The Premier League continues to stand against racism. Using the League and its clubs' reach and popularity, the No Room For Racism initiative has combined action to fight against discriminatory abuse while also promoting equality.
The Premier League brings people together from all backgrounds. It's a competition for everyone, everywhere and will continue being so.
Recently, the League announced a four-year progress update as part of the No Room For Racism Action Plan. The plan is built around six pillars which reinforce the League’s commitment to tackling discrimination and supporting those who are subjected to racist abuse.
The six pillars
Action against racism
- As well as the Premier League’s dedicated team investigating online abuse targeted at players, the League also provides mental and emotional wellbeing support for players who have suffered discriminatory abuse.
- The Matchday Observer Programme is in its second full season, monitoring fan behaviour within stadiums at each of the 380 Premier League fixtures. This ensures a detailed report of supporter-related incidents, including discriminatory abuse, is submitted from all matches.
- Fans can also report online discriminatory abuse they see targeted at Premier League players, managers, coaches, match officials and their families directly at premierleague.com/reportracism.
Developing coaching pathways
- The League runs a range of positive-action programmes and initiatives that support under-represented groups.
- Of 81 participants to have progressed through our inclusive coaching programmes, 75 (93 per cent) are in full-time employment with clubs. 37 have graduated with a Diploma of Higher Education in Professional Coaching.
- The Professional Player to Coach Scheme (PPCS) is a joint programme between the Premier League, EFL and PFA. It supports former players from black and ethnically diverse backgrounds, as well as women, who have an ambition to coach with employment and training opportunities at Premier League and EFL clubs.
- Of the 32 coaches who have been supported through the PPCS, 31 are currently employed in English professional football.
- The Coach Inclusion and Diversity Scheme (CIDS) supports coaches from Black, South Asian and mixed heritage backgrounds, and women, by providing employment and training opportunities within Premier League and EFL Academies.
- 44 of 49 coaches who have been supported through CIDS are currently employed in professional football.
- 45 clubs across the Premier League and EFL have engaged with either PPCS or CIDS.
- 436 coaches are registered to the Coach Index (a self-registration system for coaches from under-represented groups), with 78 clubs signed up to use the platform when recruiting.
- The Premier League has recently launched a new Anti-Racist Coaching workshop, available to all Premier League and Category One Academies, to support Academy coaches and staff in facilitating culturally aware environments through a proactive approach to inclusive practices.
Enhancing executive pathways
- The Premier League set medium and long-term targets to increase the diversity of its own workforce. The target of 18 per cent for 2026 has been surpassed and the target for 2031 is 30 per cent.
- The percentage of Premier League staff from ethnically diverse backgrounds has risen to 20 per cent (from 12 per cent in 2021) and two Board members are from ethnically diverse backgrounds (40 per cent of the League’s Board).
- The League continues to commit to diversifying the workforce across the game through initiatives such as the Premier League Futures initiative, the Premier League Internship Programme and Future Academy Leaders.
- Premier League Futures supports current or former Academy players to develop their personal and professional skills with a view to progressing into different careers within the game. There are 17 people on the programme this season, with 35 supported over three years.
Improving player and match official pathways
- More than 3,000 children and 400 grassroots coaches have engaged since the South Asian Action Plan launched. In summer 2024, the third annual Emerging Talent Festival saw 220 children of South Asian heritage represent 11 Premier League and EFL clubs in a tournament at Loughborough University. The festival will run again in 2025, with 24 clubs attending.
- 72 FA Girls’ Emerging Talent Centres, funded by the Premier League, are now established – with an aim of diversifying the women and girls' talent pathway through inclusive principles and better accessibility for more than 6,200 girls. A quarter of players represent the top four lowest economic areas and the programme continues to focus on enabling wider access to the talent pathway for players from diverse backgrounds.
- The Academy Games Programme uses fixtures to reinforce key anti-discrimination messages, including the opportunity to take the knee and No Room For Racism-branded matches.
- EDI training has been delivered to all Premier League and Category One Academy players as part of the Games Programme, with 25 Premier League and Category One Academies engaged in the NRFR Allyship workshop.
- The Elite Referee Development Plan launched in 2022, with one of its aims to increase diverse representation of match officials and engage with diverse communities to inspire the next generation. Since then, Black, Asian and mixed heritage officials in the professional game have risen from two per cent to six per cent.
- Lauren Impey became the first woman of black heritage to be a referee within the National Group of Officials in Season 2024/25.
- Sam Allison became the Premier League's first black referee since 2008, when he officiated Sheffield United vs Luton Town on Boxing Day 2023.
- Sunny Singh Gill was the first British South Asian to referee a Premier League game, for the Crystal Palace v Luton match on 9 March 2024. The year before, Sunny’s brother, Bhupinder, became the first Sikh-Punjabi assistant referee in the Premier League.
Community support
- Approximately 33 per cent of participants in Premier League-funded community programmes came from ethnically diverse backgrounds in 2023/24.
- No Room For Racism education resources are being used by more than 15,900 teachers in primary schools across England and Wales, benefitting over 475,000 young people.
- Through funding, training and networking the Premier League Charitable Fund is supporting 95 EDI leads to embed EDI across all levels of their organisation.
- In 2023/24, 36 per cent of Premier League Kicks participants were from ethnically diverse backgrounds.
Embedding equality
- 27 Premier League and former Premier League clubs are now involved in the independently assessed Premier League Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Standard (PLEDIS), with 18 at advanced level. The Premier League has started its own assessment to ensure it is measured independently against the same standards as clubs.
