England's top-flight Women's Super League has come under scrutiny due to a perceived lack of diversity. This was highlighted by Arsenal's 2023-24 squad photo featuring 27 white players.

The club recognizes this is an issue and pledged to make increasing diversity a top priority.

Arsenal’s diversity policy

Arsenal Women's Squad Photo | Arsenal has confirmed they will strive for greater diversity as part of a priority, working to ensure all areas of the club represent the UK population.

Arsenal stands by its motto of being Arsenal for Everyone. This means welcoming any individual who supports the team and opposing discrimination due to race, nationality, gender, religion or belief, sexual orientation, age marital status disability and gender reassignment.

Early on in its women's football history, Arsenal struggled financially and interest-wise but managed to form a thriving academy for girls. Thanks to Vic Akers's tenure - with 37 trophies won and an unbeaten streak of 108 matches - the team achieved success, leading them to numerous trophy victories and his departure saw many revolutionized changes made within women's game through creating an academy and reserve team.

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Arsenal’s women’s academy

The Arsenal Women's Academy is an integral component of the club's development programme, serving as an incubator for players capable of making the leap into first team football. Furthermore, this academy provides ample opportunity for participants to advance both their athletic and academic careers.

Arsenal FC Academy is located at Hale End campus near Walthamstow in north London. Boys and girls aged eight years or older can attend, learning how to become stars for both their club and nation. Recent years, Arsenal has attracted notable players from its academy - such as England winger Bukayo Saka - as part of their squad.

Arsenal's three-person recruitment team may not have as much financial backing as top men's clubs, but they still do their best to identify and develop talent from all around the globe. Their efforts include age-specific player clinics at World Class FC in Borehamwood as well as sending scouts out to international competitions to search out potential stars.

Arsenal’s women’s team

Diversity issues within English women's football have long been an area of contention, yet this week they came into sharper focus after Arsenal released a squad photo featuring 27 players all hailing from non-white backgrounds - sparking widespread outrage on social media.

Many fans took to X (formerly Twitter) to voice their displeasure at Arsenal's decision. One commentator pointed out the lack of diversity within the club and suggested improving Arsenal's scouting processes in order to give more players from diverse backgrounds an opportunity to join their roster.

As a response, the club acknowledged its representation of women from non-white backgrounds is "insufficient," promising to make improving it a top priority. They have also announced a partnership with the Professional Footballers' Association which will support WSL players from BAME backgrounds with mentoring support networks and access to support services.

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Arsenal’s squad

Arsenal Women are one of England's most successful football teams in recent times, boasting 50 awards to their name (including one European trophy won by an English side). Furthermore, Arsenal Women boast the most decorated club in women's football over rivals Chelsea and Manchester City combined.

The Gunners are also well known for their academy, producing talent such as Emma Byrne and Beth Mead who later graduated to play in their senior team. Under coach Jonas Eidevall from Sweden.

Fans have taken great offense at Arsenal FC's squad photo, which shows all 27 players to be white. Many are internationals and, since these figures reflect an entire culture within England's league system, this move should be welcomed as a positive step towards improving diversity. While Arsenal have taken steps toward this end goal with commitments like these from players on international duty to improve diversity within its WSL rosters, this alone won't solve everything; culture plays an essential role.