Football Editions finds inspiration in the legends of African football

For the second publication by Football Editions, created by Michael Willows and Wayne Trevor Townsend, inspiration was found in the recent African Cup of Nations tournament, hosted in Gabon and won by Cameroon. African Stars is a limited edition book that pairs a legend of African football with a pattern inspired by the former player’s careers for club and country.

“We picked our 1 to 11 of African stars who have retired from the international game and also played for some of Europe’s biggest clubs. It was a shame we could only pick 11,” say the designers. “Africa has provided Europe with some of the most skillful players such as Jay-Jay Okocha and Kanu of Nigeria. It’s brought us pure power in the form of Patrick M’Boma of Cameroon and Didier Drogba from Côte d’Ivoire. We’ve had characters in abundance from the likes of Rigobert Song and Taribo West who sported fluoro green hair at the 2002 World Cup. African football has also brought us some of the most imaginative team kits, often featuring traditional shapes, symbols and patterns that have been influenced from its rich textile heritage.”

The publication marries images of the players, custom patterns and uses a headline typeface NSW01 by Matt Willey with custom ‘A’s inspired by the Adinkra symbols of Ghana. The featured players are Bruce Grobelaar, Samuel Kuffour, Lucas Rabede, Noureddine Naybet, Sunday Oliseh, Seidou Keita, Yaya Toure, El Hadji Diouf, George Weah, Kalusha Bwalya and Roger Milla.