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Football United: Year One Impact Report 2025-26

Kick It Out works to make football welcoming and free from discrimination through education, reporting, career support and partnerships. Its first Football United impact report covers the 2025-26 season, including education for referees, academy participants, supporters and pub staff. Career and training feedback sits alongside 148 Fan Education participants and 1,744 discrimination reports received.

Report snapshot
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About

Kick It Out tackles discrimination in football through reporting, education, career support and partnerships. It helps people report abuse and delivers learning for referees, academy players, parents, staff and supporters. Fan Education works with supporters referred for discriminatory behaviour, while Raise Your Game events and coach bursaries open routes into football careers. Training for pub staff, research and policy campaigns extend its work beyond the pitch and into the wider football community.

Key Metrics

Key Metric 1 11,000+ had access to education programmes, including registered Academy users
Key Metric 2 1,517 referees completed Academy courses; 815 academy players, parents and staff attended Equality Inspires
Key Metric 3 583 Raise Your Game attendees; 148 fans completed Fan Education this season

Key Outcomes

  • 95% of Raise Your Game attendees said it helped career development.
  • Fan Education participants had a reported reoffending rate of 1.25%.
  • 99% of trained pub staff said they felt confident recognising and responding to discrimination after training.

Geography

UK-Wide

Impact Snapshot
Key Metric 1
Delivered 11,474 sessions supporting 12,949 individuals across 40 programmes, generating 324,160 total engagements in 2025
Key Metric 2
Health & Wellbeing programmes delivered 270 sessions supporting 1,168 individuals, generating 7,315 engagements
Key Metric 3
Raised £50,714.49 net through the Foundation Fixture 2025 and £36,156.03 through the Fundraising Dinner (GBP)
Talking Tactics mentoring participant Jamie's confidence, aspirations and self-esteem grew significantly through one-to-one mentoring and mental health support
Impact Snapshot
Key Metric 1
754 unique young people registered for Sport and Life Skills programmes (+114% vs 2022-23)
Key Metric 2
16 Locally Trusted Organisations delivered the programme, up from 9 in 2022-23
Key Metric 3
2,650 sessions held by delivery organisations in 2023-24
72% of young people reported 'getting on better at school or college' following engagement
Impact Snapshot
Key Metric 1
Close to 2,000 participants supported in 2024/25 across youth, prison and environmental programmes
Key Metric 2
826 students from 10 state schools took part, 67% female, with 70% of partner schools in the most deprived areas (IMD 1-4)
Key Metric 3
184 serving or released prisoners engaged through the 'Boats not Bars' reducing-reoffending programme
85% of young people improved their mental wellbeing and 83% felt more confident through the youth programme
Impact Snapshot
Key Metric 1
21,212 people engaged with in 2024/25
Key Metric 2
17,708 people played some form of rugby through Foundation programmes
Key Metric 3
More than £9,000 raised through Foundation Day; 9,000+ given back to grassroots rugby clubs
88% of girls in the Girls Tackle Rugby programme reported feeling more confident, per independent research with Manchester Metropolitan University Institute of Sport