Manchester City Women accelerate plans to stop wearing white shorts

Manchester City and PUMA have announced an acceleration in plans to stop female players wearing white shorts in support of players on their period.

In a joint statement, the club and the Blues’ kit manufacturer revealed the change to burgundy shorts was to help players “feel comfortable and perform at their highest level.”

Manchester City Women first wore burgundy shorts in a 6-0 thrashing of Blackburn in the Continental Cup in October, with white shorts traditionally accompanying City’s Sky Blue home shirt.

Pep Guardiola’s team wore the alternate colour of shorts during the UEFA Champions League Group Stages against Sevilla in Spain.

Manchester City are the part of a handful of football club’s to announce that they will move away from white shorts for female players, with the club bringing forward plans originally expected to be introduced for the 2023/24 campaign.

The move to burgundy shorts aims to help players feel more comfortable while on their periods.

A statement from PUMA read: “Puma and Manchester City take pride in working closely with our players to support them and create the best possible environment for them to feel comfortable and perform at their highest level.

“As a result of player feedback and the underlying topic of women wanting to move away from wearing white shorts while on their periods, we have decided to implement changes to the products we offer to our female players.

“Starting from the 2023/24 season, we will not be providing white shorts to our female athletes. We will always provide an alternative for our home, away and third kits to solve the issue highlighted by women across all sports.”

Prior to the statement, Manchester City manager Gareth Taylor said: “We’ve always spoken about supporting the players as best we possibly can, about improving levels for the girls as much as we possibly can, not just at this club, across the board for women’s football.

“I think it’s something we need to look at for sure, just so that we are offering the top-level support that we need to for the players.”