Liverpool Football Club is facing a lawsuit from a British Asian man who claims the club racially discriminated against him by choosing a less experienced job candidate. Asad Farooq, who holds a degree in stadium and event management and worked for Tottenham Hotspur and the Qatar World Cup, was rejected for an administration job at Liverpool after applying in November 2021. Although the advertised role required candidates with experience working in an elite sporting environment, Farooq’s application was not strong enough. The person appointed to the position had no football experience and just one full-time job since graduation, according to their LinkedIn profile.
Liverpool supporter Farooq, who lives in Birmingham, said that he had asked the club for its diversity statistics but that it had declined to provide them. Farooq has instructed Yunus Lunat, a lawyer who served as the first Muslim to sit on the Football Association (FA) council and was the ethnic minority representative on Liverpool’s official supporters’ committee.
According to the Football Leadership Diversity Code report, Liverpool’s new hires had achieved 0% and 9% black, Asian, or mixed-heritage representation, respectively, compared to the code’s aim of 15%. Meanwhile, for interview shortlists, 82% included at least one male black, Asian, or mixed-heritage candidate, and 68% included at least one female candidate from similar backgrounds.
Liverpool’s website claims that as a club, they “are striving to lead the way when it comes to equality, diversity, and inclusion”. The team has also received the highest possible accolade from the Premier League for EDI. However, the club declined to comment on Farooq’s case while it is ongoing or to provide diversity figures to The Guardian.
Farooq has more than 500 hours of volunteering with the FA as a team liaison officer, which he believes demonstrates his devotion to football. While the hiring process involved the club’s bad recruitment practices and showcased barriers of diversity, Farooq did not plan on dropping the case. Lunat, who represented Mr. Farooq, stated that unless attitudes towards transparency and change are altered, regular talk shops and initiatives will achieve nothing
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