Scandal in England! Premier League clubs don't want white men to apply for jobs with them. An investigation by the British daily The Telegraph reports on advertisements that explicitly state that only men from ethnic minorities and women can apply, bTV reported.
The clubs are under serious pressure. At its core is a movement funded by the Premier League, which aims to increase the number of women and people of different races in coaching positions.
The initiative, known as the "Coaching Inclusion and Diversity Program", was launched four seasons ago and aims to address the underrepresentation of certain groups in professional football. According to the league, everything that is happening is aimed at "increasing the number of female coaches and male coaches of black, Asian and mixed race".
There are many questions raised about the approach that the league's leadership is taking, especially in job advertisements.
A job offer from Manchester United for a youth coach states: "Coaches who are currently underrepresented in the English professional game - people from black, Asian and mixed race groups, including women of all nationalities. Only applications from those backgrounds will be considered.
Similarly, Liverpool's advert for a similar role states: "We will only consider coaches who are currently under-represented in the English professional game - people of black, Asian and mixed ethnicity, including women of all backgrounds".
The wording used in both cases has also appeared in recruitment adverts from a number of other teams - including Tottenham, Aston Villa, Everton, Newcastle, West Ham, Leicester, Brighton, Bournemouth, as well as Leeds United and Norwich in the Championship.
Several of the clubs involved have told the Telegraph that the adverts were created from a template provided by the Premier League, which they say has been updated and no longer explicitly bars white men from applying.
The backlash surrounding these adverts is not just in the media. Rupert Lowe, a member of the UK parliament and former Southampton chairman, described the incident as "disgusting anti-white racism".
Ipswich subsequently withdrew its job offer, with sources telling the Telegraph that the club did so after finding it had been poorly worded.
While the move is aimed at addressing long-standing racial diversity gaps in English football, the wording of the adverts has sparked debate in England about how far organisations can go in pursuing the goals of representation.