Kick It Out announced that it has logged a historic 1,744 discrimination complaints spanning professional football, grassroots levels and online platforms during the inaugural year of its Football United programme. The surge, the charity explains, is partly driven by a noticeable rise in anti‑immigrant rhetoric, but it also reflects the success of newly forged reporting pathways with partners such as Her Game Too, the Frank Soo Foundation and Football v Homophobia. These collaborations have given more individuals the confidence to come forward, resulting in over 100 reports being submitted through the fresh channels alone in the 2025/26 season.
While the headline figure might suggest a worsening of football’s cultural climate, Kick It Out cautions against a simplistic interpretation. The organisation stresses that the increase is also a sign that marginalized communities feel safer reporting incidents and that the network of reporting partners is becoming more robust. In fact, the charity expects the number of such partnerships to grow further in the 2026/27 season, widening the safety net for anyone experiencing prejudice on or off the pitch. Samuel Okafor, chief executive of Kick It Out, underscored the broader context: "At a time of rising discrimination and where we need action to make the game more inclusive and representative of all communities, football must be more united to take on its challenges.
Although our Impact Report shows a year of progress working alongside existing and new partners, we know that with further collaboration we can build on our policy, campaigning, education and reporting programmes to make the game more welcoming for everyone." The Year One Impact Report, released on Tuesday, paints a detailed picture of the scale of the task ahead as Kick It Out strives to embed inclusion throughout the sport. The report reviews the first twelve months of Football United, a five‑year strategy launched in September 2025 that is built around four pillars: ensuring everyone feels included, guaranteeing representation on the field, fostering leadership opportunities off the field, and empowering all participants to stand up against discrimination. Beyond the headline statistics, the report highlights several other milestones achieved in the strategy’s opening year. More than 11,000 individuals took part in Kick It Out’s education programmes, ranging from workshops for young players to training sessions for club staff.
The Raise Your Game development scheme attracted 583 participants, while 148 people joined the Fan Education initiative, which aims to equip supporters with the tools to recognise and challenge abusive behaviour. A notable partnership with Guinness 0.0 extended the charity’s reach into the hospitality sector. Over 3,000 employees of Greene King pubs received tailored training on spotting and responding to discrimination, demonstrating how football‑related inclusion work can spill over into wider community settings. The 2025/26 season also marked a historic moment for transparency in the professional game.
For the first time, clubs published workforce diversity data in line with FA Rule N, shedding light on the composition of leadership and coaching roles across the sport. This increased visibility is intended to drive accountability and encourage clubs to set measurable targets for improving representation at senior levels. Kick It Out also collaborated with more than 20 partner organisations to draft proposals for the Independent Football Regulator. These submissions sought to embed board‑level responsibility for equality, diversity and inclusion, as well as to establish concrete representation targets for club boards and senior management.
The charity’s work during the year was not limited to data collection. It engaged partners on a range of pressing issues, including online abuse, sexism and misogyny, faith‑based discrimination, and the broader inclusion of under‑represented groups.
These collaborative efforts aim to create a coordinated response that tackles prejudice wherever it surfaces, whether in stadiums, on social media or within community clubs. Okafor concluded with a forward‑looking statement: "This is only year one of the strategy, so we know there is so much more to achieve, but we have ambitious plans for the coming season where we will expand grassroots anti‑discrimination education, increase Fan Education delivery with support from the Premier League and grow Raise Your Game. We are determined to keep building a game where everyone is included, and everyone is united in tackling discrimination wherever it happens." The report’s findings underscore both the challenges and the opportunities that lie ahead for football’s governing bodies, clubs and supporters.
By strengthening reporting mechanisms, broadening educational outreach, and fostering partnerships across the sport and beyond, Kick It Out aims to transform the culture of football into one where diversity is celebrated and discrimination is swiftly addressed. Play Super 6 for a chance to win £1m! Enter for free.