Reason why England team didn’t wear white shorts during Euros after ‘concerns’ were raised
Topics: Football, Periods, Sport, Women's Health
Madison Burgess
Featured Image Credit: Florencia Tan Jun - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images
Topics: Football, Periods, Sport, Women's Health
The Lionesses incredible Euro 2025 final victory against Spain was the most watched television moment of the year so far - but some eagle-eyed viewers at home spotted a confusing detail.
The England team took home the trophy after a nail-biting final in Basel, Switzerland, which ended with a penalty shootout. And according to the BBC, the dramatic moment boasted a peak live audience of 12.2 million across all their platforms.
Prince William and Princess Charlotte were in attendance at St Jakob-Park to cheer on the Lionesses, while Princess Leonor and Infanta Sofía supported Spain.
And as more fans of the sport are rushing to buy their new England kits after the victory, some have picked up on the fact that the women were wearing blue shorts for the football final.
Advert
The men’s team usually don an all-white kit, and the women’s team have also previously sported one.
Taking to Twitter, one user questioned: “Why is it that both England and Italy are wearing alternative kits in the Women’s Euros tonight?
“Italy’s kit is blue shirts, white shorts, blue socks. England is white shirts, blue shorts and white socks. Maybe I’m missing something, but where’s the clash? I don’t see one.”
Another user penned: “Beats me why England can't be in all white and Italy in all blue here honestly. This is awful lol.”
And a third pointed out: “Whilst I do like this kit, I would like to point out there is no blue on the English flag?”
However, what some football fans may not have realised is that there’s actually a very intentional reason behind the choice.
It’s all about tackling period anxiety among female athletes - because come on, no-one wants to be playing in the Euros final and have to worry about leakage.
Studies have found that the issue actually impacts performance and even discourages young girls from participating in sport.
Alex Krumer, a professor in sports economics at Molde University College in Norway, presented his 2024 study on the performance effects of wearing white shorts earlier this month, coinciding with the Euros.
He found that based on data from World Cups and European Championships between 2002 and 2023, women's teams wearing white shorts averaged 1.27 points per game compared to 1.57 points for teams in dark colours.
Meanwhile, men's teams showed no performance drop when wearing white.
The professor told Reuters: “Sports should be a vehicle for gender empowerment. It's about inclusiveness, because this is an exclusive part in women's soccer, not necessarily for professionals but for the young girls this is important."
The Lionesses swapped their white shorts for blue ahead of the World Cup in 2023 after player complaints.
At the time, as per The Guardian, Beth Mead talked to Nike about the problem during the 2022 Euros and explained: “It’s very nice to have an all-white kit, but sometimes it’s not practical when it’s that time of the month.”
She added: “We deal with it [menstruation] as best as we can but we discussed the shorts issue together as a team and fed our views through to Nike.”
Meanwhile, in an interview with the Football Association earlier this year, Captain Leah Williamson said: "Half of the population has one, you are not alone.
“We empower each other in so many other ways that then this is just one of the small cogs in the wheel of empowering each other. There's just no shame, which is, I think, the main thing that allows us to be free.”
She added: “You don't want to be embarrassed and, especially being at school with boys and banter, you're brought up to think that it's like a really shameful thing.
“There's so much rubbish built up around it. I play sport to be free. I can't be free if I'm worrying about the most natural thing in the world.”