Vector Emblem of the Russian Football Union — Free Download in CMX, EPS, SVG, PNG

The emblem of the Russian Football Union (RFU) is the principal heraldic symbol of all Russian football — from backyard pitches to the national team's World Cup matches. A double-headed eagle with a football on its chest, crowned with three crowns and framed by a ribbon reading «Russian Football Union» — this image is familiar to every football supporter in the country. We have assembled a complete set of vector files: CMX for CorelDRAW, EPS for Adobe Illustrator, SVG for web, and a high-resolution raster PNG with a transparent background. Every file has been tested in its target editor — no broken paths, no missing fonts, no incorrect fills. Text is converted to outlines, and colors match the official RFU brand book precisely.

The Russian Football Union is the oldest football organization in the country, founded in 1912. That same year, the Russian Empire national team played its first international matches. Over more than a century, the emblem has undergone multiple transformations: from the pre-revolutionary imperial eagle through the Soviet hammer and sickle to the modern crest adopted after the RFU was established in 1992. Today's emblem represents a compromise between state heraldry and sporting identity: the eagle remains the central element, but its chest features a football rather than the Moscow coat of arms that appears on the state emblem of Russia.

For a designer working on national team merchandise, vector is non-negotiable. Fan scarves, matchday programs, stadium banners, souvenir products — anywhere the emblem is scaled and printed on different media, raster PNG will not suffice. Enlarge it threefold and the double-headed eagle's contours turn into a pixel staircase. Vector EPS or CMX solves this mathematically: scale to stadium facade dimensions, and every feather detail remains as crisp as on screen. Moreover, print shops accept only vector for high-quality full-color production — walk in with a PNG and they will turn you away.

History of the RFU: From All-Russian Football Union to the Present

The All-Russian Football Union was established on January 19, 1912, in St. Petersburg at a meeting of representatives from football leagues in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kyiv, Odesa, Kharkiv, and other cities. That same year, the Russian Empire national team debuted at the Olympic Games in Stockholm, where it lost 1-3 to Finland — not the most glorious start, but a beginning nonetheless. The VFS also joined FIFA that year, opening the door for Russian football on the international stage.

After the 1917 Revolution, the All-Russian Football Union ceased to exist, and Soviet football developed for many years under the All-Union Football Section and later the USSR Football Federation (from 1934). The first USSR national team emblem featured the letters «USSR» on a red background; later variants included a football with a hammer and sickle. A heraldic style emerged only in the late Soviet period, but the imperial eagle was, of course, out of the question — ideology forbade it.

The modern Russian Football Union was founded in 1992 as the legal successor to both the RSFSR Football Federation and the USSR Football Federation. It was then that the current emblem with the double-headed eagle was adopted — a return to the heraldic tradition that had been interrupted in 1917. In 2012, the RFU celebrated the centenary of Russian football, and the emblem received a commemorative version with a laurel wreath, but the primary version has remained unchanged.

Today the RFU governs all professional and amateur football competitions in the country: from the Russian Premier League to children's tournaments. All national teams — from youth to senior — compete under the RFU banner. The emblem appears on player and referee uniforms, on official documents, in stadiums, and in fan zones. It is one of the most reproduced sports logos in Russia, and its vector version is needed by tens of thousands of designers, print shops, fan communities, and media outlets every year.

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I needed the RFU emblem in vector for a national team kit review ahead of the World Cup — the magazine's print department required EPS. Your archive saved the day: opened in Illustrator, checked the curves, sent it to layout. The double-headed eagle on the spread looked alive; every feather was readable.

Emblem Symbolism: A Heraldic Breakdown

The RFU emblem is built on a state heraldic foundation adapted for sporting identity. Let us examine each element:

• Double-headed eagle. The central element, borrowed from the State Coat of Arms of Russia. The eagle gazes simultaneously west and east — a historic symbol of a Eurasian power spanning two continents. Unlike the state coat of arms, the RFU eagle bears not St. George slaying the dragon on its chest but a football — the key visual marker of sporting affiliation. The plumage is rendered in detail: each feather is a closed contour, allowing the image to scale to any size without distortion.
• Three crowns. Two smaller crowns above each eagle head and one larger crown above them — symbols of sovereignty and unity. In the state coat of arms, the crowns represent the three branches of government; in the sports emblem, this reading persists at the level of visual continuity. In the vector, each crown is drawn as a separate object with its own fill.
• Scepter and orb in the talons. The right talon grips a scepter — a symbol of authority; the left holds an orb — a symbol of statehood. These elements reference monarchical heraldry but in the sporting context convey the RFU's primacy in the country's football hierarchy.
• Name ribbon. A red ribbon at the bottom bears «Russian Football Union» in white lettering. The typeface is a humanist grotesque, highly legible at a distance. The ribbon is threaded through the base of the eagle's tail, adding compositional depth.
• Color scheme. A golden eagle on a red field — the classic combination of Russian heraldry, tracing back to Byzantine tradition. Red shield, golden eagle — colors associated with Russia on the international stage for centuries.

Vector Format Comparison

International Football Union Emblem Comparison

Where the RFU Vector Emblem Is Essential

• Fan merchandise. Scarves, T-shirts, caps, flags — all products bearing national team symbols are printed via screen printing and heat transfer, both of which demand vector source files.
• Stadium banners and tifos. A fabric panel the size of a seating section — any raster file will turn into mush. Only vector curves preserve the eagle's feather detail at any scale.
• Matchday programs and booklets. InDesign layout — EPS inserts as a linked file, updates with source changes, and outputs with perfect CMYK color separation.
• Sports media and TV graphics. Magazines, newspapers, television title cards — anywhere the emblem must look flawless on any medium from newsprint to an HD screen.
• Websites and mobile apps. The SVG version is perfect for web: lightweight, instant loading, adaptive scaling on any screen.
• Awards and souvenirs. Medals, trophies, plaques — engraving and embossing require monochrome vector contours. Open the EPS, remove fills, and you have a pure contour for laser work.

Download and Opening Instructions

1. Download emblema_rfs.zip — contains CMX, EPS, SVG, and a high-resolution PNG.
2. Extract to any folder without a password.
3. CMX — open in CorelDRAW (X3 or newer).
4. EPS — for Illustrator, Inkscape, Affinity Designer, Scribus. The most universal format.
5. SVG — for web: drag into a browser or open in Figma or Inkscape.
6. PNG — 2000 px on the longer side, transparent background. Click the emblem image to download the PNG version.

Download the vector emblem of the Russian Football Union in CMX, EPS, and SVG formats as a single archive. For the high-resolution PNG raster version with a transparent background, simply click on the emblem image on this page. All files in the archive are ready for immediate use: contours are closed, fills are correct, and colors match the official RFU brand book. Scale the double-headed eagle to billboard size and every feather, every crown detail, every element of the scepter and orb will remain perfectly sharp — that is the fundamental advantage of vector graphics over raster. Files have been tested in CorelDRAW X3, X5, 2019, 2023 and Adobe Illustrator CS6, 2021, 2024, as well as in the free editors Inkscape and Figma. No import surprises, no missing fonts — text is outlined and displays identically on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Frequently Asked Questions