To that end, we began the creative process with our focus on numerals, ensuring that at any scale and upon any medium — from digital scoreboards, to lower-thirds of broadcast screens, to figures within infographics and player statistics — the digits led the way.

The typographic behavior of those integers laid much of the foundation for the three-weight, six-style type family that followed. The commissioner, who was particularly fond of an early retail release (Reader, 2009), asked for a type that was relatively wide in stature and borrowed from some of the grotesque characteristics found within the Reader family.

As a counter or juxtaposition to several humanist type styles already in rotation within the UEFA’s various structures, we proposed a typographic tool that would act as a foil and complement to those inconstant variables. We landed on Europa Nuova: a neo-grotesque, geometric sans serif workhorse that would serve as a backbone for ongoing UEFA endeavors.

With its sturdy, wide-set numerals leading the way, the remainder of the type was fleshed out with subtle grotesque details interspersed, several distinctive characters to set it apart stylistically (see, for example, the single-storey ‘a’), and an overall legibility that allows the type to transcend geographies and serve the client for quite some time to come.