"Show them this is the top level and anything's possible."
The Premier League hosted its latest Emerging Talents Festival, giving hundreds of young players from diverse backgrounds the opportunity to showcase their ability in front of club staff from across English football.
Held at Loughborough University, the event forms part of the player pathway pillar within the Premier League’s No Room For Racism Action Plan.
The long-term initiative aims to address the under-representation of British South Asians in professional football.
The festival helps professional clubs strengthen links with local communities through Academy-style tournaments led by professional coaches.
It primarily engages South Asian children and provides a platform for grassroots players to be identified by clubs.
More than 3,300 players and around 900 coaches have taken part since the programme began. This year’s event brought together 28 clubs from the Premier League through to League Two.
Among those attending were some of Britain’s leading South Asian footballers, including Peterborough United players Brandon Khela and Kira Rai, alongside Wrexham AFC forward Mariam Mahmood and aspiring Leicester City Academy defender Reiss Khela.
They follow previous South Asian role models, including Mal Benning and Anwar Uddin, who have supported the initiative.
Khela said: “[It’s important] these kids get the opportunity.
“They’re still young and they’ve got so much growth and development, but to get them out there is the big thing for me.
“Show them this is the top level and anything’s possible. It’s about reinforcing that statement and giving these lads the opportunity.”
The festival has now been running for six years. After launching in 2021 with only two teams, it has expanded significantly and now attracts clubs from across the professional game.
This year’s event followed a series of regional qualifiers, with grassroots Under-8 teams representing their local professional clubs. More than one in 10 participants were invited to development centres following last year’s programme.
Mahmood believes initiatives such as the Emerging Talent Festival can help tackle the drop-off in South Asian representation as players move through football’s pathway.
Having started playing football to spend time with her brother and cousins, Mahmood became the first Pakistan international to win the Adran Premier when Wrexham secured the title last season.
She said: “When you look at a lot of grassroots teams, there are a lot of South Asians. But as you come up the pyramid, there’s less.
“The question is: why? These events help to scout the players and find hidden talents. Here, there are people watching and it’s good exposure for these kids to hopefully bridge the gap.”
The Premier League has also invested in increasing diversity within the women’s game. It currently funds 70 FA Girls’ Emerging Talent Centres, which are designed to broaden access to the women’s and girls’ talent pathway.
Since funding began three years ago, representation among players from ethnically under-represented groups has increased by 87%.
Rai said: “I’ve gone into schools to do talks and the shock on their faces at me [as a South Asian footballer]. I want to normalise it and not be the first brown girl they’ve seen play football.
“Just because they’re South Asian, just because they’re brown, it can be the norm for them. It’s so important they have role models so they can see it as a viable path for them.
“As good as [Emerging Talent Festivals] are right now, and they’re doing their job right now, the end goal is for these not to exist.”
“We want to see representation across the game as a whole – men’s and women’s. We want a game that represents our society in England.”
Khela drew on his own experiences in professional football when speaking to the youngsters:
“I’m nowhere near making it fully but I’ve achieved my dream of signing that first professional contract and now I’ve got aspirations of getting to the top level.
“Chase your dream, believe in yourself.
“The big thing is the criticism and the noise – it’s hard to block it out but you need to focus on your goal.”
Mahmood echoed that advice and encouraged young players to see themselves as future trailblazers:
“I didn’t have any South Asian role models growing up so I didn’t see it as a career path. It wasn’t common… you think: ‘Is this possible?’
“If I spoke to my younger self, I’d say: ‘Keep pushing, keep pushing. If there’s not one there yet, be the first’.”
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