Uefa reveals its Euro 2024 brand identity designed by VMLY&R

Uefa has unveiled its Euro 2024 brand identity created by marketing and communications agency VMLY&R. With the tournament set to take place in Germany across ten cities in 2024, the launch of the 17th Uefa European Championship comes as an exciting announcement for football heads across the globe.

Now, alongside a film, fans can revel in a new logo designed from Uefa’s 55 member associations’ flags. This includes a custom-made font, developed with Dino Santos from DSType and devised with “every alphabet from, or used in, Europe,” says VMLY&R’s creative director Hélder Pombinho. “And we extended the idea to every single asset created.”

In terms of the logo specifically, Pompinho explains how the process began by choosing the colours that would represent each of the 55 flags. “We realised we could do that with six colours. It was a more straightforward way to represent each country instead of going for monuments or national symbols,” he says. As the games will be hosted in Germany, the team wanted to include the Olympiastadion in Berlin to “represent Germany and ‘paint’ it with the nations’ colours to portray diversity and inclusivity,” says Pombinho. “We had three goals: to faithfully represent and unite all countries through a potent symbol – in this case, the colour of their flag, to integrate everything in the Olympiastadion – that will be the house of football in 2024 and to wrap it with Uefa’s values.”

Throughout the identity, VMLY&R wanted to incorporate visuals inspired by the stadium, as well as creative nods to landmarks from the host cities and the shape of the Olympiastadion roof. “From the beginning,” adds Pombinho, “we knew we wanted to include the Olympiastadion in Berlin. We realised that, from a birds’ eye view, it has an interesting and inviting shape: it’s not closed like most stadiums.” Pombinho also likens the structure to a trophy, “a mandatory element in the logo,” which he says worked as a base to incorporate the colours. “Ultimately Euro tournaments are made for, and by, the fans and how diverse they are. So the stadium has a field, of course, but our focus was on the seats and the different people who fill them.”

Discussing the challenges that evolved throughout the project, Pombinho says that were two main hurdles. The first involved “giving the Euro brand a simple language,” which he deems unusual amongst football tournaments. “We balanced abstract simplicity and concrete representations in solid colours with a primarily flat design.” The second was on the topic of inclusivity and “representing the vast diversity of fans, making sure we humanised the brand identity by including all identities. We focused the illustrations on that.”

Pombinho refers to the brand identity as “an invitation.” In this sense, he wants “everyone to feel included and represented, to realise that Uefa Eero 2024 is inviting them, every one of them.” Uefa president Aleksander Čeferin adds on the matter: “It is great to see the logo of Uefa Euro 2024 come to life at the iconic Olympiastadion. From now, the tournament has a brand identity that reflects the ambition we have together with the host association and host cities: a Euro which is truly for everyone! For one month in 2024, we will be united by football in the heart of Europe.”

Credits:

Agency: VMLY&R
Creative Director: Hélder Pombinho
Creatives: Mariana Lancastre, Ana Pessanha, Bernardo Majer
Business Director: Pedro Gonzalez
Project Manager: Inês Batuca
Executive Director, Integrated Content EMEA: Carlos Baer