Liverpool and England star, Trent Alexander-Arnold, has today been named on the Ugo Ehiogu ‘Ones To Watch’ section of the Football Black List 2020 – a section identifying talented young black people in the British game.
Alexander-Arnold makes the list for his work addressing racism in football, using his platform to raise awareness and continue to the conversation of racism on and off the pitch. The defender has also been commended for his charity work with the Football For Change Initiative and auctioning off boots with the proceeds going to the Nelson Mandela Foundation.
The Ones to Watch, renamed in honour of Ugo, seeks to highlight talented, young people under 30 years of age from an African or Caribbean background who are making an impact within the football industry in the UK.
The section was named after Ugo, who played for Aston Villa, Middlesbrough, Rangers and England during his career and latterly was a coach at Tottenham Hotspur before he sadly passed away in April 2017. He was a great supporter of the initiative and had previously received a Ones to Watch award for his contributions as a talented, young coach.
The Football Black List, founded in 2008 by sports journalists Leon Mann and Rodney Hinds, highlights positive influencers from the black community in the sport.
Those on the list come from across the footballing industry from community workers, business owners, current professional players, youth coaches, scouts, foundation executives, football intermediaries, media creatives and broadcasters.
Others on the list include West Bromwich Albion midfielder, Romaine Sawyers, for his work as an ambassador for the national mental health charity, the Kaleidoscope Plus Group, LGBTQ+ Equality Lead for Palace for Life Foundation, Angelica Nabadda, who has run an incredible NCS programme and Commercial & Player Liaison Manager for The FA, Remmie Williams.
The Voice Newspaper is the home of the Football Black List which also shines a light on deserving people working at the community and grassroots level of the game who often go uncelebrated.
The initiative creates an opportunity to reflect on diversity within the industry, while also facilitating discussions on how best to address the under-representation of people from African-Caribbean backgrounds.
Ugo exemplified all of the qualities that these young people have exhibited: hard work, dedication, talent, kindness and an ability to inspire others. The list was collated by Ugo’s wife Gemma, his family and the Football Black List founders.
Alosie Ehiogu said: “On March 23rd 2020, it felt like the world stood still as COVID-19 became a reality. A new way of life began for us. People have been touched by this pandemic, losing love ones, friends and family members. We all have been forced to adapt. Ugo’s legacy (One to Watch) has shown how resilient people are in extremely difficult times. Ugo would have continued to strive and endeavour to support others above himself and spread the wisdom, (The Ones to Watch is the future generation).”
Andy Ehiogu: “This year’s list has been very impressive, and it was a very hard decision for us to select our 30 candidates for the award, everyone on the list had worked incredibly hard and all deserve credit! This year has been difficult for many reasons mostly due to Covid-19 but people have done their best to continue with life in a positive and respectful way after so much change. The strong-will that people have continued to work hard and keep evolving and making a positive contribution to the sports industry is great! The Football Black List always meant a lot to my brother Ugo as it was a platform which recognised the work and commitment black ethnic minority people did in their daily work and the local community.”
Please find the full The Ugo Ehiogu ‘Ones To Watch’ List below:
FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE EMAIL ANDREW@FOOTBALLBLACKLIST.COM
