The FA has published a three-year plan to make themselves “as diverse and inclusive as possible” as their chairman, Greg Clarke, said “football shouldn’t just be trying to keep up with the pace of societal change; it should be helping to lead it”.
The plan, called In Pursuit of Progress, is part of the FA’s commitment, announced in January, to ensure those running the game reflect those playing it.
Paul Elliott, the former Chelsea player who chairs the FA’s inclusion advisory board, said the organisation has “the opportunity to make a long-term difference and have a huge impact on what football looks like on and off the field”.
The FA’s focus will be on increasing the diversity of its workforce. Although just over half of the 23-man senior squad for this summer’s World Cup were black or mixed-background, only 13% of the FA’s coaching staff, the same proportion of its staff in general, and 5% of people in leadership roles are from a black or minority ethnic background.
By 2021 it expects this number to rise to 20% of coaches and 11% of those in leadership roles. During this season it will undertake research “to pinpoint the barriers for qualified BAME coaches seeking employment in the professional game”.
Although 75% of FA job applicants are male, 32% of the FA’s workforce are women, and 30% of those in leadership roles. Over the next three years the FA hopes to increase those figures to 36% and 40%. “We can help ensure that those running the game – from the boardroom to the boot room – are diverse and representative of those who play,” Clarke said.
It also pledges to support LGBT+ players and fans – including by working with the Qatar FA in the buildup to the 2022 World Cup – to improve their mental and emotional well-being support programmes and to promote the awareness of colour blindness.
The FA also plans to increase the number of England players, both men and women, who make their way into coaching, with its ambition being that at least eight England players join coach education programmes every season.
