The Premier League has announced a three-year update on its No Room For Racism Action Plan. It shows progress being made to increase diversity across the game and reinforces the League’s commitment to tackling discrimination and supporting those who are subjected to racist abuse.
This update comes ahead of two match rounds (6-15 April) dedicated to No Room For Racism. During this period, the League and clubs will send a clear message that discrimination will not be tolerated in football or wider society, as well as demonstrating how diversity across all areas of the game makes it stronger.
The Action Plan was launched in 2021, outlining a series of commitments aimed at creating greater access to opportunities and career progression for Black, Asian and other minority ethnic groups in football, along with actions to eradicate racial prejudice.
The three-year update highlights the progress being made and work carried out year-round in line with the key pillars of the Action Plan. This includes ongoing action against racism, as well as improving pathways for players, coaches and others working in football from ethnically diverse backgrounds.
No Room For Racism Action Plan three-year update
Progress continues to be made against the six pillars of the Action Plan, including:
- 2,500+ cases of on line abuse targeted at players and others within the game have been investigated by the Premier League
- 88% of participants from the League’s inclusive coaching programmes are in full-time employment with clubs
- 3% of the Premier League’s workforce from ethnically diverse backgrounds (up from 12% in 2021), as well as two Board members (40% of the League’s Board)
- 1,344 boys and girls were involved in South Asian Action Plan qualifiers run by six Premier League clubs
- 19,000+ primary schools have access to free No Room For Racism education resources
- 26 clubs are involved in the Premier League Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Standard, with 17 at the advanced level
Premier League Chief Executive Richard Masters said: “We are pleased that progress continues to be made against the targets we set three years ago when we launched the No Room For Racism Action Plan. We know more can be done, so both the League and our clubs will continue to prioritise this work as we look to create meaningful change.
“This change takes time, but we are moving in the right direction and are committed to breaking down barriers and providing more opportunities for people from under-represented groups.
“We will also continue supporting players and others within the game who are victims of racist abuse. We have a team of experts dedicated to this and will work with social media companies, the Government and authorities to ensure legislation and barriers are in place, while doing all we can to ensure those responsible are punished.”
The ongoing fight against discriminatory abuse, whether it occurs within stadiums or online, remains a priority. The League commits significant resource to take action and support players and others connected to the game who face such abuse.
The League’s specialist investigative team continues to support players, their families and others working within football who are subjected to racism. A reporting system has been made available to clubs to host on their websites and fans can also report any racist abuse they see directed at players or others within the game at www.premierleague.com/reportracism
A combination of platform filtering, monitoring activities and real-world sanctions has helped drive down the number of reports received from players. In recent years, there has been a reduction in reports from 50-100 direct messages being reported per month to less than 70 throughout the current season.
Over the last two seasons, a matchday observer programme has been developed to ensure that fan-related behaviour within stadiums, including discriminatory abuse, is monitored closely at every Premier League fixture.
The Premier League and clubs are also committed to working with the authorities and tough sanctions are in place for anybody found guilty. Punishments include automatic stadium bans and legal prosecution. This can affect education and employment opportunities and could lead to custodial sentences.
Updates across the six pillars of the No Room For Racism Action Plan include: Action against racism
- The Premier League’s dedicated team has investigated more than 2,500 cases of online discriminatory abuse targeted at players and others within the game since 2020.
- The League also provides mental and emotional wellbeing support for players who have suffered discriminatory abuse.
- The online reporting system has been expanded and made available to fans, so they can directly use a ‘click to report’ link on club websites and premierleague.com, enabling them to easily report discriminatory abuse they see directed at players, managers or officials
- Proactive work with social media companies continues to remove abuse and investigate cases for further action.
- The matchday observer programme was piloted during the 2022/2023 season and expanded at the start of 2023/24 to monitor fan behaviour within stadiums at each of the 380 Premier League This ensures a detailed report of supporter-related incidents, including discriminatory abuse, is submitted from all matches.
Executive pathways
- The Premier League set medium and long-term targets to increase the diversity of its own 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
19.3 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 Player to Executive Pathways Scheme (pilot evaluation underway), the Premier League Futures initiative and our Work Placement Programme.
Coaching pathways
- Of 63 coaches to have progressed through our inclusive coaching programmes, 56 (88%) are in full-time employment with clubs.
- The Professional Player to Coach Scheme (PPCS) is a joint programme between the Premier League, EFL and 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. All 25 coaches who have been supported through the PPCS are employed as a coach in English professional football.
- The Coach Inclusion and Diversity Scheme (CIDS) supports coaches from black, South Asian and mixed heritage backgrounds, as well as women, by providing employment and training opportunities within Premier League and EFL Academies. 31 of 38 coaches who have been supported through CIDS are employed in men’s English football, with onein the WSL and two more overseas.
- 45 clubs across the Premier League and EFL have engaged with either PPCS or
- 361 coaches are registered to the Coach Index (a self-registration system for coaches from underrepresented groups), with 72 clubs signed up to use the platform when recruiting.
Player and match official pathways/education
- 1,344 boys and girls engaged in South Asian Action Plan (SAAP) qualifiers run by six Premier League clubs. 24 teams and 200 players took part in SAAP Emerging Talent.
- 73 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 5,000 girls.
- EDI training has been delivered to Academy players as part of the Games Programme, with 30 Premier League and Category 1 Academies engaged in 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.
- 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 Saturday 9 March 2024. Last season, Sunny’s brother, Bhupinder, became the first Sikh-Punjabi assistant referee in the Premier League.
- Rebecca Welch became the first woman to referee a Premier League match when she officiated Fulham vs Burnley on 23 December 2023.
Supporting communities
- Over 44,000 participants (38%) on the Premier League Kicks programme were from ethnically diverse communities last year.
- More than 15,000 teachers in primary schools across England and Wales have delivered No Room For Racism education resources, benefitting over 457,350 young people.
- The number of clubs involved in the Premier League Charitable Fund’s EDI network has grown from 40 to 96.
Embedding equality
- 26 Premier League and former Premier League clubs are now involved in the independently assessed Premier League Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Standard (PLEDIS), with 17 at advanced level. The Premier League is also beginning its own assessment this year to ensure it is measured independently against the same standards as clubs.