Marcus Rashford

Rashford among Reds on 2021 Football Black List

Tuesday 26 October 2021 16:33

Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford is one of three Reds to have been named on the 2021 Football Black List.

The annual initiative, founded in 2008 by sports journalists Leon Mann and Rodney Hinds, was created to help shine a light on the pioneering and inspirational work being done across the industry by black professionals. 

The names that make up the eight categories are determined by a panel of experts who vote independently on nominations made by the public. The panel consists of representatives from the Premier League, The Football Association, Professional Footballers’ Association, League Managers Association, English Football League, PGMOL, Sport England, BCOMS and Kick It Out.

Marcus, who recently received an honorary doctorate for his work in the fight against child food poverty, has been named among the ‘Players’ category for the second successive year. 

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This year’s list was announced on Tuesday afternoon on the Football Black List’s official Instagram account, live from the National Football Museum in Manchester. 

As well as Marcus, the Academy's head of player development and coaching, Justin Cochrane, and the Foundation’s Andrew Laylor were also recognised. 
Cochrane, who joined the club earlier this year from the Football Association, is named in the ‘Coaching and Management’ section while Laylor is one of five names in the ‘Community and Grassroots’ category, honouring his work at the Foundation’s partner school, MEA Central.
Justin joined the club from The FA and is working with the Academy youngsters.

Upon this year’s announcement, Leon Mann, co-founder of the Football Black List, said: “Black excellence in football is regularly talked about on the pitch - and we want to help highlight the contribution of Black leaders off the field in the sport, too.

“This list of influential game-changers is a snapshot of the contribution Black communities are making to football. Those named today join an illustrious group who have featured on the list over the last decade.”

An online event will be broadcast next month to celebrate the work done by our trio and everyone named on this year’s list. You can see the 2021 edition, in full, here

Congratulations to Andrew, Justin and Marcus from all of us at Manchester United.

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