Leaked U.S. Soccer Badge Updates Logo To Match On-Field Achievements

United States Soccer took another step Thursday toward world respectability. The organization is reportedly changing its badge.

In a story broken by Footy Headlines, the U.S. Men's and Women's Soccer teams are finally graduating from the cartoon soccer ball logo established in 1993, just before the 1994 Men's World Cup in the U.S. and barely edited since then.

The new logo is simpler and crisper. The soccer ball and stars are ditched and "USA" and stripes are all that remains. The colors are also darker, which are closer in shade to the U.S. flag and provide a greater level of coordination and intimidation.

Footy Headlines says Nike, which just renewed its U.S. soccer jersey contract through 2022, worked with U.S. Soccer to design the new badge. The badge and new jerseys are projected to be ready for the 2016 centenary tournament, hosted in the United States.

Known as Copa América Centenario in Spanish-speaking countries, the tournament will feature 10 teams from CONMEBOL and six teams from CONCACAF.

Hockey fans will recall the badge draws similarities in scheme, but not shape, to the 2014 U.S. Olympic jerseys:

Before Footy Headlines reported the story, the Modesto, Calif. branch of The American Outlaws actually released the Footy Headlines image last night:

Neither U.S. Soccer nor Nike have confirmed the badge.

-- Follow Jeffrey Eisenband on Twitter @JeffEisenband.