The Premier League, the English players’ union PFA and the English Football League (EFL) launched a project on Monday to increase diversity among coaches in professional football.
The program will take effect next season. This means that six starting coaches will be placed with a club in the EFL for a period of 23 months per season – that is, with a team in the Championship or below – to gain work experience.
The program follows strong criticism recently expressed by Raheem Sterling. The Manchester City attacker thinks that black players are given too few chances to work as a coach at the highest level.
“There are about five hundred players in the Premier League and a third of them are black. But we have no representation in the hierarchy or in the coaching staff,” Sterling said at the beginning of this month. BBC.
‘Step in the right direction’
The announced program of the English federations is not only aimed at black players. The aim is to also offer ethnic minorities such as Asian players more opportunities to enter professional football as a coach.
“This is a critical time for black, Asian, and other ethnic coaches,” said Darren Moore, chairman of the Black Players and Coaches Advisory Group and manager of League One club Doncaster Rovers.
“We all know that the diversity among coaches and managers has to increase. I see this program as a step in the right direction. There are many functions at a football club, from the youth academy to the first team, which are ideal for a starting coach. . “
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