Race Row erupts over All-White Arsenal Women’s Team

Many Arsenal fans are furious that there is no diversity in the women’s team.

This comes after Arsenal Women’s squad photo for the 2023-24 season was unveiled and did not feature a single player of colour.

In the post, 27 players and manager Jonas Eidevall can be seen being photographed ahead of the Women’s Super League (WSL) season, which started on October 1, 2023.

In 2022, the BBC estimated that the proportion of black, Asian and minority ethnic players in the WSL is between 10-15%, down significantly from nearly 33% in the men’s Premier League.

Unimpressed Arsenal fans took to X to criticise the lack of diversity in their latest squad.

One user said: “No professional team, mens or womens, should be able to have a team the comprises of all white players in 2023.”

Another said: “Lovely picture and that but god it’s so concerning that one of the biggest clubs in the world doesn’t have a single POC (person of colour) in the squad.”

A third wrote: “You mean to tell me arsenals stakeholders and the executives see this and think this okay?

“The head coaches think this is okay?

“The PLAYERS look at each other think this is okay? ALL WHITE?? Please @ArsenalWFC @Arsenal there needs to be an emergency meeting and change.”

A fourth added: “We don’t have a single black woman player. That’s frightening.”

Other critical fans said the lack of diversity was “shocking” and that it is something that needs tackling going forward.

As for South Asian female players, there has been a surge in those playing in the WSL.

But despite playing at the highest domestic level, British Asian women are not being picked for the national team.

This comes following the lack of diversity in the England Women’s team as they won Euro 2022.

There were just three mixed-heritage players involved for the Lionesses.

Ex-Arsenal striker Ian Wright said it was a “systemic problem” while former Lioness Eni Aluko said at the time that recruitment changes need to be made to tackle the lack of diversity.

Aluko told ITV: “It’s about making sure we’re widening the pool of players for Sarina Wiegman [Lionesses manager] to choose from and for the academies to choose from.

“The talent is there. The FA needs to sit down and look at whether they can build centres in certain areas.

“Just change our practises a little bit. With the professionalism of the game it’s maybe excluded people a little bit.”

The Football Association swiftly launched its Discover My Talent programme aimed at improving accessibility to football, which the governing body hopes will improve diversity.