English football bodies form new working group with police and Ofcom to tackle online abuse

The Football Association has brought together the Premier League, English Football League, WSL Football, the Professional Footballers’ Association, Kick It Out, the UK Football Policing Unit and Ofcom to share insights and intelligence on abuse directed at people who play, watch or work in the professional game.The FA said: “A new partnership between English Football, the UK Football Police Unit and Ofcom will streamline collaboration in their collective fight against online abuse in football.”The partnership is designed to connect football’s existing monitoring and reporting work with criminal enforcement and Ofcom’s regulatory programme under the Online Safety Act, including development of so-called user empowerment rules that would require platforms to offer tools helping users manage the content they see.Under the structure set out by Ofcom, the Online Hate in Professional Football Working Group met for the first time on 6 February and is expected to meet every two months, with flexibility to convene more frequently around key decision points.The FA said football bodies have been working for several years with the UK Football Policing Unit and already monitor leagues and competitions for abusive content, reporting cases to social media companies for action. The FA said serious incidents are investigated by the relevant authorities and legal proceedings are pursued where appropriate, adding that monitoring linked to major events such as the UEFA European Women’s Championship in 2025 saw thousands of posts flagged, hidden or removed, with illegal posts taken forward for prosecution.Kick It Out chair Sanjay Bhandari has previously said: “The impact of online abuse is undeniable, and the rise in discriminatory social media reports to Kick It Out last season shows it’s getting worse. Time and again, players and others across the game tell us about the mental toll this abuse takes.”In a separate joint statement on the Online Safety Act, English football’s bodies said: “Online abuse in football has risen significantly in recent years, but new laws passed by the Government should offer some hope to all those who participate in football. Change will take time, but it’s a big step in the right direction to make everyone in football feel safer online.”