Level playing field: Spanish team change name to 'Flat Earth FC' in support of conspiracy theory

Spanish fourth division side Mostoles Balompie will now be known as 'Flat Earth FC' as the club's president vows to 'unite the voices of millions of flat earth movement followers' in support of his team.

Javi Poves, the 32-year-old president of the Madrid-based outfit, announced news of the overhaul on the club's website, adding that the official badge of the club will now be an image depicting the earth as a flat disk. 

"Football is the most popular sport and has the most impact worldwide, so creating a club dedicated to the flat earth movement is the best way to have a constant presence in the media," Poves said, perhaps hinting that the move was designed in part to generate controversy online.

The move comes in support of the fringe community of people who believe that humanity has been lied to for centuries as to the true shape of the earth.

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The movement, with its believers known as 'Flat Earthers', states that there is no observable evidence to confirm that the earth is a globe (or oblate spheroid) and that NASA and the United States government have propagated a conspiracy to keep humanity in the dark as to the true nature of the earth.

Of course, this theory has been debunked several times over by the scientific community and, in rare cases, even by flat-earthers themselves in their own experiments to 'prove' that there is no curvature to the earth.

Whether or not Poves' move will gravitate Flat Earthers into his team's orbit remains to be seen. He seems confident, though.

"This will also be the first football club associated with a cause and an idea, without having a specific location," he says. "Professional football clubs are subject not only to a nation, but also to a city. Flat Earth FC is the first football club whose followers are united by the most important thing, which is an idea."