Wolfsburg support charity

Instead of the familiar VW logo, a red heart with the words 'Ein Herz fur Kinder/BILD hilft e.V.' (A Heart for Children) will be emblazoned on the Wolfsburg shirts for the first half of the upcoming Bundesliga season.

The charitable organisation, which is supported by the nation's biggest-selling newspaper, Bild, will celebrate its 30th anniversary this year and the car manufacturer has agreed to help support the project.

"We want to highlight the impressive work done by 'Ein Herz fur Kinder' so far and advertise its anniversary this year," said VW spokesman Stephan Gruhsem.

It is the first time in the history of the Bundesliga that a charitable foundation will take the place of a paying sponsor on the shirts of a club, and follows the example of Spanish giants Barcelona ending their policy of not carrying a sponsor on the shirt in order to support Unicef last year.

"When Volkswagen came to us with the idea of supporting 'Ein Herz fur Kinder', we agreed immediately," said Wolves' manager Felix Magath.

Wolfsburg have therefore voluntarily foregone a potentially lucrative cash injection from a commercial partner to support the charity.

"As a successful club whose finances are healthy, we can also engage ourselves socially," the club's business manager Jurgen Marbach said.

"Certainly we could have marketed this attractive advertising area commercially, particularly given the positive development of the team last season."