Hoopster was born from a simple passion: football shirts with green and white horizontal hoops.

But over time, it became about much more than shirts.

It is about memory. About clubs that carry neighbourhoods, cities, countries and unlikely stories. About kits that travel through eras, brands, sponsors, stadiums, victories, relegations, comebacks and Sunday afternoons. About that tiny detail almost no one notices, but that means everything to someone.

My connection to green and white hoops begins, inevitably, with Sporting. The hoops came with the crib, they were never a choice. The first time I saw Celtic as a kid, it felt like discovering family abroad: another country, another language, the same stripes. The question worked on me for years: how many of these families are out there? First a supporter, then a collector, and in the end the archivist of that search.

Hoops are everywhere. In giant clubs and small teams. In historic shirts and almost forgotten pieces. Wherever someone wears green and white in horizontal lines.

• Scotland
• Portugal
• Mexico
• Turkey
• Iraq
• Finland

Hoopster is my living archive of that search.

Hoopster is my living archive of that search: 277 shirts from 52 countries. And the archive answers back. A Spanish player recognised his own match worn shirt in a post and appeared in the comments to identify it. A Finnish striker gifted his own shirt to the collection after reading about his village club here. Yeovil Town supporters solved in nine minutes a squad number mystery that had lasted years. These shirts' stories keep being written by the people who wear, sell, remember and love them. Every shirt here has a reason to exist. Some arrived because of their beauty. Others because of their rarity. Others because of their connection to Sporting. Others because they tell a story that deserved not to be lost in a drawer, an old listing or a blurred photograph.

I do not collect only fabric, brands or seasons. I collect symbols. I collect clues. I collect the way football can turn a shirt into a place where identity, belonging and emotion all come together.

This project is personal. It was not created to be perfect. It was created to be true.

It is my way of preserving, organising and sharing an obsession that keeps growing shirt by shirt, story by story, hoop by hoop. Know a shirt that belongs here? In a drawer, at a club, in a family memory? I'm all ears: half the archive arrived through tips from fans, players and fellow collectors. Write to me on Instagram, @hoopster.pt. Some things you don't choose.

FAQ

What are “hoops”?

Horizontal stripes that run across a football shirt, traditionally green and white. That pattern defines this archive (distinct from vertical “stripes”).

Which clubs are known for green-and-white hoops?

Celtic (Scotland), Sporting Clube de Portugal, Yeovil Town (England), among many others in the archive.

What is Hoop DNA?

A visual signature from analysing each shirt’s hoops (band count, dominant colour, tone), used to compare and explore similar pieces.

Can I share a shirt from my collection?

Yes — use the Share page to offer photos and details. Promoted pieces may join the public archive as drafts for editorial review.

Do you collect every size?

Whatever size the shirt exists in. When you hunt a 90s shirt from a Yemeni club or a Finnish village team, you don't choose the size, you take the one that survived. The archive doesn't wear the shirts, it keeps them.

Do you sell or trade shirts?

No. Shirts enter the archive and never leave. But it works both ways: if you're hunting something and I cross it for sale, I'll gladly point you to it, and leads for my own hunting list are always welcome.