England have dropped white shorts from their playing kit after releasing a new strip to be worn at the Women's World Cup.
The Lionesses won the European Championships last summer while wearing all-white kit, but the new design features navy shorts. A number of domestic clubs since the Euros have also changed their shorts after players expressed their concerns about playing in white while on their period.
But the new kit, still manufactured by Nike, includes blue shorts and will be worn at the Women's World Cup finals in Australia and New Zealand. It will also be worn by the Lionesses against Brazil at Wembley on Thursday in the very first women's Finalissima. Fans will be able to buy the kit from June 5, over a month before the start of the World Cup.
Back in October, Man City were the highest profile WSL club to confirm they had ditched white shorts after players had once again raised concerns about their practicality when players are on their period. Beth Mead said during the Euros last year that players had given feedback to Nike questioning the white shorts.
However, the Lionesses have worn them since, including during February's Arnold Clark Cup victory. That will change this week though, beginning with games against Brazil and Austrailia at Brentford next Tuesday.
Euro 2022 marked the first tournament where England had worn a kit solely designed for them, rather than wearing the same design at the men's team. Sarina Wiegman and her team won a major tournament for the first team when beating Germany 2-1 at Wembley in the final and head to Austrailia and New Zealand looking to win back-to-back honours.
The FA says the new home kit will pay homage to England's 1984 Lionesses, the first team to compete at a major tournament. That team also wore navy shorts.
In addition, the new design has a touch of blue on the collar of the shirt. England have also revealed their away kit for the tournament, which is light blue. It isn't the first time the Lionesses have worn non-white shorts at a major tournament, also doing so at Euro 2013, where they were eliminated in the group stage.
England face Haiti, Denmark and China in Group D at the World Cup finals this summer.
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