The FA pitch for a level playing field

Article posted by Coliseum, March 18^th, 2021

Image: The FA

The Football Association (FA) (UK) recently launched a central careers platform to create greater transparency of roles available to individuals across English football, and to support organizations and clubs to reach a larger and more diverse audience of candidates.

‘The FA’ stated, “Any organization or club which has signed up to the Football Leadership Diversity Code will be able to advertise vacancies on the platform, which can be found here.”

‘The FA’ added, “We launched the Football Leadership Diversity Code for the professional game in October 2020, with signatories including the Premier League and over 40 clubs across the Premier League (top level of the English football league system), English Football League, Barclays FA Women’s Super League and FA Women’s Championship. Its aim is to increase equality of opportunity, moving away from recruitment practices focused on personal networks, and ensuring that candidates across the game are recruited from diverse talent pools.”

London-headquartered the ‘The Football Association’ is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world and is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the amateur and professional game in its territory.

The English Football League is a league competition featuring professional association football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in world football.

The Football Association Women’s Super League (FA WSL), and currently known as the Barclays FA Women’s Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women’s football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by The Football Association and currently features 12 fully professional teams.

The Football Association Women’s Championship is the second-highest division of women’s football in England. The division was established in 2014 as FA Women’s Super League 2. WSL 2 replaced the previous level 2 division, the FA Women’s Premier League National Division, which ended after its 2012-13 seasons.

With the visibility of roles across English football identified as a key issue during the development of the Football Leadership Diversity Code, all signatories agree to advertise appropriate roles centrally for at least two weeks to help reach a broader audience and attract more candidates from both within and outside of the game.

Since its launch, a further 10 clubs have signed up to the Football Leadership Diversity Code, taking the current total of club signatories to 51. In addition to this, the English Football League and several recruitment agencies have committed to being signatories of the Code.

Edleen John, The FA Director of International Relations, Corporate Affairs and Co-Partner for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, observed, “A key aim of the Football Leadership Diversity Code is to ensure recruitment processes across English football become fairer and more transparent. The launch of the careers platform will support signatory organizations and clubs in reaching a broader and more diverse pool of talent. We hope that this centralized mechanism will create greater visibility and awareness of the roles available across football, which will enable individuals from other industries to consider coming into the game, whilst increasing equality of opportunity for those already in the industry and looking for their next role.”

Added John, “We are delighted that more clubs continue to sign up to the Code, evidencing their commitment to this important agenda. We truly believe it will lead to positive, long-term change across the game, ultimately changing the landscape of English football for the better.”

In the latter part of 2021, The FA will launch a version of the Football Leadership Diversity Code tailored for the grassroots game, with further details to be announced in due course.

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