The Premier League has reduced the length of its funding deal with Kick It Out from three years to 12 months, leading to concerns about the long-term security of the charity’s income and the independence of the anti-racism movement.
Kick It Out receives funding from a number of other stakeholders within the sport, including the Football Association, Professional Footballers’ Association and Sky Sports, but the Premier League is increasingly taking charge of its own initiatives and programmes around diversity and inclusion. It was revealed by the Daily Telegraph last week that the Premier League has ended an eight-year partnership with Stonewall and will abandon the rainbow armbands and laces campaign. The top flight is planning to launch its own anti-homophobia initiative in February to coincide with LGBTQ+ History Month.
The Premier League has no plans to cut ties with Kick It Out, a pioneer in combating racism and championing diversity since forming in 1993 as a campaign group, Let’s Kick Racism Out of Football. Despite making considerable progress in driving racism out of stadiums, black players remain targets for abuse, as was demonstrated on Friday when the Bournemouth forward Antoine Semenyo was allegedly racially abused during the first Premier League game of the season at Anfield.
Social media abuse is also rife, with the England defender Jess Carter revealing she received a barrage of racist online messages during Euro 2025. That led to the Lionesses ending their pre-match gesture of taking the knee, after five years, for the semi-final and final of the tournament. The Premier League captains decided last week to continue taking the knee this season, but before only the two matches during October’s Black History Month.
The Premier League declined to comment on its new funding arrangements with Kick It Out, but sources indicated a belief that a shorter deal will provide more flexibility to support specific programmes. The new funding deal is understood to have conditions attached regarding programme delivery, in line with the Premier League’s policy towards funding external groups. Kick It Out also declined to comment.
The Premier League has significantly increased the staff numbers and resources committed to its own inclusion work in recent years. The former Huddersfield and Gillingham striker Iffy Onuora was appointed in 2021 as its first head of equality, diversity and inclusion, with Kuljit Randhawa joining as the head of diversity and inclusion strategy the following year.
The League has also set up a Black Participants’ Advisory Group, comprising former players and managers including Wes Morgan, Darren Moore and Chris Hughton, to provide additional advice.
“We’re confident enough now to speak in our own voice,” the league’s chief executive, Richard Masters, said last week in reference to the Stonewall partnership. “We’re confident to put our own activations together, talking to clubs and stakeholders about it. Whatever activation we do is doing to be in February and we look forward to making some announcements about it.
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“We decided to be more determined, in the same way we now speak in our own voice on issues of racism, with the No Room for Racism campaign. When you poll fans, they say that’s the second most important thing the Premier League does, other than organise the football competition. We believe promoting our campaigns now, ensuring they are going to work, is the way forward.”
The Premier League’s moves into this area have caused tensions with Kick It Out in the past, most notably when it launched the No Room for Racism campaign six years ago without informing the charity. To compound matters, the first No Room for Racism weekend, in March 2019, took place during fixtures previously reserved for Kick It Out events.
While the Premier League’s commitment to combating racism is not in doubt, industry experts have privately warned that an independent body such as Kick It Out should not be replaced, because the charity is better positioned to hold authorities and clubs to account.
