Damning Kick It Out report shows discrimination growing in football - sexism and online abuse see huge rises

Discrimination across all levels of football in the UK is on the rise as Kick It Out report a huge 65.1% rise in reported incidents during the 2022-23 season.

The anti-discrimination charity recorded a record-high 1,007 reports from grassroots level, the professional game and across social media last season with certain forms of discrimination rising by 400%.

Reports of sexism were four times more prevalent over the past 12 months, despite the heralded success of England Women at last year's Euros. Kick It Out recorded one report of sexism in 2021/22 but 46 were registered this season.

There was also a 279% rise in reports of online abuse, which correlates with data released by FIFA after the World Cup. The football body reported that almost 20,000 abusive social media posts aimed at players, coaches and staff were recorded during the tournament. The biggest spike came when Harry Kany missed a penalty in England's quarter-final loss to France.

Kick It Out Chief Executive Tony Burnett has said that supporting victims of abuse remains the 'utmost priority'.

He said: "The significant increase in reports across the game is alarming and it strengthens our resolve to tackle discrimination in all areas of football.

"Behind each of these statistics is somebody who has sadly experienced discrimination, and supporting the victims of abuse remains Kick It Out's utmost priority."

The group did acknowledge that increased awareness of discriminatory behaviour could have influenced the worrying rises noted with fans more likely to report incidents than before.

Burnett added: "While we continue to work tirelessly to 'kick it out', we call upon fans, clubs, leagues and governing bodies to help us with this cause, and we are encouraged that the number of reports per incident continues to increase, suggesting that people are becoming less tolerant of discriminatory behaviour and more likely to report abuse when they see it.

"Our figures provide a snapshot of what is happening across the game, but we still don't know the full picture because clubs, leagues and governing bodies aren't currently mandated to share their reporting data.

"This underscores why football urgently needs a centralised reporting mechanism to collate and monitor reports. Only once that happens can we understand the full extent of the problem within football and tackle it with the full force of the sport."

High-profile incidents of discriminatory behaviour have occurred over the past season. In the UK, Brentford star Ivan Toney was subject to racist abuse online and the culprit, Antonio Neill, was banned from football stadiums for three years in a groundbreaking ruling.

Recently, in Spain, seven people were punished for racist behaviour aimed at Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jr. A £51,700 fine and a two-year stadium ban handed out to four men who hung an effigy of the star near the Real Madrid training ground while three others were fined £4,300 and banned from stadiums for a year for racist gestures made at a Real Madrid game in May.

A spokesperson for the Premier League said in a statement: “Discriminatory and racist abuse has no place in football or society and the Premier League is committed to combatting it in all parts of the game, however we realise there is still much to be done.

“The Premier League actively works to remove abusive online posts, and provides support to players, managers, match officials, club staff, and their families who have been affected."