The badge · star & crescent · 1194 to today
The star and crescent has stood for Portsmouth since Richard the Lionheart's charter of 1194. On the football shirt it has been reworked, replaced and restored many times — from gold shields to a sword-and-anchor roundel to today's navy badge. Here is the whole evolution, in pictures.
Portsmouth's badge isn't really the football club's at all — it's the city's, and it predates the club by 700 years.
When Richard the Lionheart granted Portsmouth its first royal charter in 1194, the town took as its emblem an eight-pointed star above a crescent moon. The design is usually traced to the seal of William de Longchamp, the Lord Chancellor who arranged the charter, and heraldically it is described as an estoile within a crescent on an azure field — the same star and crescent recorded in the town's arms in the heraldic visitations of the 1600s.
The city motto, “Heaven's Light Our Guide,” was added to the coat of arms in 1929, borrowed from the Order of the Star of India and echoing the ground's link to the sea and navigation. When Portsmouth Football Club formed in 1898 it naturally borrowed the city's symbol — and although the badge has been redrawn again and again, the star and crescent itself has almost always survived. It is the one constant in everything that follows.
The earliest badge on the shirt — a soft powder-blue shield with a white star and crescent and a double border.
The classic pre-war badge: a bold blue shield edged in gold, gold star above a gold crescent. Worn through the 1939 FA Cup win and the back-to-back league titles of 1949 and 1950.
To save on production costs the star and crescent were rendered in plain white rather than gold.
A single-season return to a gold star and crescent inside a gold border.
A crisper shield with a faceted white eight-point star and crescent inside a blue keyline.
A cleaner, bolder blue shield with a plain white star and crescent — the last of the traditional badges before a radical change.
The most controversial badge in the club’s history: a circular crest with a crossed dagger and anchor for the city’s army and navy, dropping the star and crescent entirely. Fans never warmed to it.
Turning pointThe star and crescent came home — a gold shield with a blue eight-point star and crescent above a “Portsmouth F.C.” scroll.
The club wore the city’s entire coat of arms — the star-and-crescent shield flanked by a lion and sea-creatures, topped by a crest and the motto “Heaven’s Light Our Guide.” Handsome, but far too busy for a football badge.
Turning pointBack to a simple gold shield, blue star and crescent and “Portsmouth F.C.” scroll — the badge of the Premier League years and the 2008 FA Cup triumph.
A three-dimensional crest unveiled on 6 May 2008: a deeper blue shield, an arched “Portsmouth FC” and a glossy gold star and crescent, with “Since 1898” added.
Today’s identity: a navy roundel reading “Portsmouth Football Club,” a white star-and-crescent shield at its centre and the founding year, 1898 — a nod back to the club’s traditional look.
Turning pointA special-edition version of the current crest marked the club’s 125th anniversary, adding “1898–2023” and a “Celebrating 125 Years” ribbon.
