Sanjay Bhandari to Step Down as Kick It Out Chair After Seven-Year Transformation

Sanjay Bhandari will step down as chair of Kick It Out at the end of the 2026-27 season, bringing to a close more than seven years in charge of football's foremost anti-discrimination charity.

Bhandari, who was awarded an MBE in 2024 for services to football, called the role a "tremendous honour" in a statement confirming his departure on 12 August 2026. He will remain in post until a successor formally takes charge on 1 July 2027, allowing for a handover period that begins with a recruitment process aiming to identify a preferred candidate by the end of December (BBC Sport).

Only the second person to chair the organisation, Bhandari took over in 2019 from founder Lord Herman Ouseley, who had held the position for 25 years (The Guardian). Kick It Out was established in 1993 to tackle racism and other forms of discrimination in English football, working alongside clubs, the FA, the Premier League and supporter groups to push abusive behaviour out of the game.

His tenure reshaped the charity from top to bottom. Bhandari oversaw improved financial independence and governance, appointed an entirely new board and leadership team, and restructured the organisation to operate more effectively at a time when incidents of discrimination — both in stadiums and online — were climbing sharply.

The planned succession means Kick It Out will have a new chair in place before the 2027-28 season kicks off. The recruitment timeline gives the charity roughly four months to settle on a candidate and the best part of a year for that person to shadow Bhandari before the handover becomes official.

For supporters, the significance is straightforward. Kick It Out is the body football fans most readily associate with the fight against racism, sexism, homophobia and other prejudice in the sport. Whoever takes the chair next will inherit an organisation on firmer footing than the one Bhandari found in 2019 — but one that still faces an uphill battle, as abuse directed at players and fans online continues to outpace the efforts to stamp it out.

Bhandari's legacy, on paper, is a charity that is solvent, restructured and ready for the next chapter. The incoming chair's job will be making sure that next chapter reaches the terraces, the timelines and the grassroots pitches where the work actually lands.