AN ENGLISH SOCCER club has issued an apology after it launched merchandise which featured the words “United 93” close to the anniversary of 9/11.

Oxford United play in England’s Football League One and this morning launched its new “Campus Collection” of American sports-style clothing.

The club was founded in 1893 and in reference to this, one item of clothing featured “United 93” on the back.

United Airlines Flight 93 was one of four passenger planes hijacked by Al-Qaeda during the 9/11 attacks in which 2,977 people were killed.

It crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing all 44 people on board after being hijacked on 11 September 2001.

A film called United 93 was made about the tragedy and released in 2006.

Shortly after the clothing range launched online this morning, it was hastily deleted and is no longer available to view on the club’s website.

It’s understood Oxford United had initially planned to release the collection on 9 September, to coincide with the start of the NFL season in the US, but pushed this back after deciding the date was too close to the 9/11 anniversary.

In a statement this afternoon, Oxford United said it “would like to sincerely apologise for the recent launch of the Campus Collection”.

“The range was released without understanding of the historical context and associations,” added the statement.

“It should not have reached the point of sale and we take full responsibility for not undertaking proper due diligence.”

Oxford United added that the range has been removed “with immediate effect and we are reviewing our approval processes to ensure nothing like this happens again”.

“Once again, we would like to put on record our sincere apologies for this error and for any offence caused.”

Reaction was somewhat mixed online.

While one social media user remarked that “not everything revolved around America”, others labelled it “amateurish” and added: “Maybe Google next time, they literally made a film about it.”