Overwhelming majority backs Atlético badge change; the old crest returns in July 2024

Atlético Madrid’s socios were loud and clear: they wanted the club’s old badge, first used without Atlético Aviación branding in 1947, to make a comeback as soon as possible. On Friday evening, they got their wish.

In a binding vote held between Wednesday and Friday, a total of 68,894 socios decided Atlético should revert to its traditional badge beginning with the 2024/25 season. While that figure already represents 49.6 percent of all club members, only 77,690 socios (out of 138,881) voted — meaning the measure passed with 88.7 percent approval.

“The Red & White family has set an example of passion and love for Atleti, participating massively and without any type of incidence in such an important matter,” a club statement read. “This fact once again confirms the enormous commitment of our members to their team and the existence of different sensitivities that we must respect because they all work towards a common good: Atlético de Madrid.”

The old crest will officially return on July 1, 2024 — and though the statement made sure to tell readers that it will be a “complex, massive and costly process,” Atlético’s Board of Directors is fully on-board with changing the crest (seeing as a vast majority of socios have voted for it, and shirt sales with the newer logo have declined in recent years):

The club will take the necessary steps so that the agreed badge can be displayed from July 1, 2024 on physical media (stadium, Academy venues, signage), virtual environments, social networks, applications and website, licensees (millions of products of more than 4,000 references) and on third-party media (televisions around the world, competitions, videogames), as well as with our technical sponsor, Nike, so that the badge can appear on the kits for the 2024-25 season, through despite the fact that they are already in the manufacturing process. The design of the first kit was already approved by the Social Commission in one of its first meetings.

Atlético carried out this vote impressively quickly and efficiently, especially as it asked members to make a serious choice — whether to approve a major change to the club’s emblem. And while reverting to the former club crest is a big switch, it’s also one steeped in Atleti’s traditional visual identity that scores of members (and fans at large) identify with more closely.

Atlético first used a variation of this badge in 1917 and altered it to the more-familiar angular look during the early years of the Francoist regime — when the club was known as “Atlético Aviación.” The military affiliation was dropped in 1947 and, other than rounding the badge between 1950 and 1970, the club kept the same, exact logo (with golden borders every year but one) until the end of the 2016/17 campaign.