottle linked the club to the city’s best-known product.
Why did Stade de Reims have no logo in the 1990s?
France’s Loi Évin, passed in 1991, restricts alcohol advertising and barred the club from using a wine bottle as its emblem. After the 1991–1992 liquidations, the reborn club played without an official logo until a new crest arrived in 1999.
What are the Stade de Reims colors?
Red and white, approx. #EE2223 for the red (sampled from the current logo) and #FFFFFF for the white. The club took these colors from the Sporting Club rémois when the two clubs merged in 1938. Before that, Reims wore tango and black.
What does the crown in the Stade de Reims logo represent?
Reims is known as the “Cité des sacres” because French kings were crowned at its cathedral. The crown honors that legacy, and its central pentagon, taken from a football, connects the city’s royal history to the sport.
What font is used in the Stade de Reims logo?
No commercial font has been publicly named. The “SR” initials and the club name appear to be lettering drawn for the crest, with bold, angular strokes.
What is the Stade de Reims nickname?
The club is nicknamed “Les Rouges et Blancs” (The Red and Whites), and its players are also called the Stadistes. The team plays at Stade Auguste-Delaune.
What league does Stade de Reims play in?
Reims was relegated from Ligue 1 in 2025 after losing the play-off to FC Metz, and it now plays in Ligue 2.
Conclusion
The Stade de Reims logo tells a story that most football club badges can’t match. From a champagne bottle that a law pushed off the shirt, to years with no official crest at all, to a modern crowned crest designed by one of France’s sports branding agencies. Few French club emblems carry that kind of baggage.
The 2020 redesign tied the club’s Champagne region roots to a forward-looking identity built around the Reims Cathedral portal and the “Cité des sacres” legacy. It works at every size, from stadium signage to kit patches.
Whether you’re studying how logos are built or just curious about French football heritage, this badge is worth a closer look. It respects the past without getting stuck in it.
Sources
- Stade de Reims, Jour d’anniversaire et de changement d’ère… (18 June 2020) – https://www.stade-de-reims.com/jour-danniversaire-et-de-changement-dere/
- Footy Headlines, Same Designer as Nantes: New Stade Reims Logo Revealed (June 2020) – https://www.footyheadlines.com/2020/06/same-designer-as-nantes-new-stade-reims-logo.html
- Goal.com France, Le Stade de Reims dévoile son nouveau logo (19 June 2020) – https://www.goal.com/fr/news/le-stade-de-reims-devoile-son-nouveau-logo/z4fkrlsyr5v61ivkcqo6gsnr5
- Wikipédia, Stade de Reims (nom, couleurs et logos; history) – https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stade_de_Reims
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.
- When Shared Hosting Is the Right Choice for Your Website - 11 November 2026
- The YouTube Logo History, Colors, Font, and Meaning - 10 November 2026
- Monthly Retainer Billing for Freelance Designers: How to Get Paid on Time, Every Month - 10 November 2026
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.
You Might Also Like
