Arsenal, Kaizer Chiefs, Independiente, Bohemia FC… there is life outside the FC + City model to name football clubs! And some original stories that are bound to improve your sport cred.

95% of football clubs are named after their hometowns, in full like Liverpool FC, or via an acronym, like PSG for Paris Saint-Germain. Some spice it mildly with a reference, such as Ajax Amsterdam, (a mythological hero) or Real (Royal) Madrid. Yet some clubs have more creative and harder to decrypt names, which opens to interesting stories across sport, history and society. We’ve compiled a dozen of these from prominent teams across the globe.

That Special Place

Some football clubs have locational references attached to their names – but the subtle kind where the actual name of the place never features. These names are actually quite clever and can hint at a popular landmark, a building of importance to the team or a natural benchmark in the area the team was founded. Take a guess where Pyramids FC hails from? If you guessed Cairo in Egypt, spot on! 

How about Crystal Palace? It has  something to do with the word “crystal” : the team was established at the Crystal Palace Exhibition Building (in 1861!). Around that time, Arsenal FC, founded in 1886, retains its modern name from the Royal Arsenal munition factory in Woolwich, where the team members worked. Club Atlético River Plate in Buenos Aires adds a localization to the location mystery. It stands for Río de la Plata in Spanish, which is the name of its founding city’s main estuary. 

The story behind the naming of Scottish club Bohemian FC is the most interesting of all, in my opinion. When the club was first formed, they struggled to find a suitable venue to play and were quite the wanderers. This wandering nature of theirs led to them being known as “gypsies”, hence the word “Bohemian” was used.

Things Got Political 

You’ll often find that when a new football club is named, much thought is put into how the club can be reflective of its history – be it political or social. Naming a club through this angle is a great way to hint at the club’s victories after strife around the time of its inception. Hats off to the Latin American continent, where many football clubs took such a stance. 

Club Atlético Independiente is a prime example of a football club that was named after the club overcame a challenge. The club was formed by a group of young shoe store employees in Buenos Aires who weren’t allowed to participate in Maipú FC’s football matches. These young employees were only allowed to watch the matches. They decided to take matters into their own hands and, at a meeting held at a bar in front of the club, they chose to form a new club. They named the club “Independiente” –  to reflect their independence from Maipú FC. Pretty cool, right?

Historical impact

A great example of politics coming into play is the story of Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras. This football club was originally called Palestra Italia but had to change its name due to new rules from the Brazilian government that forbid football organizations from being named anything related to the Axis powers. The club then changed its name to Palestra São Paulo but that was also not allowed. They eventually settled on Palmeiras.

The story behind the naming of Brazil’s Sport Club Internacional is a heartwarming one that celebrates unity between people of different origins and nationalities. The founders of this football club were three Italian brothers who weren’t allowed to enter into any clubs in the city they were in due to the fact that they were Italian. There were only two clubs in the city but they both only permitted entry to those of German descent. Their experience with racial discrimination led them to form their own football club that welcomed players from any nationality and origin – hence the name Internacional.

Lost in Appellation

Sometimes, clubs carry a name with a great political or social intent, we just don’t know exactly which one it is. Take Argentinian club Defensa y Justicia, in Buenos Aires. Cool name isn’t it? Yet this expression doesn’t go with any precise, official meaning. We just know that it was founded in 1935 by a group of friends who used to hang out in the street and talk about soccer next to a neglected wasteland with an abandoned car. With young folks chatting up for hours in such humble surroundings, a name like Defense and Justice sounds just about right though. The club flourished in the 40’s and 50s, with strong local, social and community ties and activities. 

For French club Red Star, the meaning got confused. Sports fans link its name to leftist movements, the club being located in a communist cordon near Paris, and supported by local workers. But its name, adopted in 1897, does not root to the communist symbol, which appeared way later on the Red Army flag, in 1918. In fact, the club founders were all aristocrats and bourgeois, including FIFA president Jules Rimet. They picked an English term as of snobbery, and according to Rimet, from the Red Star Line that his English housekeeper was using to travel back to home. How ironic!

Ego Trip

What do you do when you think you’re the best player in the game and you  want everyone to know it? You name a club after yourself, of course!

First up we have the Kaizer Chiefs football club in South Africa. The Kaizer Chiefs was named after its founder Kaizer Motaung, who combined his name with  the Atlanta Chiefs, a soccer team he previously played for in the USA. Next, we have the Juan Aurich football club, which was founded by a group of workers of the hacienda Batán Grande. The Peruvian club was named Club Deportivo Juan Aurich after Juan Aurich Pastor, the owner of the hacienda.

It’s good to keep this sort of tribute simple though. South African club Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila was famous for having an unpronounceable moniker, named after a regional  monarch. The club was renamed a couple of months ago to Marumo Gallants FC. “Marumo” is a Sepedi word that means “sword” and “bravery”.

This next one is also one of my favourites – because it always gets a laugh out of me! The Strongest was formed by a dozen students in Bolivia back in 1908. It was initially named The Strong Football Club before receiving a new title, The Strongest. Congolese club Tout Puissant Mazembe is another pep talk, with “Tout Puissant” meaning “Almighty” in French and Mazembe meaning “bulldozer” in Swahili. 

Money Talks

Want a football club named after you? Follow in the footsteps of these companies and sponsor one, who, unlike Red Bull which keeps the city in their team’s name (New York Red Bull, RB Leipzig), took the whole club name for themselves! Examples are numerous. In Ghana, Ashanti Gold F.C. is named after the company that the players worked for, Ashanti Goldfields Corporation, and SuperSport United F.C. after the television channel group Supersport. 

Cameroonese team Coton Sport was also named after its sponsor company, Sodecoton, the national cotton production company. Elsewhere, English club Vauxhall Motors F.C. gets its name after the car manufacturing company. In Mexico, Cruz Azul was named after the cement company Cemento Cruz Azul, which deemed its official company sport to be football. Money sure does make the world (and ball) go round!

Extra Time: Not Always a Winner

If you ever get an opportunity to pick out a football club name (rare, but never impossible!), don’t forget to exercise your creativity because a name sets the tone of how a club’s characteristics and objectives are perceived. A club with an unoriginal and somewhat questionable name? A resounding nayyy! Yet, it is important to connect an original name with something truly meaningful, and to do it in a catchy way. 

I leave it up to you to decide if that was the case for teams like Club Always Ready (at kick-off time?) or Club Primeiro de Agost (literally Club First of August from its creation date). My vote rather goes to recently rebranded MLS team New England Revolution. Here’s an upbeat, original name that embraces the team’s local and historical identity with grace, all delivered in a punchy and sporty style!

*****

Written by Prenelle Pillay.
Photo by Leander De Mello.