Famous Spanish soccer club FC Barcelona has submitted a new crest for the 2019-20 season. A crest, similar to a logo for an American team, is a way of uniting players under a club. FCB will wait until next season to sell the new crest on apparel in an attempt to make the most of the current season’s stocks of merchandise.

The main difference in the crest is that the “FCB” lettering in the middle will be removed. Sophomore Roger Lopez likes most changes to the crest but believes the removal of the letters will lead to more counterfeiting.

“A drawback to simplistic looks is that people who make counterfeit merchandise or bootleg merchandise will take advantage of that,” Lopez said. “Without the FCB lettering, it will be much more difficult to try to track down a counterfeit company.”

The new crest also removes one red stripe and one blue stripe from the bottom. Sophomore Simon Hasik still has fond feelings for the current crest and the many details that it holds.

“It seems to me like they’re changing it for no reason,” Hasik said. “Even though people will recognize the logo as FC Barcelona, it sort of seems to me like you’re taking away your recognition.”

Another difference is the removal of the black outlines inside the crest. Lopez believes that the change of crest represents more than soccer.

“Barcelona is a much bigger organization than it was back then,” Lopez said. “It’s not only football, or soccer as they call it here, but it encompasses a wide variety of sports.”

The last main difference is the ball in the new logo moving more toward the center in the absence of the lettering. In Hasik’s opinion, the new crest will not affect the club or its popularity around the world.

“I see it as an attempt to modernize,” Hasik said. “It doesn’t seem to me like they’re concerned with simplifying it.”

Barcelona hopes that all of their fans around the world will respond well to the new crest as the club continues to make further adaptations for the modern era.