adidas dressed Rapid in bold hoops, a green collar and a sponsor impossible to ignore: the orange block of Wien Energie, Vienna's municipal energy company, blazing over the green and white. Above the crest shine three stars, one for every ten titles of Austria's record champions.
Champions in 2004/05, Josef Hickersberger's Rapid wore it back into the Champions League group stage, knocking out Dudelange and Lokomotiv Moscow with a win in Russia. The draw was cruel: Bayern, Juventus and Club Brugge, six defeats in six games and consolation goals from Marek Kincl. In the league the club slipped to fifth and Hickersberger left mid season to take over the Austrian national team.
Here at Hoopster this is Austria's first shirt, and it arrives with one of the loudest colour clashes in the collection.