One of the coolest things about international soccer jerseys are the club crests that adorn each uniform. Some crests have stars around them representing World Cup titles from the past. In Brazil’s case, they have the most stars on their jersey with five. Italy is next with four. While in Beijing, the Olympic Committee has ruled against the display of any international crests on jerseys. The Committee gave no specific reason for the rule, but the Brazilian soccer team decided to break the rule in their first game against Belgium which they won 1-0.
While watching the Italy game on Thursday I noticed that their current crest was not on the jersey, replaced with this. In Brazil’s case, the squad will now drop the official crest and replace it with something different. Brazil received heat for wearing the crest in the first game, as many high political figures thought it would jeopardize the countries chances of landing the 2016 Summer games in Rio De Janeiro.
I don’t like how the Olympic Committee decided to come up with this rule. Why should a crest be banned for any reason at all? I could see if it was a swastika or something harming, but what’s wrong with displaying a international soccer federation crest? This obviously wasn’t a problem in Athens 4 years ago when Argentina took home the gold wearing their current federation crest.
These teams that are playing in the Olympics come directly from the countries that have soccer federations. If Brazil, Italy, and Germany want to show off their multiple World Cup titles then they should be able to. Those squads worked hard to earn those stars and they should be rewarded.
However, I see this hurting Brazil’s chances of hosting a Summer Games. It’s just a logo that most people pay little attention to. Other than team colors, most people won’t even realize when the squad makes a change. Brazil made their changes for their second game in Beijing going from this to this.
