Let’s be honest: visual identity has kind of fallen off a cliff in the grand scheme of branding things. Big and small companies alike have quickly tapped into flat-design to project themselves into the “digital era” (the hell does that even mean?), resulting in a long list of dull and repetitive brand identities. Black and white color palette, sans serif all caps type logos, Helvetica-clone “custom” typeface, does that ring a bell?

Thankfully, we still have sports bringing a bit of color into our lives. And boy, do visual identities matter in sports. If you’re into any sport, your team’s aesthetics is not just something you buy -it is something you bleed, an actual piece of your pride and culture. So here’s a toast to the sport that does it best and to the two teams far outclassing their genre to become global icons.