diff --git a/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/supermanifest/ConfigEntry.java b/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/supermanifest/ConfigEntry.java
index 788d673..09ac53c 100644
--- a/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/supermanifest/ConfigEntry.java
+++ b/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/supermanifest/ConfigEntry.java
@@ -21,9 +21,9 @@
 import com.google.gerrit.entities.Project;
 import java.net.URI;
 import java.net.URISyntaxException;
-import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.Objects;
 import java.util.Set;
+import java.util.stream.Stream;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.errors.ConfigInvalidException;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Config;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Repository;
@@ -106,8 +106,9 @@
     }
 
     srcRefsExcluded =
-        ImmutableSet.copyOf(
-            Arrays.asList(nullToEmpty(cfg.getString(SECTION_NAME, name, "exclude")).split(",")));
+        Stream.of(nullToEmpty(cfg.getString(SECTION_NAME, name, "exclude")).split(","))
+            .map(String::trim)
+            .collect(ImmutableSet.toImmutableSet());
 
     xmlPath = cfg.getString(SECTION_NAME, name, "srcPath");
     if (xmlPath == null) {
diff --git a/javatests/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/supermanifest/ConfigEntryTest.java b/javatests/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/supermanifest/ConfigEntryTest.java
index 61391db..7017680 100644
--- a/javatests/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/supermanifest/ConfigEntryTest.java
+++ b/javatests/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/supermanifest/ConfigEntryTest.java
@@ -140,6 +140,26 @@
         .containsExactly("refs/heads/a", "refs/heads/b", "refs/heads/c");
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void excluded_whitespace() throws ConfigInvalidException {
+    StringBuilder builder =
+        new StringBuilder(
+                getBasicConf(
+                    "superproject",
+                    "refs/heads/*",
+                    "manifest",
+                    "refs/heads/nyc-src",
+                    "default.xml"))
+            .append("  exclude = refs/heads/a, refs/heads/b , refs/heads/c \n");
+    Config cfg = new Config();
+    cfg.fromText(builder.toString());
+
+    ConfigEntry entry = new ConfigEntry(cfg, "superproject:refs/heads/*");
+
+    assertThat(entry.srcRefsExcluded)
+        .containsExactly("refs/heads/a", "refs/heads/b", "refs/heads/c");
+  }
+
   private String getBasicConf(
       String destRepoKey, String destBranch, String srcRepoKey, String srcRef, String xmlPath) {
     return String.format(