Decrease in diverse senior management hires in English football – FA report

Decrease in diverse senior management hires in English football – FA report


The number of diverse candidates hired into senior management roles in English football went down last season, a Football Association report has found.

The FA’s Football Leadership Diversity Code report also found recruitment of non-senior diverse coaches in the men’s game fell short of 2021-22 targets.

So too did the hiring of female coaches in women’s football.

Responding to the report, Crystal Palace boss Patrick Vieira said he wanted the FA to be “more ambitious”.

“I saw the FA’s communication on what they are trying to do,” said former Arsenal captain Vieira.

“I would like them to be a little bit more ambitious on that side because I don’t think the numbers they want to achieve are high enough.”

Vieira previously spoke of the need to encourage black players into management, but told the BBC’s Football News Show that “doors are not open for us”.

Prior to the report’s release, QPR director of football Les Ferdinand was critical of the code’s impact in tackling racial inequality.

“It’s a voluntary code, so it’s made no difference whatsoever because there’s no repercussions for anyone if you don’t follow the code,” Ferdinand told BBC Sport earlier this month.

Ferdinand was speaking on the back of a separate Black Players Association report showing that while 43% of Premier League and 34% of English Football League players are black, only 4.4% of managers are black.

Meanwhile, Burnley boss Vincent Kompany this week said that better representation in football will only happen when there is more diversity at boardroom level.

The Diversity Code was launched in 2020 with the aim being to tackle racial inequality in the English game.

All 20 Premier League teams and 32 of the 72 English Football League clubs have signed up to the code, with the FA, PL and EFL exceeding in seven of the eight targets for the 2021-22 campaign.

However, there was a drop-off in the the number of senior management hires for both female and black, Asian and mixed heritage candidates, while clubs signed up to the code failed to hit six of the eight targets.

The report found:



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