Wolves leverage their Category One Academy status to help create more inclusive and diverse environments within the men’s and women’s coaching workforce which better represents the diversity of football and society.
Football is a diverse sport which brings together communities and cultures from all backgrounds – this diversity has made the game stronger on the pitch and it is vital this is also reflected across all areas of the game.
The Premier League, The Football Association, the Professional Footballers Association (PFA) and the League Managers Association (LMA) have collaborated to create the Coach Index, a self-registration system providing employment and development opportunities within professional football to increase gender and ethnicity representation across both the men’s and women’s game.
The Index is open to all genders and enables coaches and senior professional from black, Asian and mixed heritage backgrounds and women from all backgrounds with a minimum of a FA Level 2 or UEFA C licence qualification to sign up for alerts from clubs and football partners.
The Coach Index brings about an opportunity to affect change in an area of the game where more progress is required in the knowledge that professional game partners are showing a commitment to improving the diversity of the coaching workforce in support of the Premier League No Room for Racism Action Plan and the FA Football Leadership Diversity Code.
The Coach Index was created in consultation with the aim of producing a more inclusive and diverse coaching workforce which is representative of the playing population. The Index enables coaches who meet the criteria to create their own profile and tailor it so they can be sent appropriate employment opportunities and accessible learning and development activity both in the men’s and women’s professional game.
Once an individual has registered to the Coach Index, individual profiles will remain anonymous but allow clubs to search the registered talent pool of coaches and senior professionals from currently under-represented groups only displaying their qualifications, and work experience to ensure that there is a fully inclusive approach towards the recruitment process.
The index is accessed by clubs commencing a formal recruitment process and should not be used as a replacement or another form of network-based recruitment. The index ultimately allows clubs to filter registered individuals into a shortlist in order to signpost job opportunities to selected coaches. Opportunities provided by the index will always be provided on merit first.
Earlier this year, Jon Hunter-Barrett and Laura Nicholls were promoted to academy manager roles at Wolves, and their dual remit covers both the men’s and women’s academies.
In a joint statement, they said: “The Coach Index allows us to expand our recruitment net to specifically target the currently underrepresented communities into pursuing coaching and professional careers with Wolves.
“At Wolves we pride ourselves on our values, we are progressive, determined, bright, unified and humble. We are very proud to support the Coach Index, as this targeted approach allows us to further enhance career pathways and professional development while supporting coaching journeys in the professional game for all genders, we encourage all coaches who fulfil the criteria to register.”
Wolves Academy has produced several high-profile graduates including internationals Robbie Keane and Joleon Lescott, many other players have gone on to first team football at Molineux, including current first-team players Chem Campbell and Hugo Bueno.
Sign up to the Coach Index here: Coach Index - Coach Index (theclubportal.com)
View current vacancies at Wolves here: Vacancies | Wolverhampton Wanderers FC (wolves.co.uk)
Wolves are committed to being an equal opportunities employer. We will consider applications solely on the basis of merit regardless of gender, race, nationality, ethnic or national origins, marital status, age, disability, sexual orientation, political or religious belief, background or family circumstances.
