OXFORD United are set to follow in the footsteps of other clubs by ditching white shorts.

Manchester City and West Bromwich Albion are among the women’s teams to stop wearing white shorts, in order to support players on their periods.

Gemma Sims, general manager of Oxford United Women, confirmed that the club would not be sporting white shorts as part of their home and away kits next season.

The move will take in both United’s men and women teams.

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Sims told BBC Radio Oxford’s Five Minute Fans Forum: “Every other female player would agree that’s the best way to go.

“When you’re on your period as a player, you’re not at your best anyway.

“You’re never going to be performing at your best when you’re on your period, there could be bloating, feeling generally tired and headaches.

“To be wearing white shorts at the same time is another distraction, it’s another thing you’re focusing on rather than the game.

“The club have had that at the forefront of their minds for next season.

“I believe both the home and away kits don’t have white shorts.

“I think the third kit has got white shorts because white is a popular colour for football kits.”

Sims was also asked how close she thinks football is to a woman managing a men’s team and what challenges they would face that a man wouldn’t.

She responded: “I don’t know how close we are to it but I do believe with more and more women getting more and more roles within football, there will come a time when a woman is the best candidate for a job managing a men’s team.

“I do think the first few women will have extra challenges so they’ll have to be a very strong character.

“They’ll be watched more closely, there’ll be more questions.

“I do think it’ll happen and it’ll be very interesting to see.”

On the crossover between the men and women teams at United, Sims said: “At the moment, it’s very difficult to get any crossover purely because of their schedule.

“The men are professional and they’re in full-time, the women are amateurs.

“The men come in during the day, they finish their work and are gone when the women come in the evenings.

“There’s very little crossover at the moment in terms of players.

“Staff-wise, I know Liam [Gilbert] does a lot with the men’s team and gets himself involved.

“He watches their training sessions and I’m sure he learns a lot from that, and brings it over to the women’s side.”