Star (football Crest) on the Shirt- What Does it Mean???

Note that some clubs have stars on their crests that do not signify any particular titles. The crest of Peñarol of Uruguay has 11 stars for the 11 players, and a twelfth is to be added for the supporters, the "12th Man". Manchester City's crest has three stars, to give it a "more continental feel".

Standardised significance

The first team to adopt a star was Juventus, who added one above their crest in 1958 to represent their tenth Serie A title. This was an extension of the existing convention by which the reigning champions are entitled to display the scudetto on their shirts for the following season. The star was later formally adopted as a symbol for ten titles.

The Turkish league introduced a similar scheme in 2000, with one star per five titles.

In the Bundesliga in Germany, a standardised star system was introduced in 2004 called Verdiente Meistervereine (roughly "distinguished champion clubs"). It has a sliding scale of 1, 2, and 3 stars for 3, 5, and 10 titles. This controversially excludes champions from before the formation of the Bundesliga in 1963, and from the East German League. In November 2005, the German FA allowed all former champions playing outside the Bundesliga (the top 2 divisions) to display a single star inscribed with the number of titles[2]. Not all clubs abide by this decision.

Since 2006, all clubs currently playing in the Swedish premier league that have won ten or more championships have added a star above their crest. IFK Norrköping, have ten titles but no star, as they are currently playing in a lower division.

Major League Soccer's previously informal system, one star per MLS Cup title, was standardised in 2006, with the exception that defending champions will wear the MLS Scudetto for one season before adding a new star.

Ad hoc adoptions

Brazil added three stars above their crest after winning their third World Cup in 1970. Italy did likewise in 1982. All world champions have since followed suit. Uruguay display four stars, regarding their triumphs in the 1924 and 1928 Olympics as equivalent to their later World Cup wins, as there was no World Cup at the time.

More recently, club teams have added stars either upon winning a landmark trophy, or in response to a rival team's having added stars. Manchester United wore two stars in their UEFA Champions League matches in 1999-2000, to celebrate their second victory in the competition the preceding season. Liverpool F.C. likewise wore four stars in 2001-02, their first campaign in the event since the Heysel Stadium disaster in 1985. They wore five stars in the competition in 2005-06 after their fifth victory. Instead of stars, UEFA introduced the UEFA badge of honour in 2003, currently worn by five teams who have won the Champions League either five times or more in total, or three times in a row.

In women's football, the emerging ad hoc standard is to wear stars on the sleeve instead of the crest. All three teams that have won the FIFA Women's World Cup to date - the USA, Norway and Germany - follow this practice.