About FC Shirts United
What's going on here
The world is crawling with soccer teams. You know a few of them: the teams in your favorite league, the big teams from the world's big leagues. But those are just a drop in the bucket. There are hundreds more out there. Thousands.
And some of them have the coolest crests you've ever seen. Crests that deserve a wider audience. Crests that belong on a t-shirt.
Each month we scout the farthest reaches of the world and bring you four fabulous football team logos. Then they fight it out, from group stage to final match, based on your votes. You help crown the winner, selecting which crest is worthy to become our next limited edition shirt.
Who these shirts are for
Everyone! You! Hardcore soccer fans, and people who have never even watched a game. Don't worry if you've never heard of these teams — that's the whole point, nobody has ever heard of these teams. Don't feel bad if you only like a crest because you think it looks cool — again, that's the whole point!
How we pick team crests
What we're after are interesting logos from teams we and our circle of live & virtual buddies have never heard of.
Here are some of the rules of thumb we use when selecting crests for competition:
- Candidate teams aren't famous enough that we can buy their gear at the local (U.S.) soccer shop. This is pretty simple. It means no Liverpool, Barcelona, Monterrey, etc.
- Candidate teams aren't famous enough that we've heard of them before. This is more subjective, but this rules out, for example, clubs that get fame beyond their relatively obscure domestic leagues. That means no Peñarol, the Uruguayan finalists in this year's Copa Libertadores, and no Shakhtar Donetsk, the Ukrainian semifinalists in this year's UEFA Champions League.
- It's not easy to buy candidate teams' gear online. The last thing we want to do is take merchandise sales away from these teams. But the fact is, it's practically impossible for most of our customers (primarily in the "First World", if you will) to buy stuff from these teams anyway. If a given team even has an online store (many don't), then barriers of language, currency and sheer distance are enough to keep any of our customers from even considering such a purchase.
How to contact us
Email us at , tweet to us on Twitter, or write to us on Facebook. We look forward to hearing from you!
How our shirts are made
We're partnering with the fine folks at Spreadhshirt, one of America's biggest on demand t-shirt printing companies, to handle ordering, printing and shipping.
How we give back
Most of the countries whose teams we feature in our contests aren't the richest countries in the world. We want to make some small contribution to help lift those same countries up, and FC Shirts United will donate 10% of profits to help do that. (Please note: due to our partnership with Spreadshirt, our profit per shirt is unfortunately a good bit less than the full price of your shirt.) The primary charities that will be supported to begin with are Little Feet and Nothing But Nets. If you have a suggestion for additional worthy organizations, please let us know.
What you're committing to when you vote
Nothing. Pretty simple, no? We hope you'll vote in each month's tournament, and we hope you'll love the shirts that result, and we hope you'll buy lots of them. But you never have to do any of those things.
Put it this way: you don't have to be a voter to buy our shirts, and you don't have to buy our shirts if you're a voter.
What we do with your email address
If you give us permission, we'll send you reminders of tournament milestones. There will be two of those per month: when a tournament ends (which is also when the next one begins), and when the group stage ends (i.e., when final voting begins). Give it a try, unsubscribing is only ever one click away.
Other than those emails, we swear: we will never, ever share your address with anyone. Ever.