The design of the home kit was unchanged from 1996-97, but Göttinger Gruppe were the new sponsors.Adidas deviated away from the usual principle of having a reversal of the home kit for the away. Instead, the new second kit was a red and black hooped affair.The third shirt (apart from the sponsor) and socks remained the same but the new away shorts were used instead.
There were no mashups seen domestically - for instance, Stuttgart wore the away kit at Schalke rather than using dark shorts with the home shirt - but for the European Cup Winners' Cup final against Chelsea, a socks-clash was sorted by using the away set. Unfortunately, Stuttgart lost 1-0 in Stockholm.
