Chelsea Football Club has a detailed and established equality, diversity and inclusion strategy.
This is reviewed and modified against our wider diversity objectives to reflect the changes in the communities we support and around our fan base, colleagues, players and partners.
We recognise that our strategy must be an evolving one, we need to be informed and adaptable to ensure we are creating the most inclusive environment possible for everyone. We seek to provide leadership; by encouraging and supporting diverse participation, delivering education and raising awareness on equality, diversity and inclusion
We have done this through specific programmes such as our Say No to Anti-Semitism campaign, our celebrations of Black History Month and our initiative to increase BAME representation within the press accredited for matches and other club events.
Our Building Bridges campaign is the framework through which we promote equality, celebrate diversity and make everyone feel valued throughout our club, stadium and wider community.
Chelsea has a zero-tolerance approach to discrimination on and off the pitch. We will always challenge inappropriate behaviour and the propagation of negative and toxic cultures in football.
Chelsea Football Club is committed to supporting equality, diversity and inclusion in football and ensuring positive and sustainable change. The code provides a focal point for all clubs to use the power of football to reinforce diversity and challenge harmful and discriminatory narratives, not just in football but in society more widely. We believe the Football Leadership Diversity Code will lead to positive steps that create change now and for future generations.
The principles of the code align with our club objectives and we are committed and excited to support these changes in football. The code and its targets are bold and ambitious but most critically they are underpinned with clear actions, which will have real impact, and reporting that will hold us to account.
We see this not as a short-lived tactical initiative, but as the development of sustainable best practice and leveraging the expertise in football to create programmes to deliver genuine long-lasting change.
Setting out a clear commitment to football’s diversity model is already a change for the better in English football.
To deliver, embed and sustain this diversity model, clubs will need to continue working together, supporting each other, and innovating and creating solutions to attract and develop great, diverse talent. The code is a common goal, a common purpose and can only benefit everyone working in and engaging with football clubs.
Find more information on how to sign up to the Football Leadership Diversity Code, and further detail on its principles, pledges and definitions.
