Yesterday, Arsenal and the PFA joined forces to host the inaugural South Asian Pathways event at the Emirates Stadium.
The all-day conference aimed to connect industry professionals and provide peer-to-peer support around South Asian inclusion within football, creating meaningful pathways to progress into roles within the football and wider sports industry.
Split into two sessions, the day saw Arsenal South Asian staff such as Chief Executive Vinai Venkatesham, Diversity Officer Samir Singh, Performance Nutritionist Tanya Kumar, and Academy Sports Scientist Nav Singh, all get invited on stage to speak and provide information, advice, and guidance to those aspiring to work within the sports industry.
The PFA has been executing its five-year South Asian Inclusion strategy since 2019. The three main areas of the strategy focused on the players via AIMS (Asian Inclusion Mentoring Scheme), the data on elite players and boosting representation across all areas of the game. Although the barriers are acknowledged, the strategy aims to change the narrative for South Asians in football and make it a positive one.
As a club, we were uniquely placed with our demographic, community links and the significant number of South Asian staff working in various roles.
Our Chief Executive, Vinai Venkatesham, said: “Through Arsenal for Everyone we have always aimed to champion diversity and inclusivity and make the club a welcoming place for everyone, no matter what your background or heritage is.
"We are proud to support the work the PFA are doing and hope that this event was another step to help them achieve their five-year South-Asian Inclusion strategy.”
Copyright 2025 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.
