Can you spot it? Gradual changes were made to one of the three white batons on the Racing Club badge
The message finally hit home after one of Argentina’s biggest clubs staged a clever cancer awareness campaign.
Racing Club subtly doctored their badge over four weeks to mirror the growth rate of testicular tumours.
Fans eventually flagged the mystery on social media before former Racing forward Juan Ramon Fleita revealed the reasons behind the changes in a video.external-link
“It’s a good thing, to not let it slip. Detecting testicular cancer early saves lives,” Fleita said.
Changes to the badge were made slowly and posted on the football club’s official profile photo on social media, as well as in matchday squad lists and in publicity images featuring the Racing Club shirt.
Supporters finally twigged when one of the three white batons on the club shield was removed completely.
Juan Ramon Fleita played for Racing Club from 1990 to 1996
Racing Club, who play in Argentina’s Primera Division and are based in the Buenos Aires province, launched the campaign alongside Fuca - a cancer education and research foundation.
Fleita, 51, added: “Testicular cancer can develop in just four weeks, that’s why we did a campaign over four weeks. There is nothing more sacred than our badge and nothing more important than looking after ourselves.
“What happened to our badge can happen to your body, that’s why with Fuca we slowly altered the badge over the course of four weeks to generate awareness of what can happen with a lot of tumours. While no one noticed anything during the first few weeks, over the past days some noticed and grew worried and told us to do something.”
Fan anger on social media quickly changed to praise once the campaign was revealed.
Doctor Andres Esteban Saez responded on X, formerly known as Twitter, to say: “Excellent proposal from @RacingClub thank you for raising awareness about these important health issues, early detection of testicular cancer really saves lives, we see it every day.”
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