Kick It Out: UEFA Foundation for Children and FedEx bring greater diversity to UK football coaching.

Now in its third year, 'Championing an Inclusive Future through Football' was designed by the UEFA foundation in partnership with FedEx, a long-term donor and sponsor of UEFA tournaments. Kick It Out is the third non-profit to receive funding from the UEFA Foundation for Children thanks to a Charities Aid Foundation grant on FedEx's behalf.

Kick It Out will use the funding to support its Coach Pathway Programme which encourages ethnic minorities to remain and develop in coaching and management positions.

Troy Townsend MBE, head of player engagement at Kick It Out, said:

"There is a lack of black and Asian managers, coaches and talent ID scouts in professional English football. Thanks to this collaboration with the UEFA foundation, Kick It Out has managed to provide funded opportunities for a number of people from underrepresented backgrounds."

A cohort of 15 individuals have been selected and taken on a journey of continuous professional development, with access to mentors, coaching observation opportunities and talent ID interactions with specific support from The FA and the Premier League.

Urs Kluser, the general secretary of the UEFA Foundation for Children, said:

"We're delighted to continue the diversity, equity, and inclusion programme we developed with FedEx, by welcoming Kick It Out as a new delivery partner. This programme has allowed us to target financial support to non-profits using football as a useful tool to promote diversity and inclusion in communities, specifically among children. This year's programme shifts the focus from children to young adults, benefitting a non-profit that uses football to promote diversity and aims to improve and maintain diversity from a grassroots level to professional levels of the sport itself."

Wouter Roels, SVP marketing operations, FedEx Express Europe, said:

"Throughout our journey as a sponsor of professional football, FedEx has been fortunate to see the tremendous value of the work being done by the network of non-profits throughout Europe and the world. Together with the UEFA Foundation for Children, we continue to identify ways to best use our charitable platform. FedEx Cares, to support organisations working in the shadows of professional football to influence positive change either through or within the sport."

Alongside charitable funding, FedEx and the UEFA Foundation for Children will work together to donate one aspect of FedEx's sole and exclusive sponsorship rights - the opportunity to provide three player mascots for the 2024 UEFA Champions League final in Wembley- to children put forward by Kick It Out.

Read more about the impact of this three-year programme and the previous year's charitable collaborations on UEFA Foundation for Children's website here.

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