Based in Phnom Penh, Taka FC are one of many amateur football teams. Having existed since 2013, the team primarily existed as an extension of a ‘social club’ for like minded football fanatics. However, as they had no plan to compete professionally, there had never been an identity development for the team.

After 7 years of playing, the team had created a strong culture that merited a football brand to solidify their existence in the football community. With team members more actively entering the club into tournaments or engaging in friendlies with semi-professional teams, it was time to kit out Taka in style.

Clan United approached this project to design the Taka FC crest, alongside home and away shirts.

Crest Design

Starting from scratch left all possibilities open to explore. We started by considering what the club was, why it was founded, and what made it unique. There had been a long running joke that the team was for those that weren’t great at football, but that loved it anyway… that in fact the team was ‘Shitty Taka’. With the team also based in Cambodia, a few obvious design routes opened up.

The crest consists of multiple key components:

1. The team was made up of a smorgasbord of nationalities. Most players supported different football teams. It was decided that the club colour palette should be fairly unique and niche, as to not have instant associations with some of the most popular/famous clubs in the world. For example, if the palette was red and white then players may have associated the scheme with Manchester United or Liverpool…which would not have been favourable for most of the team!
   The unique pairing of gold and navy is a stylish combination used rarely in Football, but always effectively. It allowed Taka to stand out amongst other local teams whilst creating an aesthetically pleasing brand.
   
2. As crude as it is there needed to be a subtle nod towards the ‘shitty taka’ culture. Whilst the shape on the crest is fully intended to reflect Cambodian temple architecture, there is the slight suggestion of the famous ‘shit’ emoji…both in colour and shape.
   
3. As mentioned above, the main detail of the design is the temple shape, reflecting some of the Cambodian roof architecture on many famous pagodas.
   
4. Since the club is fairly new, the style was to be clean, modern, and simple. Bold fonts paired the club name with the date of inception. The overall design was kept blocky and basic to ensure printing ease and consistency.

Kit Sourcing

Originally, the club was operating on a small budget of player contributions. With this in mind, creating bespoke football kits would likely prove overly excessive and not ideal for the club at the time of Clan United working on this project. Instead, we scoured the market for available suppliers that could supply a kit that matched the unique colour scheme and style of the club.

This was no easy task. In Cambodia there may be a large number of local suppliers, but the brands tended to follow some unconventional styles and focus less on premium quality…and more on affordability. Taka wanted to have kits that the players felt proud to wear. Eventually, we were able to source a gold and navy striped kit design from a Vietnamese company, and have the crest, sponsor, and player names and numbers printed by a Phnom Penh printhouse.

For the away, the challenge was balancing the home top with a clearly different colour scheme…yet retaining brand consistency.

When working with stripes, the temptation is to use the softer of the two colours (in this case gold) and introduce a third unique colour. The logo used a warm orange, yet after exploration it was found that the combination of white and gold kept the branding looking classic and elegant,

Again, the sourcing challenge came in to play. For the away top, we were commissioned to track down a suitable design that could be purchased, delivered, and customised within as little as 10 days. By using our network of suppliers we were able to achieve this to allow a player to have a surprise testimonial club before he left Cambodia.

Kit Concept Design

As the club powers towards the future, there is more hunger and ambition for competitive football. This is paired with the want for a more premium kit, to enhance Taka FC’s presence in the community. Clan United has been working on bespoke designs that can be developed by premium garment factories in Cambodia to rival the quality of leading global football clubs. This is achievable as fortunately lots of major clubs use such factories for their own kits! If you own a Nike or Adidas premier league shirt from 2018, 2019, or 2020… double check the label, you might be surprised to find it was made in Cambodia.

With networks made, we have began work on some new exciting concept kits to be developed in late 2021.