Manchester City is one of two powerful football clubs to come from Manchester, Great Britain. It’s considered one of the most accomplished clubs in England, being only overshadowed by the likes of Arsenal and Liverpool. Manchester City is considered one of the oldest English teams.

Who owns Manchester City? The team belongs to the Abu Dhabi United Group. The company, in turn, is owned by the members of the Saudi ruling family.

History Logo

The club was established in 1880 by several churchmen in Manchester in hopes of decreasing the moral corruption in the city. Back then, the team was known as St. Mark’s (West Gorton), after the church where most of the management was run. It wasn’t until 1894 that they became known as Manchester City.

1880 – 1894

The initial logo was a black circle divided into several sections by white rings. The middle section was the big circular space with just a white cross pattee – a squat Catholic cross. On the outer ring layer, the authors put the club’s name ‘St. Mark’s’ written in white along the top edge, and ‘West Gorgon’ likewise below.
The other two details were the numbers ‘18’ & ‘80’ in small script on each side of this ring section.

1894 – 2011

Since the end of the 19th century and until 2011, the club used just the Manchester coat of arms as one of their logotypes. It’s a red shield with yellow stripes and crowned by the ship imagery, supported by a horse and a lion on the sides. It was then topped by the knight’s helmet, and it, in turn – by the depiction of a globe.
In the very bottom of the emblem, there was a white ribbon saying ‘by counsel and labor’ in Latin.

1960 – 1970

The 1960 emblem pictured just the shield part from the coat of arms, surrounded by a ring of blue. The shield was mostly the same, except wider and rife with yellow: the frame was yellow, the yellow stripes were bigger, and the ship was also mostly in this color.
The ring around was also outlined with yellow, and there was the club name – ‘Manchester City F.C.’ – written in this color on the left and right.

1970 – 1972

In 1970, they reduced saturation and made the logo narrower and taller in proportion, and that’s it.

1972 – 1976

The 1972 emblem is notable for its simplified look. Instead of the striped pattern in the shield, they introduced a simple red Lancaster rose on the white background (the rose being the area’s traditional symbol). They reduced the whole shield in size and also introduced the sky blue background both outside the shield and behind the ship.
The outer ring became monochrome: black letters on a white background, with black edges.

1981 – 1997

The only real change here is in the background around the shield. All the blue parts became a brighter shade, and they also added a white gradient behind the ship image so it would look like sky.

1997 – 2016

In 1997, they reintroduced the old striped pattern, but made it turquoise with white. The shield was yellow, set against the turquoise background, and both sections were separated by the black rectangle saying ‘M.C.F.C’ in golden serif.
More details include an eagle’s head and two wings colored in gold behind the shield, the three golden stars above it all, and the white ribbon saying the club’s motto ‘pride in battle’, but in Latin.

2016 – today

The new design united many details in one logo. The shield still had its striped pattern in the turquoise color, but much paler and obstructed by a Lancaster rose. The ship was again put against a white background, but it was still yellow, just like the shield’s inner rims. The outline, however, was black.
The shield also notably went beyond its circular boundaries and encroached onto the ring. It also changed a bit, mostly by receiving a thick blue frame, but also by reshuffling the text. ‘Manchester’ & ‘City’ were now written on the opposite vertical sections, while sides were occupied by two parts of the founding year, written in pale blue.

Uniform History

The MC home colors were unchangeably turquoise since the first records. By comparison, the away uniforms changed much more often: the usual combinations included black and/or red (often in striped patterns), but there were also many grey, white or black variants.

Manchester City Colors

SKY BLUE
PANTONE: PMS 292 C
HEX COLOR: #6CABDD;
RGB: (108, 171, 221)
CMYK: (55, 16, 0, 0)

BLUE
PANTONE: PMS 281 C
HEX COLOR: #1C2C5B;
RGB: (28, 44, 91)
CMYK: (100, 90, 33, 29)

GOLD
PANTONE: PMS 135 C
HEX HTML COLOR: #FFC659;
RGB: (255, 198, 89)
CMYK: (0, 21, 76, 0)

DARK GOLD
PANTONE: PMS 7555 C
HEX COLOR: #D4A12A;
RGB: (212, 161, 42)
CMYK: (0, 28, 98, 11)

RED
PANTONE: PMS 485 C
HEX COLOR: #EC3325;
RGB: (236, 51, 37)
CMYK: (0, 78, 84, 7)