Kick It Out received a record 1,744 reports of discrimination in professional football, grassroots and online, during the first year of its Football United strategy.
The organization says increased anti-immigrant language contributed to the increase, while improved reporting relationships with groups including Her Game Too, The Frank Soo Foundation and Football v Homophobia also gave more people the confidence to report incidents.
More than 100 reports were received through these new channels during the 2025/26 season.
Kick It Out says the increase in reports should not be seen solely as a deterioration of football culture, pointing to greater confidence among communities to report discrimination and improved relationships with partner organisations.
The number of reporting partnerships is expected to increase during the 2026/27 season.
Samuel Okafor, chief executive of Kick It Out, said: “At a time of growing discrimination and where we need action to make the game more inclusive and representative of all communities, football needs to be more united in meeting its challenges.
“While our Impact Report shows a year of progress working together with existing and new partners, we know that with further collaboration we can build our policies, campaigns, education and reporting programs to make the game more welcoming for all.”
Kick It Out’s Year One Impact Report, released on Tuesday, highlights the scale of the challenge facing soccer as the organization strives to make the game more inclusive and representative.
The report covers the first year of Football United, a five-year strategy launched in September 2025 with four key aims: include everyone; everyone is represented on the field; everyone can lead off the field; and all oppose discrimination.
The organization also highlighted several other developments during the first year of its strategy.
More than 11,000 people participated in Kick It Out educational programs, while 583 people participated in its Raise Your Game development program and 148 participated in Fan Education.
A partnership with Guinness 0.0 saw Kick It Out take its work into pubs, with more than 3,000 Greene King staff being educated on how to recognize and respond to discrimination.
The start of the 2025/26 season also saw professional clubs publish workforce diversity data for the first time under FA Rule N, providing greater visibility of representation in management positions across the game.
Kick It Out says it has worked with more than 20 organizations to submit proposals to Football’s Independent Regulator, contributing to increased accountability at board level for equality, diversity and inclusion, as well as representation targets for club boards and senior management positions.
The organization also worked with partners on issues including online abuse, sexism and misogyny, faith-based discrimination and inclusion for underrepresented communities.
Okafor added: “This is only the first year of the strategy so we know there is much more to achieve, but we have ambitious plans for next season where we will expand grassroots anti-discrimination education, increase the provision of fan education with the support of the Premier League and raise your game.
“We are determined to continue building a game where everyone is involved and everyone is united in tackling discrimination wherever it occurs.”
