VfL Wolfsburg 2017/18 Home Shirt

Nike turned the hoops into an optical game: hair thin green pinstripes over white, with diagonal breaks hinting at the club's W in the fabric, lettuce green sleeves, details in the house blue and the Volkswagen logo at the centre of the chest. On the back, Wolfsburg arches over the 25 of John Anthony Brooks, the United States centre back signed that summer from Hertha for the highest fee ever paid for an American player at the time, whom injuries barely allowed to start.

The 2017/18 season was a scare the size of the factory: three coaches, 16th place and survival secured in the playoff against Holstein Kiel, the second straight year on the tightrope.

Here at Hoopster, VW's giant enters the way the small clubs do: through distress, which is how shirts earn their stories.